AGILE IN ACTION

Granting authority (and freedom) to someone doesn't guarantee they will be empowered. If the environment is unsafe, or perceived to be unsafe, then the fear factor is likely to be too great for that person to speak up or take action. It feels like empowerment is something that comes from the environment itself. It's constructed between people, by the actions they take individually in the (physical and mental) space they occupy.

A bit of trust goes a long way . (Via Pascal Van Cauwenberghe ) David Anderson gives us a few tips on building trust: Be humble and respect the other Vulnerability disarms Apologise for poor results; take responsibility, even if you weren't involved in the delivery of the poor results; promise better; deliver Keep delivering, regularly, predictably Deliver daily on your personal commitments; deliver daily or weekly on team commitments Demonstrate competence; rehearse and practice for perfect delivery Be transparent Encourage learning from failure Get rid of command and control Build up a reputation Define clear values and principles; let them guide decision making

If you establish relationships that keep the other parties at arms-length and are based on contracts describing the expected results rather than the nature of the relationship, then each party will work for its own short-term gains, and the relationship is likely to break down over time as goals diverge, motives are questioned, and communication becomes forced. Nurture cooperative partnerships for the long-term that are built on mutual loyalty, trust and confidence, and which share the risks and the rewards. Treat your partners as extensions to your business and align incentives so that everybody works for the good of the partnership.

In a trusting environment, great swathes of bureaucracy can be removed, hierarchy can be flattened, and process can be simplified and streamlined, saving time and effort. Trusting relationships between organisations, teams and team members give people the freedom and confidence to experiment, learn, be creative, make decisions and share knowledge. People become more cooperative and collaborate on work. Communication becomes conversational and more effective. And a communal atmosphere grows as things become less formal. People are friendlier and more casual, and have fun. Untapped human potential is tapped. When trust is prevalent it's just so much easier to get stuff done.

Via Agile Buzz Forum Dave Churchville postulates that continous small wins create energy and momentum and are ultimately responsible for the success of agile projects . I agree. Without regular successes people become demotivated and unfocused. Visibility of progress disappears. And morale deteriorates as momentum is lost and the project drags on even more. It becomes a vicious circle. Frequent delivery provides visibility of progress, early and often feedback, and creates recurring opportunities to celebrate success . The success of delivering each iteration's worth of business value motivates the team to continue and improve. Seeing business value delivered reassures the product owner that collaboration with the team is working and this encourages the product owner to continue to steer the project effectively. All this helps to build a trusting relationship amongst everyone involved in the project.

The best way to gain trust is to give trust.

Jeffrey Phillips says it's a matter of trust.

You earn trust and that takes time, but you can lose that trust in a moment.

I recently explored a reference to Parker Palmer's "To Know As We Are Known". I was interested to read that Parker, a renowned educator, defines truth as an ongoing conversation about things that matter and sees "education creating an environment in which truth is practiced". As I was reading I found myself thinking of Scrum and the anecdotes told by Ken Schwaber in the CSM course I attended.