An Agile Coach and a supervisor walked into #Agile2015...

Did you hear the one about the Agile Coach and Sr. Tech Manager who walked into an Agile Conference? I didn't know where I fit in!

For about a year and a half I have been an Agile Coach. Before that I was essentially the Agile Coach for a subset of the organization, and a Scrum Master before that. And before I was a Scrum Master, I was a Java developer. I've never worn a "manager" hat before.

Just prior to #Agile2015, I found myself moving my family over a thousand miles away from our home of 7 years to take a position as a Sr. Tech Manager. Anyone who knows me knows that being an Agile Coach was perfect for me because that's just what I do naturally, so those behaviors - that mindset - are not going away. So how does one be both an Agile Coach and a manager?

I guess we'll find out!

I took advantage of the largest annual Agile conference to explore the space and get some advice from people who are far more expert than myself. I attended some fantastic sessions, including:

• "Mentoring vs Coaching: Show Me the Difference" by Lyssa Adkins
• "A Systems Approach to Modern Leadership" by Matt Barcomb
• "Build Strong Teams through Trust & Alignment" by David Hawks and Doc List
• "Road to No Management" by Pawel Brodzinski (my colleagues found my attending this session particularly humorous)
• "Swarming: The Birds, the Bees, and Agile -or- How Managers Influence Self-Organization" by Dhaval Panchal (and, apparently, Thomas Perry, though Dhaval did pretty much all the presenting)
• "Amplify Learning in Your Organization" by, again, Matt Barcomb
• "Benefiting from Conflict - Building Antifragile Relationships and Teams" by Jake Calabrese

I attended several other sessions, but these in particular stood out to me. I think Lyssa's was recorded, and I certainly recommend watching it once it is posted online.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that I learned, but here are some common themes that I've managed to identify so far:

1. A good manager and a good Agile Coach should look an awful lot alike
2. Control is an illusion; trust and collaboration get results
3. My number one job as a manager is to work on the environment that my people work in - given the right environment, the people will thrive and value will get delivered
4. Decentralizing control (decisions) is faster and tends to drive better results...
5. ... as long as you also decentralize the information necessary to make the best decisions
6. It is not enough for a person or team to be robust/resilient - we must set our sights on antifragility
7. There is no silver bullet - managers, too, must be committed to continuous improvement

I will be conducting experiments based on what I've learned and sharing the results - as much as I'm able - as they come to fruition. I am under no delusion that all (or any) of my experiments will be eagerly accepted or wildly successful, but I am certain that I will learn from each of them and come out a better manager and coach.

So tell me, what advice do you have for me as I start this journey? Or, if you also attended #Agile2015, what learnings would you like to share? I'm eager to learn as much as I can from as many of you as I can!

The HiPPO vs. The Dude - The Eternal Prioritization Battle

If you didn't already know, I'm a huge fan of David Hussman's "Dude's Law", which states that "Value = Why? / How?". I've used this concept both in coaching in general (as it was intended), as well as a fun and easy way to execute Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) prioritization.

A universal obstacle to value-driven prioritization is the HiPPO - the Highest Paid Person's Opinion. I still encounter this in organizations that have been on their Agile journey for over a year. It's painful for me to hear them explain the difficulties they have with changing priorities while being held accountable for the successful delivery of original commitments. Yet, when I recommend they quantify their value somehow, they explain that it can't be done. Priorities are set by people that have much more subject matter expertise and are "above my pay-band". They have to obey the HiPPO.

How does one respond to the HiPPO? With the immortal words of The Dude, of course!

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, uh, your opinion, man."

Opinions are important, but we want everyone's opinion and we want to put those opinions in context of all the available options! When a conversation framework is used to turn opinions into a quantitative estimate that can drive consistent and objective prioritization of work, it becomes easy to justify a change in plans. When teams track how much value they delivered relative to what was committed to (instead of static features or objectives) then the reluctance to take on valuable, unplanned work goes away; even more importantly, the team is armed with the data to push-back against unplanned work that really isn't as valuable as the HiPPO made it seem!

The HiPPO vs. The Dude

Dude's Law isn't the only way to prioritize work. There are other techniques you may decide to use, just know that if you stick with the HiPPO you run the risk of seriously damaging team morale and momentum. The HiPPO destroys, the Dude abides.