After working in Project Management for almost 15 years, while I’ve spent the last 1.5 months looking for a new assignment, I had an opportunity to sit back and take some time off. One Sunday morning after listening to world news, sitting in front of my computer to begin another day of job hunt, I took a moment to reflect and look back at all these years I have spent working with Agile. I was able to contrast Agile transformation to the Covid-19 pandemic. The moment I started writing, the thoughts started flowing and similarities were so evident.
- Exposing the dependency on a single resource:
World identified how dependent most countries were on China’s production. It took countries ginormous effort to get PPE kits, face masks, sanitizer and other necessary gear in a limited time. It wasn’t too late that the realisation of this dependency dawned upon these nations, and the need to free from this bottle neck became critical. It could be achieved either by setting up manufacturing units within their own country or have trade agreements with other countries. Agile exposes the same issue. When companies embark their journey towards agile adoption, the first challenge, they observe is that some of the key resources have to be shared between multiple agile teams. The Agile teams then cannot perform or just end up waiting before producing any output.
2. Make leaders uncomfortable:
We all have observed how few world leaders have resisted and continue to resist the response to Covid-19 suggested by WHO. Pandemic has brought to light how these leaders prioritise, and what is key to them: whether its people or economy. Changing from usual way of receiving the report, changing the team structure, changing the appraisal process, changing the decision makers makes a lot of leaders or managers uncomfortable and they push back in unique ways. Some become defensive to protect their ways of working and attack the early adopters. It is the same I observed during the Agile transformation.
3. Retrospective:
COVID-19 virus transmitted from one continent to another in no time, and scientists found that the genome of the virus is changing. The recommendations made by scientists have evolved as they learn more about the virus. Each country adopted recommendations (fundamentals) based on their circumstances, environment and culture. It is what I encourage leaders to do during Agile transformation. Keep the Agile principles and identify the way it will work for your organization.
4. Resource distribution:
Pandemic uncovered that not all hospitals are equipped to treat COVID sufferers. It is to a point that some remote areas in the world do not have hospitals and people stand in long lines to get water for daily use. How can they even focus on maintaining physical distance? Agile transformation highlights the uneven distribution of knowledge and resources in the organization. How can you expect every team to deliver similar business value at equal intervals?
5. Work should come to people and people should not go to work:
It is easier said than done. Pandemic forced most of the workforce to work from home. It gave so many people additional hours on-hand which can be utilized towards their personal development, family time etc. Resources did not have to go to work. Something similar is evident for long running teams. I believe one must focus on building long standing teams instead of forming the team for the project. Long standing teams will have better efficiency and save more time for the organization with better throughput.
6. Data points and processes discrepancy:
Another thing I observed after looking at the data is the stark difference in how data is reported to WHO by different nations. Agile teams may have a different matrix which is relevant to respective teams. As WHO provided guidelines to the countries on how to report, Agile transformation team provides similar guidelines to the agile team organizations.
Drawing the similarity brings me to the missing piece of the puzzle to deal with this pandemic better. I feel the world is missing a global change manager who can manage this change while being transparent with people. Some people will be early adopters, some will learn from other’s experiences and some will learn from their mistakes. Change is inevitable.
A professional change manager understands the psychology of impacted people. The person shall be able to work closely with bodies like Center of Disease Control and Prevention to manage communication, coach world leaders through the resistance, assess the change impact and reinforce change. Poorly managed change is costly and at this time it means losing lives.
With all due respect to the front-line workers and people who have spent sleepless nights to get us where we are today, I feel that designated professionals shall make way for change managers to help people manage change. A lot is left to be explored.