They can put a man on the moon! And they still cannot make a system that makes our customers happy?! The Finnish comedian Ismo has a funny way of saying it:
If only we had the superheroes that Gaagle had, they would surely be able to save us! Even with our Agile initiative with lots of self-organizing teams and focus on quality and team satisfaction, we didn’t find the success we deserved; we got a lot of problems instead. No fun at all!
Sadly, the above scenario is not uncommon. In our experience, such scenarios are the rule, not the exception. Why is that? What is it that makes things go so wrong so often? Do superheroes have anything to do with it? We have some thoughts about these things, and more importantly, some advice.
Agile to the rescue, with your own superheroes
In the constantly changing world of IT, success or failure might always wait around the next corner. To successfully implement new, more efficient solutions, you need great ways of working and smart, knowledgeable people who can help you out. From working in this business for 20+ years, we’ve seen such brilliant, knowledgeable, experienced, and driven people – superheroes if you like – make a huge difference for businesses.
You often hear of agile superheroes after they have successfully implemented agile methodologies for prominent companies. Some of them have even been involved in creating those methodologies. It seemed to work very well there, so it should be possible to use the same way of working in your company.
There is no doubt about it: Some agile methods are great. However, your favorite agile community most likely depends heavily on their superheroes to get their methods to function at a high level. The kind of superheroes that have double or triple doctor degrees and who live and breathe work ethics and success.
Can your employees really do what such superheroes can do? Are they just as able, just as knowledgeable, just as hard-working? Or have they been working in another way for 20 years or so and find it difficult to wrap their heads around this new … agile initiative, was that what it was called?Â
Smart and experienced is not enough. To be the superheroes that make your agile initiative successful, they must know this new agile stuff and also be willing to work hard. Without that, you cannot succeed.
The reasons superheroes may not be able to save you
So, one possible reason for failure may be the lack of superheroes. Another not uncommon reason for failure, despite bringing in top-of-the-line people, is that essential prerequisites for success simply aren’t there.
In our experience, foundational problems that can hinder the success of a company are often found in or caused by:
- Company politics
- Legacy software
- Leadership
- Roles and organization
- Cost focus
- Prioritizations and budgetary means
- HR and Procurement policies
Before deciding to bring in any superheroes, take some time to think about whether it’s even possible to do what you aim to do.
If you find some superheroes willing to accept the challenge, what will they spend their time on? Will they try to establish the prerequisites for success? Are they allowed to do that? Is it worth paying them so much for doing simple tasks that you should have done before they arrived? How much time will they spend on the things you actually wanted them to do? If most of their time is spent on other things, the superhero effect won’t come.
If you attempt something as challenging as implementing a scaled agile methodology and the initiative is
- championed by the IT department,
- poorly anchored in top management,
- expected to deliver outstanding results after a short time
your probability of success is very low – irrespective of whom you hire.
The superhero perspective
You can also try to consider the situation from the superhero’s point of view. Superheroes are used to getting a tremendous amount of job satisfaction from doing great things. When this is taken away from them, they will feel frustrated. Superheroes are often well connected (being well connected is a super-power!) Their connections will often tell them about new opportunities.Â
These opportunities will tempt your superheroes, and they will easily imagine that things are better elsewhere.Â
If you do not keep your superheroes happy, they will simply fly away to some other place where they believe they can do great things.
What you could do to attract and keep superheroes
The only way we know of that can help your company attract superheroes and keep them happy is by improving your company. Here are some questions that can give you some ideas for improvement or make you confident that you are on the right path:
Do you have a good vision? A statement that clarifies that you want to do something of note, something important, something that is worth struggling for
Do you invest time and money in the things and people that can make a big difference?
Do you have realistic plans?
Do you allow the people with the most know-how and skills to make critical decisions?
Do you constantly work to get rid of any impediments that stop people from doing good work?
Do you reward good work with opportunities to do more good work and accomplish new things?
Each of these questions may need a lot of investigation before you can provide an answer. But, when you can give a positive answer to each of the questions above, your superheroes will have more of a fighting chance. We might even say that your whole company will have a better fighting chance.
Recommendations
Here is what we recommend you to do if you want to launch an agile initiative with a good probability of success. Do bring in superheroes, but first:
- Make sure you have the right attitude:Â Expect that things will take time. A transformation where many persons have to change their ways of thinking and working will take time. So, plan for a marathon – not a sprint.
- Involve the whole organization:Â Many Agile initiatives fail simply because they are IT-driven with little or no support from the rest of the organization. When the business owners and top management can see why agile is good for them, they will support your initiative. That dramatically increases your chances of success.
- Start with low-hanging fruits, things that you know that you can pull off: That way you allow your organization to learn about the new ways of working while they at the same time are able to deliver what is expected of them. It is good for the working morale and can also help you show progress and create success stories for your Agile initiative. Be sure to spread such success stories within your organization. Changing one’s behavior and ways of working can be challenging, success stories can give your organization the extra motivation it needs to push through.
- And again, make sure you have the right attitude: Expect that things will take time. You may have to work on your processes, business vision, ownership, the way you reward people, architecture, having the right expertise, and several other things before you get to where you want to be.
Summary
Do not expect that agile, even with the help of agile superheroes, can fix all your problems.Â
No superheroes, or methodologies, can turn things around for you unless you provide the necessary prerequisites for success.Â
If those prerequisites are not there, you first need to create an environment where success is possible. After that, agile methodologies and superheroes may come in very handy.
