The Agile Executive

Bart has been in ecommerce for over 20 years, and can't imagine a better job to have. He is interested in all things agile, or anything new to learn.

  Agile   Estimating   Leadership   Strategy   ProjectsAtWork  

Leaders in agile organizations trade command and control for flexibility and freedom. They communicate the vision for a product or change, and then allow teams to figure out how to deliver the best outcome, removing barriers to success along the way.

In the traditional leadership model, the executives of the company are the ones who are tasked with making all the decisions. This not only includes corporate direction, but also what products to build, what features to include, when to ship the product, and how it should be built. Even minor choices, such as team sizes or composition can come from above. These decisions are usually told to the layer of management below them, who are responsible for communicating to the levels below them, and so forth. It’s a process called “cascading communications.”

Leaders and executives of an agile organization have a different role. Rather than tell their teams what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, they are responsible for determining and communicating the vision for the company and the product, and then allowing the team to figure out how to deliver the best outcome. Instead of making all the decisions, their role is help facilitate that the decisions get made, and help the team optimize the way they are working. The agile executive trades command and control for flexibility, higher productivity and morale, and …

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