Introduction: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-pattern): “An anti-pattern in software engineering, project management, and business processes is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive.”
Personas are fictional characters representing commonalities of a representative sample of a system. They draw a comprehensive picture of the users.
Let us look at one persona ‘Waterfall Wix‘ popular in Software Service Companies that are in their early stages of Agile Transformation.
Persona: Waterfall Wix
- Role: Delivery Manager in a Software Service Company
- Background:
- Experience: 15+ years in a reputed software services company
- Education: PMP Certified, MBA from a premier institute
- Traits:
- Rigidity: Clings to the waterfall methodology’s linear, phase-based approach, viewing change as disruptive and delays as inevitable.
- Over Planning: Insists on comprehensive project plans and detailed estimates before starting development.
- Micromanagement and Meeting Overkill: Runs multiple status meetings, overwhelming the team.
- Fear of Failure: Prioritizes sticking to the plan over flexibility, hesitant to experiment or adapt based on new information.
- “I had been there, done that”: Prefers familiar methods over new ones due to past experiences.
Quotes:
- “We need to have everything planned out before we start.”
- “I need daily updates on what everyone is doing.”
- “Why do we need another review meeting? We already know what needs to be done.”
Impact on Agile Implementation:
- Frustrated Stakeholders: Lack of communication and inflexible delivery schedules leave stakeholders in the dark and dissatisfied.
- Demotivated Team: Micromanagement and a rigid environment stifle creativity and team morale, limiting the ability to innovate and adapt to changes.
- Increased Risk: The lack of flexibility increases the risk of failure to deliver value incrementally.
How to Avoid Being a ‘Waterfall Wix’:
- Embrace Change: Through training and coaching, help Wix understand the importance of adapting to new information and user feedback. Encourage openness to iterating and improving continuously.
- Incremental Transition: Gradually transition from Waterfall to Agile, allowing Wix to experience the benefits firsthand.
- Empower the Team: Encourage Wix to empower the team and trust their ability to self-organize and deliver value.
- Focus on Value and Outcomes: Shift the focus from rigid plans and documentation to delivering customer value and incremental outcomes.
- Communication is Key: Keep stakeholders, both internal and external, informed and involved throughout the development process.
Conclusion: By understanding and addressing the traits of “Waterfall Wix,” teams can navigate the challenges of Agile implementation more effectively. The strategies provided offer practical steps to foster a successful and adaptive Agile environment, ensuring continuous improvement and value delivery.
9 Responses
An interesting “angle”! There is usually an emphasis on empathy among team members for better team work and self-organization. Would teams truly consider the manager/leader also as part of the team? Needs some mindset change. I think Emotional Intelligence training/coaching should bring out this aspect – that EI (Empathy being part of it) does not draw boundaries of applicability! Enjoyed reading a refreshingly different blog…
Thanks, Shiv. Yes, completely agree with your point on EI’s role in this regard. Gopal
Nice angle! And nice twist in the title of the blog!
Good perspective, which is normally missed.
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Nice article, Gopal.
We all know one filed where downwards empathy is hardly ever seen, but upward empathy is expected and demanded. Politics.
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Nice article, Gopal! Very good insight. Practicing Empathy needs an effort as it needs seeing the world from the perspective of the another person. It is all the more difficult when you do not see everything that the other person sees. I remember one instance in my life when a manager reporting to me was promoted to senior manager’s post and moved away from me on a new, higher level assignment. After a few days she came to meet me and I enquired how she was doing on the new role. She said, “Milind now I know the kind of pressure you faced from above. You never passed that onto us and kept us shielded. Now I know how difficult your role and life is. I am trying to be like you!” So, the true empathy comes out of having experienced similar situations yourself.
So, Milind is the message “a little empathy is better than a late empathy”?
Gopal,
Nice blog.
This is a very valid and necessary perspective that everyone should have.
Somehow, in most organizations, just like ‘agile’ is considered as something for the teams and team members, these may be labeled as management and only for managers – as part of the leadership development plans.
Some ways how I have contextualized this in some situations:
• At an individual contributor level: connecting to empathy as a key skill for design thinking [observing and understanding users]
• At a team level: the togetherness and one-team idea [teams making commitments, the huddles in cricket and other sports etc], to use daily standups, for example, to recalibrate oneself after sensing how the others feel on that day or in a particular situation
• For managers: understanding and doing what they can, to make their managers successful, particularly when the complaint is that my manager does not understand me or my needs