“What are you staring at?” said the coach next to me. I was looking up in the air, blank-faced, dumbfounded.
It had been brewing for months. The same old impediments, the tired retrospectives. “We keep raising this issue ..”, or “we’re at the mercy of another department..” or “there’s no budget”.
I stared up again. All that was missing was a sign saying “Warning: Agile Glass Ceiling”.
What is this glass ceiling? It’s where:
- The hidden agendas lie
- Agile buzzwords and hype stop
- The “Adapt” part of “Inspect and Adapt” gets squelched
- Gamesmanship trumps transparency
- The pain of managing change outweighs the benefits
Forget “being agile”, or even doing agile for that matter. The glass ceiling is the ultimate “impediment” to agility.
Care to test out my theory? Try these scenarios on for size:
- Facts on the ground directly contradict the company line
- Your boss tells you “we have to make schedule no matter what”
- Leadership promotes managers as a reward for “driving the teams”
- You’re explicitly told not to cooperate with another individual or group
- Staff is downsized in the name of “becoming lean-agile”
If the above items make you cringe then you’re likely bumping into the ceiling.
As the patient coach stood by waiting for his answer, I turned to him and said: “I dunno, but something is definitely there. And I’m going to find out what it is.”
Typical agile coach.