Agile: Day 2

WHAT

Cultivate Nourish and Apply Agile Mindset

• Welcome change: Change is not something to be afraid of or avoid. It is a chance to learn new things, improve your work, and meet your customers’ needs. Instead of saying “no” or “but” to change, say “yes” and “and” to explore new possibilities.

• Think about the customer: Your ultimate goal is to make your customers happy and satisfied. Always keep them in mind when you plan, do, and deliver your work. Ask yourself: What do they want? What do they need? How can I help them?

• Work with others: You are not alone in your work. You have a team that supports you and helps you achieve your goals. You also have other people who are involved in your work, such as customers, users, and managers. Share information, feedback, ideas, and responsibilities with them. Listen to them and learn from them.

• Communicate clearly: Communication is the key to collaboration and alignment. Use different ways to communicate with your team and other people, such as talking, writing, drawing on a whiteboard, or showing. Communicate often and openly. Avoid confusion, conflict, and secrecy.

• Learn from feedback: Feedback is a gift that helps you grow and improve. Seek and give feedback regularly and kindly. Use feedback to check and change your work processes, products, and behaviors.

• Try new things: Don’t settle for the status quo or the first solution. Always look for ways to improve your work and make it better. Experiment with new ideas and solutions, test them quickly, see what works and what doesn’t, and try again.

• Be creative and curious: The agile mindset is about being flexible, innovative, and creative. It encourages you to try new things, explore new options, and discover new insights. It challenges you to question assumptions and norms. It fosters a culture of learning and curiosity .

• Respect and support others: The agile mindset values respect, teamwork, pride in ownership, and a focus on producing value. It also values diversity, inclusion, and empowerment. Respect your team members and other people as individuals with different perspectives, skills, and needs. Support them in their work and personal growth.

Barriers to agile mindset

• Fear of failure or criticism: You might be afraid to try new things or make mistakes because you think you will be judged or punished by others or yourself.

• Resistance to change or learning: You might be comfortable with the way things are or the way you do things and don’t want to change or learn anything new.

• Lack of trust or collaboration: You might not trust your team members or other people or don’t want to work with them because you think they are not competent or reliable or have different agendas or opinions.

• Poor communication or feedback: You might not communicate or give feedback effectively or frequently because you don’t have the skills or tools or don’t see the value or importance of doing so.

• Fixed or rigid mindset: You might have a mindset that limits your potential or possibilities because you think that your abilities or situations are fixed or predetermined and cannot be changed or improved.

Overcome barriers 

• Teach everyone what agile means: The first thing you need to do is to make sure everyone knows what agile is and why it is important. You have to use the same words and explain the same ideas and tell everyone how agile can help them and the organization. You need to make your goals, expectations, and rewards match with agile values and practices. Create a working agreement, if required

• Listen and address the worries and doubts: Listen and address the worries and doubts that might come from different people and levels in the organization. You need to be empathetic, informative, helpful, and convincing while you show them how agile works and what benefits it brings. You also need to act and think in an agile way yourself, and create a culture of learning, trying, and feedback.

• Follow a clear and flexible change plan: Follow a clear and flexible change plan that involves many changes in many areas. You need to plan, do, check, and act on your agile transformation using data and numbers. You have to involve and empower your teams and stakeholders in the change plan and improve based on feedback and results.

• Celebrate your wins and learn from your losses: You need to celebrate your wins and learn from your losses along the way. You also need to learn from your mistakes and failures, and use them as chances to improve. Just be grateful and positive, and surround yourself with positive people.