In 2001, seventeen people met to discuss alternatives to old-school, documentation driven waterfall software development processes – and what emerged was the Agile Manifesto. The Agile Manifesto outlined new values and principles for software development. As we’ve seen the move to cloud computing and global development teams, every company is now a tech company. Everything from Nordstrom to Jeep, Amazon to SoundCloud – from Walmart to Skype – from Expedia to Delta, companies have all moved to an agile development process, which has radically changed delivery cycles – and the focus on the user experience is unprecedented.
Given the impact on the production practices in the tech industry, can these practices influence the way managers or HR professionals operate? Here are a select few of the values and principles:
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Responding to change over following a plan
- Continuous Delivery
- Requirements can change, even late in the game
- Build projects around motivated people
- Sustainable Pace
- Self-Organizing Teams
- Reflect, Tune, and Adjust
We are living in a time of great change. Globalization, smart devices, ubiquitous connectivity, social media, and the influence of technology on virtually every industry are all changing the way we work.
Management as a discipline is influenced by these fundamental changes. Command and control hierarchies have been disrupted. A new generation is entering the workforce and we need to think about how management and HR professionals respond to the needs of “the user” just as agile development has shown the way. As Professor Julian Birkinshaw of London Business School explains, “we need to rethink how management works by focusing on the needs and aspirations of the managed, rather than on the perspective of the one doing the managing.”
We can look to agile principles for guidance. These have served the technology industry well in the move from boxed software to rapid iteration to build cloud services – and will serve managers as we move from Gen X to Millennials and Gen Z.
How might self-organizing teams might work in your industry? Are there things you can do to create centers of gravity to allow motivated people to opt-in to special projects? How do you recruit new and diverse talent? How do today’s leaders remain adaptable with their plans and how do they create an environment where a new hire has the opportunity for immediate input?
We are entering a new age, where machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data are all influencing and changing the way we operate.
As this revolution moves forward, it’s important that HR professionals take an agile approach – thinking about the “customer” – the “lives of the managed” – and how can managers iterate and rapidly innovate in the way they manage to help motivate next gen workers to deliver great value and experiences.
As an HR professional – how are you challenging the managers to adopt agile practices – to focus on the lives of the managed, to take feedback and iterate. What are the measures and heuristics you look at to guide future direction to build more effective organizations?
Ross Smith, FRSA Modern Workplace Engineering - Supportability Ross is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and blogger. Author of The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention and holds seven patents. He is currently a Ph.D. Scholar, part of University College Dublin's SmartLab program, researching the impact of AI, robotics, and automation on worker displacement. He has worked at Microsoft for over 28 years and is a member of the Leadership Council for the Anita Borg Institute, co-chair for Grace Hopper Organizational Transformation track. He is a co-leader of ABI Local in Seattle, and part of the gender partner LT and ”male ally” panel discussions at the IEEE Women in Technology and National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Summit and TechCrunch. Work with iUrbanTeen and Native Americans at Microsoft. He is a member of the board of Spreeha, working to break the cycle of poverty. Developed 42projects to promote cultural change, develop organizational trust and improve the lives of the managed. To help develop the next generation’s interest in STEAM (STEM+Arts), he works with Skype in the Classroom program and events like iUrbanTeen day at Microsoft. He was invited to the White House for discussion on women in STEM. Keynote speaker for the ARTBA’s Transovation 2014-2016. The work of his teams has been mentioned in Forbes, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, PSFK, the American Journal of Play, Harvard Business Review, and the London School of Business. He has presented at SXSW, MIT Solve, Grace Hopper, Serious Play, Games for Change, and several other large conferences. His academic research papers are published on ResearchGate. He is a blogger for SHRM has worked on Skype Translator. He is an avid reader and loves to travel.
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