Twenty-one years ago, 17 software engineers published the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, more commonly known as the Agile Manifesto. Responding to the bureaucratic waterfall model of software development, with its linear phases and heavy documentation, these engineers advocated a more flexible approach, one that could adapt and succeed in a highly dynamic environment.
Agile Doesn’t Work Without Psychological Safety
Scrums and kanbans can’t help you if you’ve got a legacy culture that punishes vulnerability.
February 21, 2022
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Summary.
During the last 20 years, the agile movement has gained astonishing momentum, even outside of software development. There’s agile HR, agile project management, agile customer service, agile sales, agile operations, agile C-suite, and so on. But approximately half of organizations that undertake agile transformations fail in their attempts. If your team has yet to reap the rewards of agile, you need to understand what’s preventing you from delivering the fast, frictionless, scalable solutions you envisioned. After evaluating several agile teams and conducting a series of interviews with leading agile experts, the author believes the primary factor is disregard for the first value of the Agile Manifesto: “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” Here are five practical ways to increase psychological safety to foster a collaborative, successful agile team.