Rethinking the Manager’s Relationship with Agile Teams

Esther has an M.A. in Organizational Leadership, is the author of over 100 articles, and co-author of "Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great" and "Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management". She’s a founder of the AYE Conference, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Agile Alliance. www.estherderby.com.

  Agile   Communications Management   Talent Management  

In the early days of agile, some pundits (and developers) cried, “We don’t need no stinking managers!” By now, most people realize that organizations still need management (and people in management roles) after they adopt agile methods. However, if those organizations want all the benefits of agile, managers must also change the way they work.

Managers can play an even more valuable role in organizations as teams become self-organizing and take on more responsibility. But if managers want teams to take more self-responsibility, they need to shift their focus from monitoring the day-to-day work of individuals and let teams grow up. Here are three common areas of confusion as managers and teams negotiate their new relationships.

Messing with Team Membership
No group is a team the first day they are together. Becoming a team takes time--time to learn how each person fits in and contributes, time to learn how to work together, time to develop group identity and trust. If you want the benefit of the team effect, provide the enabling conditions:

• A clear and compelling goal
• Appropriate constraints
• Stable membership
• Time for the team to gel

Plucking people off the team or poking people into the team causes a “re-set” in the team-forming process. Mess with the membership often enough and people will stop trying. …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.