A forest once experienced a flood. The swollen river had breached its banks and water inundated the forest floor. It was not a good time for the animals, more specifically those that lived off the land. Fortunately, in the middle of the forest was a rocky outcrop, an elevated table that rose from the ground. It was here that all the animals were safe.
The situation was precarious. Hunter and hunted were now together. Resources were limited. The time now hinged on when the water level receded in the river. It looked like it would take a couple of months. Then something strange happened. The animals started to exist in harmony. They did not pounce on one another, they did not push the other away to make space, instead, they started to look for innovative ways of nourishment. Living with what was present for them, by existing and innovating within given conditions. That was now the new normal!
Agile Teams we have worked with during the lockdown, are akin to these animals. They have adapted and persevered. The Scrum values of Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage took a new meaning for all of us. Suddenly, they were just not words, they became the new normal of working in these disruptive times! They literally became the rallying points on which we built a whole new way of working. Disruptive times only means that existing patterns have been altered. It does not mean opportunities no longer exist. The same opportunities exist, just that one needs to create new patterns and achieve them in altered conditions.
So what is that we at Leadership Tribe do, to create new ways of working, such that we never lost the essence of working as Agile Teams in spite of the challenges that we faced?
We innovated five new patterns or new ways of working.
Increasing Number of Rituals:
Teams were now abruptly distributed. We had to work remotely. That meant spending more time working online. Instead of engaging in unscheduled and open-ended zoom meetings, we created two Stand Up meetings a day. This gave us the space to communicate not only what we are committing for the day, but also to freely express the impediments or blockers that each of us faced. Two Stand Up’s a day clearly communicating and addressing just blockers (personal and professional) became the most important issue for us on a daily basis. We also increased the number of times we did our Sprint Planning & Sprint Reviews in a week. All the while, ensuring the meetings were strictly time-boxed and the safety of people respected.
Modifying Retrospectives:
We modified our Retrospectives by changing the format. What we started to discuss on were; Mistakes We Made, Mistakes We Can Repeat, Mistakes We Cannot Repeat. By allowing for this psychological shift in making mistakes as something natural and a given, we quickly started to transform as a learning organization. Our team members were now ok to deal with the uncertainties of the conditions they faced and were able to deal with rapidly shifting mindsets more effectively.
Use of Online Tools:
We started to experiment with various online tools. We exploited all the free ones that existed! We used multiple online tools to create a better visualization of the work we did. If a tool became too cumbersome or complex, we simply abandoned it and simplified our processes, till we homed into just three primary tools to collaborate from. The aim was to convert most of what we used to do earlier in a near realistic fashion. Mural and Miro, for example, gave us the liberty to use the ubiquitous Post IT notes, while Trello got us back to the feel of Kanban.
Leadership Conversations:
The first Agile Value was paramount in our working philosophy; “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”. While we adapted and meshed in with various new online processes and tools, we could not lose focus of the essence of the human element and human interaction, irrespective of the fact that we were all forced to be separated by distance and time. We initiated leadership conversations with all our stakeholders, sponsors, and clients. A one-hour interaction just to converse on the realities of our respective worlds and how we are dealing with the consequences of this unprecedented global occurrence. We didn’t engage in coaching, facilitation, or mentoring. We just decided to listen, to just be ’there’. These conversations were an opportunity to build and strengthen human relationships, the business was not on the agenda. This was an opportunity for us to make friends!
Redesigning OKRs:
We went and redrew all our existing OKRs. Most of the proposed outcomes had lost their significance due to the fluctuating markets and economic uncertainties. Our clients were on a rethink in engaging with us, and we had to be proactive. We conducted a webinar to educate our clients on this issue and went onto reconsider almost 80% of our existing Key Results. We made new ones. Market sentiments, reduced business valuation, and apprehensive strategic thinking demanded we look at our existing Key Results and redefine them to the new normal. Our Objectives didn’t change, they still remain valid irrespective of the given circumstances. They are very much achievable.
Forests are sensitive habitats. They are at the peril of nature’s wrath. Be it a fire, flood, or drought, the animals who co-exist in it are at her mercy. Yet, nature has a marvelous way of persevering through the odds. Animals, over years of evolutionary change, adapt, and survive. While individual entities may perish, the species doesn’t. Nature only creates a mass extinction, it isn’t selective. We humans, too are masters at adaptation. It is our ability to stay connected that has got us to the very top of the living order. Agile teams are an epitome of human efficiency and perseverance. It is built on Values and Principles that are agnostic to external circumstances and disruptions. In fact, the very existence of Agile is to effectively and efficiently navigate through a VUCA world.
We have done just that.
