Agile Decision Making
Information is available faster and from more sources than ever before, which makes decision-making seem easier.
But if you combine this information onslaught with traditional types of business decision-making, it will make your process slower and more frustrating. A new means of gathering input and data calls for a new way of making decisions: agile decision-making.
Making decisions in an agile way means working iteratively, collaboratively, and with transparency. Pretty different from the older trend of having a task force craft a solution, the project manager present it, and executives come to a consensus, right? In agile project teams, managers, leaders, and executives need to release the reins and empower project teams to make decisions.
What is agile decision-making?
As stated above, agile decision-making is a process that is collaborative, iterative, and transparent. It means all stakeholders are updated on assigned tasks at regular intervals, they give feedback, and then the team knows what needs to be changed or improved. The team discusses issues together and comes up with a solution together.
Agile decision-making doesn’t mean rushed, on-the-fly changes at the whim of one project stakeholder. It also doesn’t mean that the project team makes all the decisions amongst themselves and then hands over a final product at the end.
Maintaining a course of action because that’s what has been successful for you in the past is no longer enough to be competitive. It can actually even lead to your downfall.
For example, Kodak infamously played it safe, underestimated the pace of change, and paid the price. Of course their bankruptcy was rooted in compounding issues, but their late adoption of digital transformation and lack of taking chances on new products were driving forces. They took the mindset that you don’t fix what isn’t broken and were left behind by competitors that were willing to try new things and new ways to operate.
But don’t equate agile project management with being as fast as possible and blowing up a budget with overtime to complete endless requirements. Working in an agile method means making iterative progress and changes as an empowered and self-organizing team.
Empower the project team to deliver what the customer wants (or senior leadership) in the manner they decide is the most efficient and successful. They won’t go down some rabbit hole, wasting hours or days, because an agile team checks in with the customer on a regular basis.
Iterative delivery and feedback is a key component in agile projects. Though this approach makes sense to businesses—adjust and make changes when needed, easy enough right?—it’s actually the most difficult aspect of the agile method for people to get comfortable with. Here are a few tips to help you and your team be successful in agile decision-making during a project.
When you’re showing the work and getting feedback regularly, it reduces the chance of a major disruption that requires a complex decision-making technique with a formal committee. The team can make incremental pivots and adjustments as needed, without formal oversight or stress about deviating from a lengthy process document.
Your agile team needs to be empowered and well-informed when making decisions. But this doesn’t mean it can deviate from what the goals of the project are. Leaders often don’t give teams the autonomy needed because they fear the team going rogue and producing something completely off the wall.
An agile team will be showing their progress on a regular basis and getting feedback for changes. So for example, if a construction company tasks a team to build a new website, an agile team won’t decide one sprint that the website would be better if you could book travel arrangements on it instead and then proudly hand over a new “cheap flights” site to the construction manager.
One huge mindset change that is needed is getting comfortable with “good enough.” The requirements are documented “good enough.” The timing to start is “good enough.”
Then, you can work toward “great” during the execution process. Yes, there will be work scrapped while sharpening what “great” looks like and that’s OK. When the whole team is accountable for the project’s success, it won’t be such an emotional hit if some of one person’s work has to be cut because of time. The team will support its members.
As project managers, we love timelines and due dates. And agile decision-making needs timelines. Set deadlines for when analysis must be cut off—is good enough. This helps alleviate analysis paralysis because you’re forced to move forward with a decision when it’s good enough rather than when it’s perfect.
Plan project meetings at a regular cadence to give updates, brainstorm for improvements, plan the next block of tasks for a sprint, and get iterative feedback on what’s been delivered. This cadence is what builds trust with senior leadership, improves the strength of the team, and builds the team’s confidence in their decision-making skills.