Beauty and the beast — A tale of ADHD in Agile teams
Once upon a time in the Tech world ADHD was another mystified — sometimes romanticized — mental disorder that affects more people than we know, and that shows just how too-typical our ways of working are.
First things first, let’s go through a simplified definition of ADHD.
Into the realm of ADHD
ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. It is characterized by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. And it actually has three subtypes: Primarily Inattentive, Primarily Hyperactive-Impulsive, or Combined.
Understandably, it makes a lot of neurotypical people wonder:
Is this a personality trait? Can’t people with ADHD just… choose to focus more? Put some more effort? Have more willpower? Just…do it?
The answer is no. ADHD can’t be prevented, cured, or ignored. Here’s why:
ADHD is an impulse disorder with genetic components that results from imbalances of neurotransmitters that carry inter-neural messages. The most common one results in low levels of dopamine: the neurotransmitter involved in feelings related to pleasure, motivation and regulation of attention¹.
In other words, the ADHD brain is literally chemically wired differently than the typical brain. And it’s this chemical imbalance that shows in behaviors, decisions, and symptoms that seem atypical.
It is more common than we think though.
ADHD is one of the most common childhood neurological disorders — and for 50–65% of individuals, the disorder persists into adulthood. Recent studies² also show that ADHD affects more than 2.8% of adults between ages 18–44 overall (and 4.4% in the US). It is also widely admitted that those numbers are misleading because of underdiagnosis.
So you probably know someone around you with ADHD. And if you think you don’t, well, you’re reading one right now.
As an agile lead who recently got diagnosed with ADHD, I’ve been taking note of ways Agile practices are supportive to individuals with ADHD (Beauty), and other ways of working that become a source of anxiety (the beast).
In order to understand how Beauty meets the beast, it’s important to first understand the symptoms of ADHD.
Not a superpower nor a curse
ADHD, like any other mental disorder, can be experienced differently from one person to another. That being said, there are traits, behaviors, and symptoms that are common.
- Trouble concentrating and staying focused: adults with ADHD are able to focus on tasks they find stimulating or engaging. However, when it comes to mundane tasks, it becomes a lot more difficult to stay focused without getting distracted by irrelevant ideas, sights, or sounds, and to bounce from one activity to another, or become bored quickly.
- Hyperfocus: the other side of the coin is the tendency to hyper-fixate or to become absorbed in tasks that are stimulating and rewarding (causing a delicious dopamine rush) to the point of becoming oblivious to everything that’s happening around. This can lead to losing track of time and neglecting responsibilities or other priorities easily.
- Executive dysfunction: executive function is the cognitive process that organizes thoughts and activities, prioritizes tasks, manages time efficiently, and makes decisions³. Because of executive dysfunction, adults with ADHD might show behaviors like procrastination, disorganization, forgetfulness, choice paralysis…etc.
- Impulsivity: by definition refers to acting without thinking first. Adults with ADHD can show behaviors such as impatience, interrupting others (or talking over them), poor self-control, addictive tendencies, emotional outbursts, inappropriate or rude spontaneous comments…etc.
- Hyperactivity or restlessness: adults with ADHD can seem energetic, intense, or agitated. Some obvious symptoms are racing thoughts, talking excessively, craving excitement, having trouble remaining still, needing to switch focus or fidgeting to cope with the pressure of staying sat for a long time.
These symptoms are not problems, and people with ADHD do not need to be fixed. What they need are nurturing environments where they can thrive, and systems that will help them navigate work and achieve professional goals.
It turns out the Tech industry is one of those environments: the fast pace, the problem solving, and the creativity make it a reliable place of abundant source of dopamine hits.
Agile software development being the most used approach in the Tech industry to help teams self-organize and deliver value, it is only natural to ask ourselves: how do team members with ADHD experience Agile?
When Beauty…
If you think about it, most ADHD symptoms are related to executive dysfunctions, and what does Agile pretend to improve if not executive dysfunctional projects?
Years-long projects, unattainable business goals, flaky roadmaps, unprioritized tasks, “deadlines”, never-ending meetings, lack of flexibility, miscommunication, top-down decision making, lack of accountability and ownership…and the list of bad management practices goes on.
By addressing the executive dysfunctions of a project (or a product) as a small group, Agile helps reduce the amount of executive functioning each individual needs to do. It also enables individuals to build coping skills and systems that could help team members with ADHD perform better and enjoy their working experience.
