Expert Insights by Laurens Bonnema | Xebia: Recent Episodes
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Turn your micromanagers into sweethearts again!Are you a developer who has to put up with a bitter manager? A Scrum Master struggling to survive under the tyranny of micromanagement? A Product Owner who feels like they’re being sucked dry by an overbearing Agile coach? Or maybe a manager, leader, or coach who wants to understand how to support their team better? If so, this micromanagement survival guide is for you! In this blog, we’ll explore common reasons some managers become bitter and how you can help turn them into sweethearts again.
Define the problem: your manager is micromanaging you, and it’s driving you insaneYou thought you were the only one being micromanaged, but you’re not alone: 79% of people report being micromanaged by their manager. You know the feeling: excessive, unwanted interference and disruption in your work process that doesn’t help. It almost feels like a power struggle—managers use raw power to control their employees and make them feel powerless. You want a more productive resolution, but as long as your manager is micromanaging, nothing will change. Ugh!
Understand why they’re micromanaging: they may be insecure, lack trust in you, or want to control everythingWhether it’s your boss or another manager hovering over you, micromanagers can be a real pain. You might feel like a victim with all their criticism and scrutiny, but remember that you’re not—you have options. You can take steps to defuse the situation and reach an understanding with them. You need to understand why they’re doing it in the first place—insecurity, lack of trust, control issues—all these things could be at play. You’ll also find that most micromanagers don’t act out of malice; they care too deeply and want to ensure everything is perfect. Micromanaging isn’t always bad, especially for inexperienced teams; it could be beneficial. Mostly though, it is demotivating and, therefore, bad.
Talk to them about it: have a calm, honest conversation and try to find common groundYour manager micromanages every little detail of your work, which drives you crazy! Don’t stress out… Your situation is what it is, and the best way to take it on is with a clear mind. Instead of getting angry, take a Zen approach to the situation. Breathe deeply, get organized, and spend some time thinking about what your micromanager cares about most. Then use that information to bridge the gap between you—try to find common ground where both of you can benefit and show them that you care about their goals as well. If done right, this conversation can not only be productive for both parties but can become something fun!
If all else fails, take matters into your own hands: delegate tasks, set boundaries, and document everythingTaking control of a situation is a daunting prospect. If all else fails, however, it’s time to take matters into your own hands. Reassurance is key: as you delegate tasks and set boundaries, you should provide timely updates to your micromanager, both written and in person. Make a habit of documenting everything. It may seem wasteful, and it is, but you can eliminate that waste later when you have succeeded in your play. You see, what you are doing here is micromanaging up. It’s not fun, but it works.
Finally, don’t forget to take care of yourself: manage your stress levels and take time for yourself outside of workEven superheroes need to take a break, and that’s why it’s so important to take care of yourself. Find time to read a book, play your favorite game, or take a long walk outside—it can be anything that helps you relax and get away from everyday stress. Exercise increases your energy level, and meditation can help you ground yourself—whatever works for you! So make sure that when you’re done with work for the day, don’t put off taking care of your mental health; instead, give yourself the necessary “me-time” you deserve and have fun while doing it!
If you’re currently dealing with a micromanaging boss, take heart—you’re not alone. Micromanagement is, unfortunately, a common management style, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating. By understanding why your manager is micromanaging and taking steps to address the issue head-on, you can hopefully find a way to improve the situation. And if all else fails, remember that you always have the option of taking matters into your own hands (within reason). Just don’t forget to take care of yourself throughout this process—it’s essential to manage your stress levels and maintain some sense of work/life balance. Do you have any survival tips for dealing with micromanagement? Share them in the comments below!
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Large organizations often have many cross-functional and cross-disciplinary teams working on different products and services. To help them do so effectively in a complex environment, many organizations use an Agile scaling framework that scales Scrum, such as Nexus, SAFe, LeSS, Spotify, or Scrum@Scale. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with that. If you need a scaling framework, that is.
The Prime Directive of Agile ScalingMost organizations that use Agile scaling frameworks seem unaware of The Prime Directive of Agile Scaling: Don’t. Do not scale if you don’t have to.
