Learning over Delivery

SCRUM & LEAN UX | Episode 6

Many organisations consider learning to be an activity to ‘do in your own time’ or you ‘should have done in school’. Many corporate cultures don’t consider learning as ‘being productive’ and can only be done ‘when there is time’.

Managing learning and delivery

To value development or delivery over learning is a mindset that is not just native to Waterfall. It also unfortunately thrives in the modern Agile industry where there is a continuous push for ever faster delivery / shorter time to market.

With the onset of “Agile Delivery Managers” as an attempt to rebrand the Scrum Master, the modern Agile industry seeks to stress Delivery even more. Although the specification of the role includes coaching and motivating the team to experiment, this will be trumped by responsibilities such as ‘providing visibility into delivery targets, commitments and progress and controlling operational /reputational risk’.

“In the Agile Delivery Lead role, you’ll ensure your teams’ delivery success”
“The Agile Delivery Lead will optimize team productivity”
— Capital One’s Agile Delivery Lead role description [emphasis added]