The thrill of talking to Agile sceptics
You can learn a lot from those who’ve had their Agile aspirations dashed on the rocks of a poor implementation, culture shock or a lack of support from upper management.
What it is you do?
When you meet new people they naturally ask what you do. When I explain that I work in Agile I watch them closely. People almost universally react in one of three ways.
1. They nod but hesitate and break eye contact for a split-second
This tells me they’re not completely sure what I’m talking about. They may have heard of ‘Agile’ but they have only a vague idea what it means. Is it a proper noun? Is it an adjective that might be used to describe a good gymnast or a healthy economy? They may experience a little blip of anxiety—no one likes to look like they don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to be careful with these people. I want to gush enthusiastically and tip a bucket of rainbow-coloured Agile fairy dust all over them. But ‘evangelist’ is very close to ‘zealot’. So the next steps in this conversation is me trying not to get too carried away. I try to ask them if they want a quick two minute overview of Agile or if they’d rather get lemon juice on a paper cut.
2. They nod enthusiastically
This tells me they are singing from my hymn book—they love Agile too! They can hear the choirs of angels floating past on pink clouds of efficiency, transparency and harmony. They understand there are challenges – even angels have to tune their harps occasionally – but the challenges are solvable and at least they’re no longer sitting helpless in the Dingy of Despair rushing over the edge of a waterfall project ready to be dashed on the rocks of missed deadlines, arse-covering emails and endless documentation. The next steps in this conversation are usually an orgy of geeky Agile appreciation. And I try to remember over the gushing enthusiasm to ask them if they’re learned any new techniques recently.
3. They roll their eyes or make a noise of derision
This tells me they’ve been burned. They probably work for a company that has tried to jump on the Agile bandwagon and missed. They are the wounded soldiers staggering around the muddy battlefield of poorly supported Agile transitions. Upper management has understood that Agile is the right way to do things and have said ‘make it so’. But this has just filtered down to the rank-and-file as a set of apparently time-wasting cursory rituals and loud exhortations to work faster and harder and produce better quality instantly.
The foot soldiers are not given an opportunity to adjust, hone and generally find ways through the inevitable potholes and barbed wire that comes with big process and culture changes. And Agile is a BIG change. The next steps in this conversation are gold because you will learn which bits of your own project that are working well that maybe you took for granted. And you will learn what disillusions people and hurts teams. This is your opportunity to anticipate problems and start thinking about solutions before you face them in your own role.
All three responses lead to great conversations – the first type is an opportunity to practice your Agile pitch and watch how people like to understand new concepts, the second type is like discovering a favourite movie in common with someone, and the third type is brilliant way to learn more about what doesn’t work so you can fix or avoid it in the future.
Which makes me curious, how do you introduce yourself if you work in Agile?
Cheers - Kylie
P.S. I regularly write on the topic of Agile and interview experienced practitioners. If you would like to be interviewed send me a private message.