How do you know if you have to scale? Some companies start scaling when they realize that they cannot develop their product within the confines of a single team. Other companies start scaling when they realize that they can’t complete the work they need to do within the preferred time frame. When do they realize this? When they have tried to create the product or service with one to five Scrum Teams. That is, when they have tried—and failed—to deliver a sufficient number of done increments with plain vanilla Scrum.
Have You Really Tried Scrum?If you have not yet tried to scale Scrum and it is working well for you, don’t. The benefits of Scrum come from its simplicity. When you start adding processes on top of Scrum, you lose those benefits. So unless you need to scale Scrum, don’t.
If you have tried Scrum and it is not working well for you, don’t scale either. Scaling a framework that is not working will not make it work. You need to diagnose and fix the problems with Scrum before scaling it.
When you have to scale Scrum, there are many scaling frameworks to choose from. Many of them are based on the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). SAFe is a good framework, but it is not the only one. Other frameworks, such as LeSS and Spotify, might be a better fit for your organization. All of these frameworks assume you’re great at a smaller scale with, for example, Scrum and Kanban, or well on your way to becoming great.
How to Pick the Right Scaling FrameworkThe key thing is to pick the right framework for your organization. Don’t just use SAFe because somebody sold you on it. The truth is, it doesn’t matter which one you pick, as long as you avoid the urge to, as Craig Larman puts it, pragmatically customize it for local concerns.
So, if it doesn’t matter which framework you pick, and you know you need to pick one because you have tried Scrum at a smaller scale only to discover you need more than five teams to get it done, how do you choose?
Try them all. Seriously. Invite your teams to run some experiments with all frameworks. Consider using OpenSpace Agility as an engagement model. Then, let them decide which one is most likely to work well for them. Be prepared to be surprised!
Want to deep dive into the world of Agile Scaling Frameworks? Come and join our Agile Scaling Frameworks Essentials Training that enables you to discover the strengths of SAFe, LeSS, Spotify (CoCreate), Nexus, and Scrum@Scale.
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When you hear the term "scaling Agile," what comes to mind? For many people, the first thing that comes to mind is doing everything bigger and faster—throwing more people onto a team of agile teams in order to speed things up. However, this is just one of the many misconceptions about scaling Agile.
In reality, scaling Agile is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every organization is different, and therefore each organization will need to adapt Agile to their own unique needs. It’s also important to have a clear scaling strategy before starting to scale Agile; trying to wing it can lead to disaster.
And finally, experimentation is key when it comes to scaling Agile. There is no one right way to do it, so you’ll need to try a variety of different approaches until you find what works best for your organization. So don’t be afraid to experiment – it’s the only way to find out what works for you.
Here are five of the most common misconceptions about scaling Agile:
- Scaling Agile means doing everything bigger and faster
- You can’t just add more people to an agile team and expect it to work
- Scaling Agile is a one-size-fits-all solution
- It’s important to have a clear scaling strategy before starting to scale Agile
- There’s no “right” way to scale Agile—experimentation is key
Photo by Hanna Morris on Unsplash
Scaling Agile means doing everything bigger and fasterRefining big things into smaller things, then working on the most valuable smaller things with focus, is what Agile is all about. That does not change when you use Agile at scale. If anything, it becomes even more important. So, scaling Agile means doing everything smaller and faster. As one of the Agile principles clearly states, "Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential." Even as we are creating big things, we keep looking for options to "trim the tail." By refining big things into an ordered list of smaller things, we create the option to do just that, to "trim the tail" of remaining options after we have delivered the most valuable ones.
You can’t just add more people to an agile team and expect it to workAs Frederick P. Brooks mentioned in his 1975 book The Mythical Man-Month, "Adding manpower to a late software project, makes it later." Sadly, doing so before the project is late, runs the same risk. Always start small, with one to three teams. Then scale up as data analytics dictate. Be realistic. Keep looking at the data. When you see the numbers go down again after adding yet another team, you have hit your scaling limit. So, scale back down again. If that means you can’t make the deadline, good. You should probably tell someone. And figure out what to do next. Maybe "trim the tail" a little.
