Agile Leaders, Lead without a Leash! (7 tips)
How to fight Senior Managers, how to act like a proper doctor, how to lead Scrum Teams when it makes no sense to you. This issue has been in the baking all summer. Bite in while it's hot!
Agile Matinée is a fortnightly dispatch curated by Panaxeo, one Agile topic at a time. We bribe five Agile enthusiasts with croissants and expect them to collect interesting and read-worthy content in return. This one is all about Agile Leadership.
Howdy Agilistas,
Good news: September nostalgia is back, and so is our Newsletter!
Bad news: A team trying to succeed in Agile without enlightened leadership is like trying to win a lightsaber duel with a pool noodle – amusing to watch but otherwise tragic.
So, whether you’re the leader trying to lovebomb your Agile teams or a Scrum Master begging for empathy from the organization, we’ve got you. Valuable and actionable tips have been scoured from the interwebs to make your leadership more Agile – and successful.
Have at it!
1. R U a Doctor or a Charlatan? – Lead by Embracing Evidence
How about a doctor prescribing you meds “because it feels right”? You’d rather get a proper examination and diagnosis, right? Unless you live in Slovakia (like we do), you’d probably be horrified (we got used to it 🤷).
When working on complex products or projects, embracing an evidence-based, outcome-focused approach is one of the most critical mindset shifts a leader can make. Possible side effects include:
More objective product decisions.
More meaningful, value-based metrics.
Enhanced focus, self-management, and a sense of purpose.
Less wasteful “seems right” works
So, start leading by embracing the EBM mindset. We dare you!
2. Scary Shift – How not to f*ck up your Agile Transformation
As married folks know well; to survive, you sometimes need to change who you are completely.
The situation is eerily similar when a traditional organization attempts to become Agile – they soon realize that “doing Agile well” requires them to drastically reshuffle their mindsets, org charts, interactions, and leadership styles.
This McKinsey 25-pager is a sweet and to-the-point explainer for leaders who have found themselves amid a frustrating Agile transformation. You’ll get a well-researched overview from a consulting G.O.A.T. of what needs to happen to your head and your meetings to succeed in your Agile journey.
PS: As we’re all happily married and fairly Agile as a company, we can attest that the pains are worth the results a million times over.
3. Fighting the Seniors – How to sell Agile to Management
Confession time – we’re still petrified when we have to sell the Agile approach to a senior manager who’s only been working traditionally for like, since 3000 B.C. or so.
Obviously, no one's buying when approached with an all-or-nothing dogmatic mindset. Luckily, there’s a better way.
Read this blog from Disciplined Agile as a prep. Before any conversation, you’ll learn to empathize with the seniors’ concerns. You’ll also get some valuable tips on approaching the discussion constructively. Fingers crossed for success!
4. (Psychological) Safety first – Embrace the Vulnerabilities
Some facts: You can’t lead knowledgeable people working on creative novel projects as you’d lead an army. It. Just. Does. Not. Work. Why?
Think of it as a domino that starts with everyone feeling safe to speak, opine, and err in their work.
Without this, there’s no openness. Ideas are missed. Conflicts simmer. Thud, a domino piece falls.
But it gets worse – without openness, there’s no trust. Thud.
Without trust, you don’t have a team. You have a group of insecure, unmotivated individuals. Each of them is laser-focused on themselves and their own Jira tickets and evening plans. Terrifying, eh? Thud.
This is not the first time we’ve addressed psychological safety. It’s just too central to any great team. Even Harvard Business Review chipped in with a well-researched and consulted compilation of five practical ways you can try to foster psychological safety in your teams as a leader, so how about trying one yourself?
5. (The no-bullshit) Book club – The Professional Agile Leader
Whether you’re a natural leader or just ended up leading people by happenstance, this is your new professional Agile leadership bible.
Like other publications from our much beloved “Professional Whatever” book series, this book is comprehensive, practical, and full of real-life examples.
You’ll learn how to build, motivate, diagnose, measure, and think about Agile teams as a true servant leader. If you’re serious about being a seriously good Agile leader, do your teams a favor and invest a few bucks in compressed trees or digital ink.
6. The Final Piece of the Puzzle – Leader’s Guide to understanding and supporting Scrum Teams
Are you funding, managing, or overseeing Scrum Teams? Does the Scrum Guide sound too detailed and nuanced for your needs?
Luckily, Scrum.org understands how special you are, so they’ve made this one for you. In just a single toilet sitting, you’ll discover:
Who is who and what is what in Scrum.
How not to be the bull in your Scrum Team’s china shop – and instead support them exactly how they need to excel.
When it makes sense for you to attend a meeting or step in, and when to pull back.
How to extract maximum value from the interactions with your team
Pro tip: This is an instructive read for Scrum Masters, too. You’ll see Scrum from a fresh perspective. While you’re at it, pop an email with a link to this newsletter up the org chain and make your life easier.
That’s it; we’re off.
Hope you’ve basked enough in this Agile well of inspiration. Now, go about your day and put this stuff into practice! Oh, and unless you want to miss our next digest, follow us on LinkedIn or share this post with your friends and frenemies!
Hasta la Agilista, baby!