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I think the problem is that people think Agile is a magic potion to fix dysfunctional teams and it isn't. Agile only works if your team works well together. The

by ebbv 11y ago

I think the problem is that people think Agile is a magic potion to fix dysfunctional teams and it isn't. Agile only works if your team works well together. There's any of number of ways for the team or the PO or the customers to make sure a project fails, whether you're operating in an Agile way or not. We switched to SCRUM last year at work and things have been amazing. My tune may change over time, but when we stick to the system we've developed things are great. 80% of our time is about getting work done. We focus on one project at a time and we deliver high quality code. But there's more ways to make things fail than there are to make it succeed, and Agile is not a solution to people being terrible.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
I was under the impression Agile was just the opposite - used to give structure to dysfunctional teams so they could learn to work together? Old established teams don't need more structure - they have grown processes that work for them.
- ebbv 11y ago
  Agile doesn't give structure when compared with Waterfall (traditional project management), usually an Agile system is less structured (at least IMHO), and will have less meetings, shorter planning discussions, etc. If your team is dysfunctional Agile will not fix that. Agile requires a functioning team that can communicate together and invested in working together.
- jschwartzi 11y ago
  People don't get dysfunctional just because they have no structure. When people talk about dysfunctional teams, they're referring to behavior similar to that found in a dysfunctional family. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysfunctional_family https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysfunctional_family
- UK-AL 11y ago
  Agile has a lot less structure compared to traditional project management. Decisions are made by developers, peers review each other instead of managers etc Agile is about letting go of the traditional command and control thinking(Managers controlling employees, managers approving work, managers setting deadlines), and into trusting your developers to make good decisions, trust that they are not slacking and peer review.

by ebbv 11y ago

JoeAltmaier 11y ago

I was under the impression Agile was just the opposite - used to give structure to dysfunctional teams so they could learn to work together? Old established teams don't need more structure - they have grown processes that work for them.

ebbv 11y ago
Agile doesn't give structure when compared with Waterfall (traditional project management), usually an Agile system is less structured (at least IMHO), and will have less meetings, shorter planning discussions, etc. If your team is dysfunctional Agile will not fix that. Agile requires a functioning team that can communicate together and invested in working together.
jschwartzi 11y ago
People don't get dysfunctional just because they have no structure. When people talk about dysfunctional teams, they're referring to behavior similar to that found in a dysfunctional family. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysfunctional_family https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysfunctional_family
UK-AL 11y ago
Agile has a lot less structure compared to traditional project management. Decisions are made by developers, peers review each other instead of managers etc Agile is about letting go of the traditional command and control thinking(Managers controlling employees, managers approving work, managers setting deadlines), and into trusting your developers to make good decisions, trust that they are not slacking and peer review.