People. Processes. Agility.
To ship high-quality software, much of organizations are either working in a scrum model or are trying to be there. That also means following certain values & principles of agile.
The Agile Manifesto has 4 values & 12 principles.
- Individuals and interactions(People) over processes and tools.
- Working software over comprehensive documentation.
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
- Responding to change by over-following a plan.
Starting from the first & favorite one here which is the prima facie of this article,
“People over processes & tools.”
This is the first value of the Agile manifesto. The Agile Manifesto says that it is the individuals who propel the development process so they must be given primacy over processes and tools. People should be valued more. because they answer the requirements of the business.
We all go and abide by all such agile values, & yes one should but what are the odds, they don’t fit well, have you tried being agile with them, eh? :)
The answer is usually NO because we all were trained & graduated with these values & principles.
With this I don’t mean one should not value people, one should do that as the utmost thing but what if there was a modified agile value that could suit us in this era better?
I present the thought semi-loud but abundantly clear.
What IF we could have;
“People o̶v̶e̶r̶ WITH Processes”
Wouldn’t there be so much ease, so much fluidness, so less to exhaust the leaders, and scrum masters on coaching & following even simplest of the things like the scrum ceremonies, creating respective tasks in project management tools, timely flags & resolutions?
When processes are laid down & followed, it helps to have;
- Consistency
- You and your team can access information to quickly solve problems and reduce downtime
- It improves the quality of service and increases customer satisfaction
- It’s the best way to ensure that everyone is on the same page and easily onboard new employees
- It reduces business risks & improves the stability of your business.
We often invest in people, be it the work timings, the work culture, streamlining leaves process, opportunities to learn, attend conferences & whatnot but in the end, are we there yet when we say
“as you sow, so shall you reap”
Again, in many cases, the answer is No.
The problem is we are failing to explain & coach our teams on the importance of process with real examples. How understanding the processes could have real benefits(some of them mentioned above).
Many a time we assume that if someone is told what agile values are or what scrum ceremonies are, we are done & we are agile. Yay!
Instead, think of how we can bring & coach our mates on how processes & agile can help them grow or even outgrow.
With neatly laid down processes & of course true adherence, a team can be more productive, more collaborative & yes success would have a different & better definition.
Also, to bring in effective processes, there are way & one of it is effective process documentation.
