Will we ever meet these elusive, enigmas?

• Are there many layers of ‘management’ between people building your site/application (the team), and the people who are providing the funding and support (stakeholders) - does ‘management’ get in the way?
• How accessible are the stakeholders, is feedback from them delayed?
• Do you receive requirements such as — ‘we need a Content Management System’, rather than ‘we need a way to send marketing information to customers’ ?
• Do you ask for permission, when you should just make a decision and get on with the work?

Asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission.

How can we change the answers to these questions?

• Ask for direct access to stakeholders, and explain the benefits (quicker feedback, more agility…)
• Explain the problems and cost caused by slow feedback, and ask to improve the relationship with stakeholders.
• Refuse to work on requirements that have a suggested solution. There should be a business problem to be solved instead.
• Stop asking for permission where it’s not needed - if you want to be taken seriously as a team you need to make decisions.
• Take responsibility for your work, and continue until you get told to do something else.

Waiting for permission paralyses agile projects
— if you’re in this situation and can’t fix it, you’ll never be agile.