Here are some examples:
- Ceremonies: brief, time-boxed, and highly participatory meetings are designed to minimize distractions and make the whole “meeting experience” more tolerable. Also, the consistency of meeting formats and goals helps reduce anxiety related to “what to expect”.
- Sprints and reviews: clear sprint goals, regular sprint reviews, and code reviews help develop a sense of ownership and accountability at both the team and individual levels. This can help maintain focus on the agreed priorities and drive team members with ADHD to stay on track.
- Visualization of the work: visualizing tasks is a common technique to help people with ADHD plan better. When breaking down epics into smaller stories and visualizing the work on sprint boards, team members with ADHD are able to visualize progress which can help with slumping motivation.
- Customer-centricity and value-oriented: interest-based nervous system means that it needs to be (highly) stimulated. Understanding customers' pain points and the value of the work brings purpose, and therefore can be a strong incentive for team members with ADHD. Achieving goals will feel much more rewarding and have an even bigger impact — a huge and very much needed dopamine rush.
- Extreme programming (XP) practices: designed to produce higher quality software and a higher quality of life for the development team, practices like pair programming minimize the risks of isolation, task paralysis, and imposter syndrome thanks to collaboration, knowledge sharing, and camaraderie.
- Retrospectives: self-reflection and self-awareness are some of the key skills to help manage ADHD symptoms. At the individual level it is done through journaling or meditation, at the team level it’s through retrospectives.
Generally speaking, Agile provides:
- structure, which is especially beneficial to team members with ADHD because it provides external control — ideal for people struggling with self-control.
- flexibility, which enables team members with ADHD to adjust depending on their motivation levels and focus.
- and the team factor, meaning that practices are shared by everyone and team members with ADHD are not singled out as they are part of a whole.
This all sounds so ideal, what could go wrong?
… meets the beast,
Surprise, surprise, it is us — people.
From managers to fellow team members, regardless of how inclusive we want to be, we tend to go under the assumption that everyone is a neurotypical person until told otherwise — and even then, we don’t seem to know how to approach this in a practical way.
With this assumption that we’re all neurotypical, we build neurotypical expectations, neurotypical standards, and neurotypical habits… except that, we’re not all neurotypical.
The clash is inevitable.
When a team member shows repetitive atypical behaviors such as the inability to focus, interrupting others, absences, tardiness, distractibility, forgetfulness, missing deadlines…etc. — instead of self-reflecting on the team and how we are failing in applying those ideal Agile practices mentioned above— the most common immediate reaction is to draw conclusions about the individual like a lack of maturity, a lack of ownership, negativity, or even laziness or lack of intelligence.
In the best case scenario, the approach to “help” this team member is then to draw a personal development plan heavy on soft skills requirements and a close follow-up with their manager. In the worst-case scenario, the team member is pushed out.
“You need to learn to stay centered, learn to stay focused, adapt to our ways of working.”
To show you how ridiculous and unrealistic this request is, think of the equivalent of this sentence to someone with a physical disability, like for instance someone in a wheelchair.
“If this is not accessible to you, you need to crawl your way, or learn to walk.”
Can you see it?
Rather than pushing them for unattainable goals, teams need to first reflect on where they’re failing as a team, and companies need to start accommodating neurodiverse team members the same way they accommodate team members with physical disabilities, parents who need to leave earlier for the kids, or expatriates who need a break to handle their visa. Meaning they need to take the disorder as a factor, not as an impediment.
In the case of team members with ADHD symptoms, the best way to help is:
- Refrain from judging and get informed
- Provide psychological safety for them to share their struggles and ask them how you can help
- Provide coaching because although there is no cure for ADHD, there are systems and tools that can help
- Don’t single them out, make it a team effort
So, fairy tale or just another toxic relationship?
You got it.
Beauty is in the practices, concepts, and processes that enable a person with ADHD to build systems that help them navigate work efficiently and achieve their professional goals with joy and satisfaction.
And the beast is in how we - people - keep trying to fit individuals in the same typical box we think is the one-for-all recipe for success. Which leads to valuable team members feeling inadequate, demotivated, and - in a worse scenario - experiencing anxiety on a regular basis.
Considering one of the most basic principles of the agile manifesto is “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”, I find it ironic (but not surprising) that the blind spot of many professionals who work in Agile is still in the “people” part.
It is our responsibility as Agile professionals (and team members) to advocate for an inclusive work environment.
So let’s ask ourselves…
- Why the blind spot?
- How truly inclusive is the company culture we want to build?
- How do we support the success of our neurodiverse team members?
- How knowledgeable in that matter and aware are the people we promote into leadership positions?