What Does Being Agile Mean to You?
Agile is a “how,” not a “what.” By focusing on the goals of the organization beyond just being “agile,” we can create a mindset shift that allows Agile to truly deliver value. I fully believe that mindset is the key, not only to Agile but excellence in any endeavor.
Building the right culture to achieve organizational goals involves aligning objectives across all layers of the enterprise. It requires motivated individuals equipped with the necessary tools and shared goals. This approach enables us to partake in the success of those around us.
We should always strive for improvement and growth. For me, it’s about embracing new ideas and leveraging current best practices to maximize the value delivered in the projects I am involved in.
As an Agile coach or even as any member of an Agile team, your role should involve helping individuals identify their potential, overcome impediments, and discover better ways of working.
It’s important to foster and enable the right change at the right time depending on the maturity level of individuals, teams, and organizations, when it comes to Agile Transformation.
For me, everything I have done has been about making a difference. I need to be able to look back at the path I have traveled and see the changes that occurred because I was there to help make them happen.
Although my early career initially focused on technical aspects, my current passion stems from working with people. While digging in and finding a solution by myself is okay, leading a group of people to evolve a better solution together is incredible. It is satisfying to have a group rely on my guidance, but it is much more fulfilling to see the same group learn to do it themselves, with only an occasional nudge. I enjoy getting up in front of people and teaching about a topic, but I love it when I see the look of understanding suddenly dawn and spread throughout the room.
I think it is because of this group focus, that I found so much resonance in the Agile movement. It seemed to me that everything at the core of Agile mapped naturally to the way I wanted to approach work. I find myself falling instinctively into a coach role, identifying learning opportunities, and using these to drive discussions and influence improvements.
Agile Managers should exhibit strong leadership to deliver complex business applications while driving their teams and the business towards exciting growth. They should act as team players and servant leaders, comfortable interacting with all project members — from the boardroom to individual team members — without ego or personal agendas.
Great interactions empower people, whether it is a team communicating purposefully and openly or a great piece of design that takes a user from average to exceptional. I am personally passionate about facilitating great interactions.
The heart of any coaching interaction is to help individuals and teams find the improvements they need to move forward. I use the lessons from my multifaceted career to meet individuals where they are and help them get to where they aspire to be.
The agile manifesto starts out with the idea, “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.” I practice what I preach and help teams to do the same.
And I firmly believe in this statement for having agile management: know what you know, know what you don’t know, and surround yourself with people who know what you don’t know.
So now you tell me, what does Agile mean to you? And what do you do in an Agile team?
