A guide to performing well individually in an Agile environment, and accepting responsibility within Agile teams.

1. Steps to Becoming an Agile Individual
Performing well in an Agile environment

2. Agile is here. The only question now is, how do I become Agile?
1 LEARN AGILE, 2 DEFINE SUCCESS,
3 ACCEPT PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
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3. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
A quick review of Agile: Now that Agile is fresh on
our minds, let’s try to
What is Agile? remember WHY we are
A highly-collaborative, adopting Agile?
incremental and iterative
new approach to testing
How does Agile work?
• Early and regular delivery of
tasks
• Focus on team
communications
• Centered around close
interaction with the users
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4. To reduce time to boost and to deliver
and costs spent, performance, better results.
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5. Agile sounds great, but is Agile adoption always successful?
WELL, IT DEPENDS ON HOW WE DEFINE
SUCCESS
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6. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
What is successful Agile adoption?
Success is measured by asking whether or not we are more productive at providing
increased value through Agile practices.
Be careful not to confuse the “practicing of
Agile practices” with successful Agile adoption.
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7. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
Success is defined by asking:
Are we more productive at creating better results
that provide increased value to our organization?
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8. What do all successful agile teams have in common?
TEAM MEMBERS TAKE OWNERSHIP
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9. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
No one thinks about personal
responsibility when things go well
When something goes wrong large or small (for example, lost keys or a lost
retirement account), the Responsibility Process kicks in. The mind offers Lay Blame as
a reason. If you accept blame as a sufficient reason, then you will act on that blame. If
you don't accept it, then your mind offers you an excuse (Justify). And so on.
Taking personal responsibility is a step-wise process of refusing to act on a series of
irresponsible thoughts that your mind offers up.
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10. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
The Responsibility Process
(TRP) shows us the mental
process we, as human
beings, go through when
Responsibility
we avoid responsibility
and destroy the
ownership behavior Obligation Justify
essential to self-organizing
teams.
Quit Denial
Shame Lay Blame
The Responsibility Process Model (Chris Avery)
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11. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
Owning your ability and power
to create, choose, and attract
Responsibility
Doing what you have to Obligation Justify Using excuses for things
instead of what you want to being the way they are
Quit Denial
Giving up to avoid the Ignoring the
pain of Shame and existence of
Obligation something
Laying blame onto oneself Shame Lay Blame Holding others at fault
(often felt as guilt) for causing something
The Responsibility Process Model (Chris Avery)
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12. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
Imagine you're leaving home for a critical
meeting. You're not late yet but you have
Responsibility
no time to lose. You grab your laptop
bag, reach for your keys, and... they
aren't there! What's the first thing that Obligation Justify
crosses your mind? Who moved my
keys? Or, honey - did you take my keys?
Quit Denial
Regardless of the exact words, most of us
instinctively look for someone else to
blame when something goes wrong. This Shame Lay Blame
behavior is a strategy we use
unconsciously to avoid taking
The Responsibility Process
responsibility for our situation. (In the
Model (Chris Avery)
diagram, you are on the bottom behavior
- laying blame.)
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13. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
Now, imagine you arrived at the meeting.
Responsibility You're five minutes late. As you walk in the
door, what do you say? "Sorry I'm late, I
Justify
lost my keys?" Or perhaps, "Sorry I'm late,
Obligation
traffic was bad?" Why not stop at "Sorry
I'm late?" Why continue with an
Quit Denial explanation? According to Avery's
research, the next instinctive response we
Shame Lay Blame have once we escape blame, is to justify.
It's not my problem - the universe is at
fault.
The Responsibility Process
Model (Chris Avery)
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14. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
When we get past blame and
justification, the next natural response is
Responsibility
shame. When coming from blame or
justification we externalized the problem
- we believed we had no responsibility Obligation Justify
for it. When we get to shame, we now
acknowledge that we're part of the
Quit Denial
problem - but instead of taking
constructive action, we beat ourselves
up. Regardless of the words out of our Shame Lay Blame
mouth, we're flogging ourselves for
blowing it again. This is not a resourceful
The Responsibility Process
state of mind; this is another detour
Model (Chris Avery)
keeping us from responsibility.
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15. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
When we get past shame, we have one
Responsibility more way to avoid responsibility -
obligation. An example: "Honey, I'm sorry I
Justify
won't be home for dinner tonight. I have
Obligation
to join the boss for dinner with a client."
No you don't have to go to dinner with the
Quit Denial boss - you choose to. You own your life.
You make your choices. Obligation is rule
Shame Lay Blame following behavior - using explicit or
implicit rules to relinquish your ownership
of your life. This doesn't mean you should
The Responsibility Process go home for dinner. It means you should
Model (Chris Avery) be conscious of your choice.
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16. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
Assuming we get past each of these potholes, we find ourselves
at responsibility. This is a state of mind where we take
ownership for our situation. If things aren't as we prefer, we
take action to change them. This state is the starting point for
personal agility.
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17. Accept personal
Learn Agile Define Success
responsibility
 Responsibility is not just a character
Responsibility trait/flaw. It's a mental process
operating identically in everyone
Justify
Obligation  The process can be observed, learned,
taught, studied, developed, modeled,
Quit Denial and practiced
Shame Lay Blame  Any willing individual, team, or
organization can practice responsibility
at ever higher levels
The Responsibility Process
Model (Chris Avery)  The Responsibility Process is most
useful when self-applied. It backfires
when used to Lay Blame on others
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18. Individuals and Interactions over Process and Tools
Personal Agility brings back the focus on individuals. Individual
responsibility is the bedrock of Personal Agility.
Self-directed teams aligned to a clear goal are the essence of
agile behavior and the engine behind stunning results teams
claim for Agile. Individual responsibility is a prerequisite to such
agile interactions.
Without team members being responsible, there is little chance
for Agile practices (or any practices) to have a significant positive
effect upon a teams effectiveness.
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19. Unlock and master your own personal responsibility within the
Agile environment with a three-step process
CONFRONT
Face yourself to
see what is true
that you can learn,
AWARENESS correct, or improve
Catch yourself in
the mental states
of Denial, Lay
Blame, Justify,
Shame, Obligation,
and Quit
INTENTION
Intend to respond
from Responsibility
when things go
wrong
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