Failure, time wasting & having the same policies as the mafia. What I have learnt from a year of agile project management
Transitioning from being an executive PA to an Agile Project Manager has been the best, scariest and most lager fuelled 12 months of my professional life. Looking back over the past year I have tried to gather up what I think is the most important advice I have for anyone is the same position. I am sure that these things are common in all new jobs but when you’ve got a big load of responsibility and feel insecure, blind panic can cloud what should be really obvious. So read on…
The first lesson a time old adage that still rings true. It’s really important to f*ck things up really badly. It’s the only way to learn, albeit in the most horrific way possible. My first project was a high profile, high risk, high importance offering that gave me plenty of opportunity to make some really bad choices and see the consequences as they unfolded. Agreeing and pushing for a really risky and unrealistic milestone to drive work? Not the best idea, especially when it disappeared and we are all left wondering what the bloody hell we are doing. Being told this or reading it is one thing, but actually having to deal with it was, in hindsight, a better way to learn.
The most valuable conversations you will have are almost never in a meeting room, they will be at the lunch table/tea room/pub/night bus. I have learnt the value of idle chit chat. We try and build this into our work with cadences like 1–1s, but just having a rambling conversation with no agenda will unearth more information than if you have a stiff environment and limitations on what it is you want to discuss. You will learn about how people’s lives are going, how their jobs are going, what they like and dislike. This builds stronger working relationships and also means that you are far more likely to get a full overview of what is happening in one team or department. Knowledge is power, and the things you’ll learn from people during a chinwag might just remove a dependency or give you clarity on a tricky situation. It will also help build strong teams, happier people and better workplaces, as Google found out. So a day spent drifting from desk to desk catching up on the what happened over the weekend will be more productive than you think. No matter what anyone tells you about team motivation, people like cake a lot, but they like being listened to more, and you in turn will be listen to as well, which is nice.
Having the same policy as the mafia will work for your team. I don’t mean murder or horse’s heads, but if you join the mafia and you’re a made man (or woman) then you’re in, trusted, part of the team until proven otherwise. Rather than treating a new person in your established team with suspicion; bring them in, trust them explicitly and get them involved from the very beginning. Inclusion is a given and suspicion has to be earned rather than the other way round. People are far more likely to feel excited to be in the team and ready to get stuck into the work if they are on the inside from day one. This is why lots of companies with successful hiring techniques take prospective candidates out for drinks before they are offered the job, it’s a great way to increase individual safety that will seep into the culture, making teams safe. And also illegally selling bootleg cigarettes is a useful income stream (tell no one).
Have no pride. When you’re feeling insecure about your skills and knowledge can make it easy to clam up and pretend to know what’s going on, then go and have a secret Google in the toilet mid-meeting. It’s natural. But the more you can push yourself to ask the most (seemingly) stupid questions the more you will be armed with a huge treasure trove of wisdom. It will also make it easy for people to approach you and offer you mentoring or pairing. It’s worth bearing in mind that often “stupid” questions are key in raising risks and are usually very pertinent — but for when it’s not — don’t feel ashamed, just keep doing it.
Lastly — if I can say I have learnt one thing it’s that some meetings will last 4 hours and some will last 15 minutes. Follow your gut and learn when it’s a complete waste of time and cut it off, but (even though no one will thank you for it) if it has to run on, make everyone stay. That’s when cake becomes a useful motivator.
