Modern Agile terms ambiguity — making a mountain out of a molehill?
What a difference a word makes?
I have been in quite some discussions about Modern Agile. Both in the physical world and online. While in general I have been engaged in very positive discussions I found that online some people have issues with a few of the Modern Agile terms.
One of the debated terms is “Modern” of “Modern Agile”. Why modern? Doesn’t modern suggest that it will be outdated soon?
Another debated term is “Make people awesome”. This could be read in several ways. One of the ways is to enforce/force people to be awesome.
My stance: Modern Agile is just a name. Just like #NoEstimates doesn’t mean that the intent is to never estimate again. It’s the content that matters. And on content Modern Agile delivers.
When going through the material for only half an hour it is easily understood what the true meaning of “Make people awesome” is. It’s not about a Product Owner cheering when the team closes another item on the Sprint Backlog (“yes, we are one step closer to making the sprint!”).
Also not about managers buying pizza while the team works extra hours (“how awesome that our boss orders us pizza. Now we can continue working while eating a slice”). Note: this is just an example that barely touches the surface of this principle, I know!
Instead “Make people awesome is”: “what holds people back and what do they aspire to achieve. How can we make them awesome?”.
Will the debated terms be misused, just like Scrum (and other frameworks, ideas, concepts) has been misused? Time will tell, but I am hopeful. Without the right mindset and intentions, why even bother investing in Modern Agile?
Did you like the article? Then it would be awesome if you’d clap 👏🏻
My twitter profile is https://twitter.com/WJAgeling
