Month: June 2016

Opinions as impediments. How to have an opinion and share it.

 

 

Screen Shot 2016-06-28 at 10.56.26 PMHaving an opinion is human. Thought we assume that opinions are regulated by common sense, that is generally not the case. Our entire world is about opinions. We can have a opinion about any and every thing around us, for example; Donald Trump and the US elections in general, opinion about BREXIT and its impact on the world economy and when we have nothing more, we move to creating opinions about people around us. Good or bad, a significant amount of human brain processing power is spent in forming opinions.

Even thought opinions are not necessarily bad, they do have a negative impact if an opinion is formed with a intention of imposing your thoughts on the other person or to demean someone. Additionally, forcing opinion and conveying it as a decision due to your position in the organization or the type of personality you are, takes the impact of your opinion to the next level, where it makes a conversations one sided and forces the other person to eject from the conversation.

Having said that, opinions are not going away. Human mind will continue to analyze situations and people and form opinions based on our experience, knowledge and personal objectives. This does become an issue with teams trying to foster collaboration. How often do you see an Architect telling a team on how a product should be designed killing the creativity of the team or how often do we see a leader force a team to build something that the team know will not add value to business.

Here are some guiding principles that will allow you to not only form a opinion with the right intent but be able to communicate it and leave a positive impression:

  • An opinion is a opinion – A dictionary definition of opinion is “a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty”. An opinion when communicated as a decision or expert judgement is totally different and hence it becomes critically important for an opinion to be conveyed that way. A good way to share an opinion is to start by saying “this is just how I think and I am happy to be proven wrong”. Being passionate about your views is admirable, but never expect anyone to abandon his or her own thoughts in favor of yours.
  • It is ok to NOT know everything – The key reason why humans are forced into having an opinion is because they do not want to come across as ignorant or unaware about what is being discussed especially when it is current hot topic in politics, sports, technology etc… However; it is ok to not know everything. So in a situation like this, retain your opinion till the time you can ask to be explained more about the topic or if your opinion is requested.
  • Start by sharing the intent – If you feel strongly about something and have a strong opinion, start by sharing the intent. Most opinions result in a negative impact on relationships be at work or family and its outcome can be brutal if relationships and partnerships are formed and end purely based on opinions without either party initiating a conversation to validate opinions. If you cannot come up with an intent to form an opinion or are not ready to validate, opinions can be destructive. Your opinion might hurt some feelings or provoke some criticism, but sharing ideas is how conversations start, communities are formed, and change happens.
  • Who/What is your opinion about – Opinions can be about people, products and opinions can be about opinions. Be cautious if you opinion is about someone who you do not get along with or someone who does not give your opinion adequate weight. Such opinions tend to involve your emotional side and can go a long way and influence the whole objective of having an opinion.
  • Argue internally – Treat your urge to form an opinion as an internal argument with yourself, a mental debate, so to speak. Consider your knowledge on the subject, your intention behind having the opinion and the value your opinion will bring before your speak up. Let go if you are unable to convince yourself.
  • Can you back your opinion with facts – Being able to back your opinion with facts is important. Base your opinion on an article your read or research your did or something you saw on the social media or anything else so that your opinions are heard.
  • Assess if your opinion is really needed – Do you remember the last time you walked into a conversation, listened briefly and in no time shared your opinion about something and were told that you got it all wrong. It has happened with me. Understand that you were not part of the conversation in the first place because your opinion does not carry enough weight and that is fine.

Opinions can and will evolve; sometimes at the risk of reshaping your reputation and credibility. And as much as you are entitled to them, don’t hold on to them too tightly. Opinions have a way of being infused with our dignity – it makes us think that if we change our opinion, them we’re flimsy or weak, when in fact it is a very natural process, kind of like growing up.

Just make sure that your opinion forces constructive and creative thinking, and don’t be afraid to share it.

Scrum events are NOT working for you if…

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Image courtesy: agiletrick.com

Rarely does a agile coach get to transform a completely waterfall team/organization into agile these days. Majority of the organizations are already on the agile band wagon and claim to be doing some sort of agile, however; it is quite obvious that all is not working for them.

The start of an engagement for an agile coach is all about observation. Watching teams participate in Scrum events gives a good sense of the maturity of the individuals, team and organization. Here are things to look out for to know that Scrum events are not working:

