This is the first post that digs into the 12 principles of the Agile Manifesto. For this post, I’ve combined two of them – Principle 1 and 6 – because they focus on relatively similar topics – delivery and collaboration. They are as follows:
- Principle #1 – Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Principle #6 – The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
You will see in my posts that these principles can apply to situations outside of technology and I give a few ideas and examples. I encourage you to dig in and apply these principles to your industry!
Principle #1 – Early and Continuous Delivery of Valuable Software (Value, in general)
This standard of delivery is applicable to anything you do in life. If you are getting paid to do anything, especially if it’s something that has a tangible deliverable, it’s in your best interest to start showing value as soon as you can. Further, the more transparent you can be with your customer on progress, the better. In a previous role as a program manager for a company that focused on the delivery of fully-integrated eCommerce sites, I remember the CEO telling us, “get the wireframes for the website designs to the customer ASAP so they can see that we are making progress.” What a true statement! In a typical project, work begins and the first milestone might not be due for a few weeks, a month, or more. If the customer has assumed work is happening, not showing progress early can be concerning, especially if they are spending a lot of money (“a lot” is relative to each person, of course). Delivering or showing value early and often is a huge benefit to overall delivery.
Takeaway: In your work, try to find ways to deliver value as soon as possible. What “value” is will be different from customer to customer. If possible, try to deliver something they can use right away. Something that helps them solve the problem they hired you to solve. If you can’t deliver something tangible, show positive progress right away. You want to help them feel confident that they’ve made the right choice on how to spend their time, money or resources.
Principle #6 – Convey Information Through Face-to-Face (F2F) Conversation
From an IT delivery standpoint, this is a true statement, and it’s even better if there is a whiteboard nearby should any questions arise about the task/project. Being F2F allows you to speak while observing body language; also, being in the same room allows you to demand focus (or at least call out those that aren’t focused).
Takeaway: Set a standard to meet F2F with your customer, with your team, with your partners, etc. Sure, it’s easier to just call or send an email, but F2F is going to let you make deeper connections. These connections will help should you find yourself in a “sticky” situation, need to have, or be part of, a tough conversation. They also help solidify a relationship that helps you find future partnership opportunities.
Current State… 2020 – COVID-19 is here and any F2F is going to require masks and special considerations. Given the current state of things, we now need to be more creative to keep the quality of the conversation as high as it can be. Zoom or Microsoft Teams (or any other remote meeting technology) allows us to be “face-to-face”, but it’s not the same. This makes F2F communication even harder and staying focused on what’s being discussed can quickly become a challenge. Staying focused on the topic and asking questions like “is there anything that isn’t clear?” after a topic is discuss can help tease out opportunities to step back and dig in, especially if you are dealing with a particularly “heavy” topic that not everyone may understand. Lastly, and your co-workers will thank you for this, stay focused on the darn topic!
Application for Non-IT Use
Would it be possible for you to apply these principles to a non-technology environment like construction, banking or medical (patient care)? Absolutely! Remember, we are talking about providing value as soon a possible and having face-to-face communication (as often as possible). Here are a few examples:
Construction – You sign a project, you immediately (within 24 hours) give your customer a date range for when the project may start. Let’s say the project is an outdoor project that has to do with building a retaining wall. The project is scheduled to start in three weeks, weather permitting.
- Week 1 – You confirm the potential start date with the client, have a quick overview of what’s going to be delivered, you might even mention the names of the crew that will be working on the job and give some details about their experience.
- Week 2 – The job isn’t scheduled to start for another week, but you call anyway to tell the customer “we’re still on track.”. You also mention that you’ve ordered the supplies that will be used on the project and share the scheduled delivery date for the stone to be delivered. You mention that it’s going to be around 5 pallets of brick and ask that they clear a space in their driveway. You even go as far as giving them a window of time the brick will be delivered so they can plan their day better.
- Week 3 – The job is scheduled to start on Thursday, but you call on Monday to tell the customer “we’re still on track for Thursday.” You mention the weather outlook, reiterate the working schedules of the team, discuss how they are going to work (example: “they will show up and immediately start laying down plywood for the small vehicle used to dig out the old wall as well as transport bricks.”) so the customer knows what’s going to happen every step of the way. You give the name of the foreman that will be there and provide his cell phone number in case they have specific questions for the crew.
- As the job starts, your foreman is now giving daily updates throughout the project and you are checking in every couple of days to see how the job is going. You even show up on site to help clean up and “check in” with the customer. Once the job is done, you personally walk the client through the work and accept final payment, in person. When that final check is collected, you ask honest questions about their experience and they give honest feedback. It might not all be good, but you’ve proven to them every step of the way that you appreciate the opportunity to work for them.
In this example, you brought value through communication, fostered confidence in the anticipated work and then delivered value by completing the expected work, checking-in along the way.
Banking – A customer wants to re-finance their home mortgage. This is a process that may take up to 14 days so you walk them through the process, educating them along the way. The process starts and you work to keep them informed during each step, letting them know “<this> happened, so next will be <this>”. At times, the client might give you a response similar to “OK, sounds good. Thanks for the call.” This isn’t dismissive or meant to be demeaning… they know you have their back and trust you to take it to the next step. The financial world is a black hole for most and you’ve done your due diligence to educate and keep them informed.
Medical – Patient Care – You enter a patients room, they’re staying there for a few days and they look uncomfortable. You’re there to take blood for the test their doctor just ordered but you see they are uncomfortable. You focus on their needs and ask what you can do to help them. The patient asks for another pillow and some water. You take the blood sample and immediately get them another pillow and glass of water, not in 10 minutes when you circle back to the room. You’re communications device is screaming in your ear…. another patient (or patients) need your help ASAP… but right now you are focused on this one patient. Just that little bit of focus, providing immediate value to the customer, has won them over. They know you have their back and are there to help make sure their stay will be as comfortable as you can make it.
“All In” Rating: 5/5
Following these two principles are both practical and pragmatic and my examples give further proof for my rating. These principles are easily adoptable, can be universally applied and, if you adopt these two principles, your overall delivery will improve!
Author’s Note: It is my opinion that the Agile Manifesto is arguably one of the most valuable documents to come out of the IT departments of the corporate world. The following post is my interpretation of the Agile Manifesto using my own experiences as a Scrum Master, Project/Program Manager and PMO Manager. At the end you will see my “All In” rating – this is my level of agreement/adherence/commitment to what’s been discussed. I encourage you to leave a comment should your experiences lead you to a different interpretation – a healthy dialog is just that, healthy.