Learning Resository Catalyst Mike Caspar

As I learn to bring OpenAgile to different types of organizations and people, I'll keep updating this little mini repository of Open Agile specific thoughts.

I am not an official OpenAgile Catalyst but am actively working on this capacity (mostly because it's just fun!)

To me, being a Catalyst is the most rewarding part of the process as it really involves breaking new ground. Call it pioneering if you wish. There are definite challenges though. You've all heard the saying "Agile is not a silver bullet". Well, that is because it's hard to get rolling where it didn't exist before.

It's a task of getting people to trust each other, trust the organizations they work for and a true belief in Team Work. There are of course many books written about these topics... Let's get to some specific observations about what I've learned so far in trying to introduce Open Agile.

The need to break the rules of Agile to get the process rolling
Let's take the idea of team members volunteering for tasks during the cycle. This will be a new concept to team members, managers, owners, and pretty much any one who has not seen the process work.

Here is the first problem. Just one example to use.... As new Team Members have no experience with this idea, they will try and pre-plan during the cycle planning. This is natural. As the Catalyst, you will have no choice but to interject and help the team to start doing things the Agile way. You may have to re-assign a task to another person on the team, disallow someone from doing a task or something else draconian of this nature.

This is where the difficulty arises.

As everyone who is familiar with Agile knows, assigning work is a sure way to remove someone from the team. Also, the fact that you are imposing your will on the team to get them started is in itself a direct violation of the principles of OpenAgile (or even Agile in general).

I find there are two important things that you need to realize in yourself. It is hard but it is important to realize that the longer you are in this mode, the longer it will take for the team to switch to be on their own.

During a recent discussion with another Catalyst, it became clear to me that I am not along with this realization. Some times, you may simply need to have the authority to let team members go or move them to other teams. Not everyone will be prepared for the transformation right now. It's a hard process to implement and not everyone will be on side. It may take time for everyone to come on side. Some may never do so.

Be honest with yourself and your team members and stakeholders. Truthfulness is a Foundation of OpenAgile. It cannot succeed without it. Just like you review how your cycle went, you also need to review how your current cycle of implementation is going. Perhaps you should consider doing your implementation in cycles (just though of that actually).

There are many organizational changes that have to take place and they will not be readily accepted by everyone.

Having the authority to make hard decisions to move the initial process along, seems to be a required part of the process. This in itself is so Anti-Agile, it's kind of concerning to think about. Each time you do something that pushes the team along (for new adoptions), if you think about it, you're actually doing something against the principles of OpenAgile.

There will be (and you should recognize it), a "Tipping Point" when it's time for the scales to go the other way. You need to work to reach this point as soon as you can to get the benefits of Agile. Otherwise, you will be simply introducing a new form of management.

I find that the hardest part is starting to "chip away" at all the damage you've done with the initial introduction in the first place.

An example is that at first you will work hard to ensure that the Review Meetings are happening appropriately. You will be giving guidance as to what should happen, ensure they don't go on forever, have appropriate discussion and learning.

After a while though, people will be looking to you all the time for "advice" or "guidance". This is not a good sign. The sooner you get the team working on their own, the better. I guess here, the borders get kind of fuzzy into the Coaching Capacity, but I think the point is clear.

When you have this part of the process working properly, it's very important to break this control that you have and give the power to the team. The sooner the better. I think an appropriate way to consider this is that the sooner you can move from Catalyst to Coaching, the better of you are.

In summary, to bring Agile to a group, you have to be willing to actually break it's principles to get it going (or so it seems to me). This is hard to deal with and can be quite disconcerting. Just make sure you DECIDE to do specific things to help get teams rolling. Don't let situations bring you to decisions you cannot reverse later.

Teams that are new to Agile do need some guidance. Managers, stakeholders, and team members need to learn the ropes some how. It will not be easy for everyone.

And one last thing... Ask your peers for advice !!

In the OpenAgile community, you will find many open-minded people who are more than happy to help.

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