  • There is a leader – We need leaders but we also believe that everyone in a Scrum team is a leader. Often, there is an individual or a couple of team members that are the “experts” and end up taking control of Scrum events. So if these “leaders” are calling the shots and driving all decisions, Scrum events are not working for you.
  • There is silence – Scrum teams are all about collaboration and communication. One of the key agile values is “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”. So if your Scrum events are all about forced communication where team members are not motivated or do not feel safe to share their point of view, Scrum events are not working for you.
  • Something important keeps coming up – The occurrence of Scrum events have been designed to bring the team together frequently to be able to put the idea of inspection and adaptation in practice. However; often team members are absent from the Scrum events with the most common excuse being that there is an important issue to address. When doing Scrum, nothing is more important than the Scrum events. So if your team has something important to address when they should be collaborating, communicating, inspecting and adapting during a Scrum event, Scrum events are not working for you.
  • Design a solution – Every Scrum event had a recommended time box. For example, a daily Scrum should not be more than 15 minutes long or a sprint planning event should be 8 hours or less for a 4 week sprint. These time box recommendations work only when teams a disciplined in keeping a focused agenda for a event. However;  teams spend 30 to 45 minutes on a daily Scrum or a sprint planning session spans multiple days. This usually happens when team members get into a “design the solution” mode leading to significant waste. So if your Scrum events are turning into design and problem solving meetings, Scrum events are not working for you.
  • Team members are checked out – Knowing the significance and reasoning behind each Scrum event is crucial. Each Scrum event is specifically designed to achieve specific objectives in alignment with the agile values and principles. However, it is observed that team members do not focus on the value of the event but rather go through the motions. If you observe that team members are either checked out or focused on their individual goals, Scrum events are not working for you.
  • External decision makers – What the team can get done and how a business problem should be addressed are decisions that a Scrum team owns. A self managing Scrum team is one that makes decisions that are in the best interest of the project knowing their capabilities to deliver. If you Scrum team is under pressure from external forces and are unable to self manage and organize, you Scrum events are not working.
  • There is inconsistency – Having Scrum events occur consistently at the same time and as per a defined cadence is important to reduce complexity and build team discipline. For example; it is recommended the team has a daily Scrum in the morning to be able to create a plan for the day, however; if this is moved to afternoon on a give day and moved again the next day, it effects the consistency and causes unnecessary adjustments. If the occurrence of Scrum events is not consistent, Scrum events are not working for you.
  • Can’t we just – A phrase that is heard quite consistently when working with Scrum teams is “Can’t we just…”. This might be said when the Product Owner is trying to sneak in that extra story into the sprint backlog or when the team members are pushing to fix a bug in the next sprint and call the not done story done. If team members are constantly trying to find ways to step outside the Scrum boundaries, Scrum events are not working for you.

There are many more smells that are seen detrimental to the effectiveness of Scrum. Some of these include Scrum Master assigning work to team members, daily Scrum being a means for management reporting etc… I am sure you have observed many more smells that expose the ineffectiveness of a Scrum event. Please share in the comments below.

Chaos with complexity – How to cope with organizational complexity

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Image source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Systems, structures and processes are becoming complex by the day. Generally speaking, human life has reached that level of complexity which makes you question the existence of all the innovation and automation around us.

For the decision makers, environments that were isolated years ago, are bumping into each other causing unexpected results. This causes more decision points getting added into structures and processes causing unintentional  addition to already complex environments.

I was recently watching a TED talk by Yves Morieux titled “How too many rules at work keep you from getting things done“. In his talk, Yves presents an example of a 4X100 relay race. The name 4X100 relay conveys that each member of the team is expected to run a distance of 100 meters. However; this does not mean that the team member drops the baton exactly at the 100 meters mark. Most athletes end up running on an average 110 meters and most athletes don’t know how much they have run as their focus is to hand over the baton to the next member of the team and achieving the goal of completing the race.

If we were to consider a relay race example in context of an organization, there are specific roles for specific tasks. Arguments over whose responsibility was it to get something done are very common. Again, staying with the relay race example, since a member of the team has only signed up to run 100 meters, organizations end up adding a role that is responsible for passing the baton from one team member to another. The result of this approach is increase in structural complexities and a culture of local optimization.

So how do organizations cope with the complexity or what behaviors would keep complexity in check. Here are some guidelines:

  • Purpose and values – Every role in the organization has a value and purpose. This is how most roles get created but the focus needs to be about the collective purpose of the team or organization. Similar to the relay race example where finishing the race and doing whatever it take to finish first is the ultimate goal. Individual goals do not ensure team success.
  • Decentralize authority – Once shared purpose and values have been established, next step is to decentralize the authority. A relay team might have a leader/captain, someone with experience and leadership attributes, but when it comes to taking a decision during the race, every athlete makes decision keeping the end goal of winning the race in mind. In the end, it is the team that wins and it is the team that loses.
  • Early awareness of unpredictable situations – When dealing with complexity, one needs to identify the variables that create predictable outcomes when they’re within a particular range, and unpredictable outcomes when they are not. In a relay race scenario, weather plays a crucial factor. Teams alter the sequence of the participating team members or make similar adjustments to ensure that the collective team keeps the focus on the end goal. The decisions made are generally subtle and not drastic to ensure last minute adaptation does not impact the overall probability of the team winning the race.
  • Leadership – Leading a complex organization requires an entirely different mindset. Hierarchy works if every level is doing something distinct and specific. However, due to the interdependence in complexity, this is impossible in today’s organizations. By simplifying and clarifying vision and values, core processes and decentralization, and early awareness systems, hierarchy can be complemented by “heterarchy”, the interdependent, networked organization in which every part reflects a different perspective of the whole and which is needed in today’s global business world. The boss no longer needs to “tell” the team members what exactly to do, but rather depend on their initiative, creativity and competence for success. So, next time your team faces a challenge, do not create additional complexity, but trust the team to make the right choice. Teams generally appreciate a nimble setup.
  • Simplify and cleanup – An easy starting point for simplification is to get rid of stupid rules and low-value activities, time-wasters that exist in abundance in most organizations. Look, for example, at how many people need to review and sign off on expense reports; or how many times slide decks need to be reviewed before they are presented. If you can shed a few simple tasks, you will create bandwidth to focus on more substantial simplification opportunities.

So, every time you fix a problem, look at the solution you are proposing and ask yourself a question, “Am I fixing a problem or creating more chaos with complexity?”.