Have you ever thought: If only my boss would let me work on my project and just help me when I needed it? Agile Project Management wants to do just that. The current podcast episode explores what leaders can learn from it.
I encountered Greger Wikstrand on Twitter and found him someone with a curious mind and a dry wit, yet very interesting from reading his blog. What caught my eye was his mention of living in Sweden and learning by observing his sheep. It seemed a little odd, but I never mentioned it. I can now admit that as we chatted and he explained Agile (self-directed work teams) I came to understand his sheep were a metaphor of how people perform in environments where they are have autonomy to set priorities and are accountable for results. This got me thinking that despite all the efforts with open offices and the cross pollination that is hoped for in the workplace, how little of it is achieved due to meetings that go no where and leaders who micro manage to the point that creativity is snuffed out.
Below are major points he outlined that leaders not involved in product development can apply to their leadership style to get the most out of any team activity:
Hire peopl
e who are self-directed
Once you understand Agile you realize that self-organization is the second most important skill that any worker brings to the workplace. And, no two workers self-organize in the same manner. As Greger puts it, you have to start with the team you have in most cases. Too often companies want all their workers doing the same thing at the same time, when no two people are the same. Yes, there have to be controls but allowing people to tackle a problem from different perspectives is how you promote creativity to come up with innovative and effective products or ways of doing things.
Delivery versus activity
Decide what is expected to be the delivered product and leave the activity to the person, stepping in only when there is a need for additional input to guide the person off in a more focused direction to solve the problem themselves.
Finish what you start before moving to something new
Things come up to get you off track all the time, and very often they are distractions that move workers away from the primary goal. Finishing the primary task thus becomes goal number one before you run off to the next thing. This is foundation building 101 that insures things get done and you don’t end up with a pile of half finished projects.
Work based on priorities
Deciding what to focus on at any given point the worker and the leader need to be aware of what are the priorities. A new task may be important, but where does it fall in relation to your overall list of goals, high or low? True, it does require stopping for a moment to analyze where things fall in the scheme of the goal, but pays dividends in reaching the stated goal.
Clarify what is the end product
Too often the expected product (tangible and intangible) is not clearly stated which leads to goal confusion. The added factor of time also can affect what the end goal should be because a long the time period increases the chance that some factors will change. Breaking the goal down into small increments, which shortens the time period, allows you to either stop or go in a different direction rather than continuing on a path that goes no where by continually adding to or changing an existing goal.
Keep meetings to a minimum
Agile is known for the “stand up” meeting, where 15 minutes a day (no longer) is devoted to what members of the team did the day before, what they plan to work on for the day, or any difficulties that are standing in the way of their individual activities to complete a task. Meetings are not designed to solve a problem but simply give the leader an indication of who might need more input or support.
I found Greger a more than interesting guest who uses a number of real life examples to bring Agile into clear focus that leaders to apply in varying environments. And oh yes, his description of the sheep is one of them you will come to appreciate.
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