Scaling Agile is a one-size-fits-all solutionEvery organization is different. Every situation is different. As much as we would like to find a standard solution, a best practice, for the complex problems we are facing, to quote Chris Williams from the Badass Agile podcast: "If there was a formula, we’d all be using it." Agile scaling frameworks can be tremendously helpful, but only as sources of inspiration for experiments, not as a one-size-fits-all boilerplate solution. Here too, the trick is to make things smaller. Identify the problem to solve, think of one to three experiments that might help you solve it, then work the problem with short feedback loops.
It’s important to have a clear scaling strategy before starting to scale AgileTrying to wing it can lead to disaster when you are scaling Agile. After all, if you scale small problems, they become big ones. To scale effectively, you need a strategy, that is, a bounded environment for action and a set of habits that will afford the maximum support to the adopted scaling policy. Many organizations opt for a scaling framework such as SAFe, LeSS, Nexus, Scrum@Scale, or Spotify to help them create scaled Scrum and Kanban teams. If you do that, be sure to hold yourself accountable to make it a habit to invite and experiment, rather than to force and implement. That will prevent you from accidentally disengaging your people and from using your scaling framework as a golden hammer.
There’s no “right” way to scale Agile—experimentation is keyAs much as you need to have a clear strategy before you start to scale Agile, don’t be afraid to experiment—it’s the only way to find out what works for you. To avoid painting yourself into a corner, and to ensure the people get a say in how they are going to work, organizations would do well to use OpenSpace Agility as an implementation framework and to leverage unFIX to sharpen their thinking on a supportive organizational structure.
As much as experimentation is key to finding the right approach to scaling Agile, it’s important to learn how to scale agile efficiently and lead the change. We offer tailored, professional Agile scaling training courses for individuals and teams worldwide.
Explore our Agile Scaling Training Courses today!
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Today, digital transformation and Lean-Agile ways of working are key for complex organizations to become – and remain – successful in a highly volatile and competitive global market. At some point in time, you’ll need to think about Scaling Agile to ensure that your whole organization can benefit from the wonders of Agile. While there are […]
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When I left Xebia for the first time, it was because I felt like I had failed the company. I was young and inexperienced, and I botched a project that was important to the team. It was a hard lesson learned, but it was also the point where I started to grow up and become […]
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During the 5th edition of Scrum Day Europe, Laurens and I facilitated a workshop on how to “Add Visual Flavor to Your Organization Transformation with Videoscribe.” The theme of the conference, “The Next Iteration,” was all about the future of Scrum. We wanted to tie our workshop into the theme of the conference, so we had […]
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The Xebia KnowledgeCast is a podcast about software architecture, software development, lean/agile, continuous delivery, and big data. In this 6th episode, we switch to a new format! So, no fun with stickies this time. It’s one interview. And we dive in deeper than ever before. Lodewijk Bogaards is co-founder and CTO at Stackstate. Stackstate is […]
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The Xebia KnowledgeCast is a bi-weekly podcast about software architecture, software development, lean/agile, continuous delivery, and big data. Also, we’ll have some fun with stickies! In this 5th episode, we share key insights of Madhur Kathuria, Xebia India’s Director of Agile Consulting and Transformation, as well as some impressions of our Knowledge Exchange and Scrum […]
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When we were kids, we loved to doodle. Most of us did anyway. I doodled all the time, everywhere, and, to the dismay of my mother, on everything. I still love to doodle. In fact, I believe doodling is essential. The tragedy of the doodle lies in its definition: “A doodle is an unfocused or […]
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The Xebia KnowledgeCast is a bi-weekly podcast about software architecture, software development, lean/agile, continuous delivery, and big data. Also, we’ll have some fun with stickies! In this fourth episode, we share some impressions of Scrum Day Europe 2013 and Xebia’s OpenSpace Knowledge Exchange. And of course, Serge Beaumont will have Fun With Stickies! First, we […]
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The Xebia KnowledgeCast is a bi-weekly podcast about software architecture, software development, lean/agile, continuous delivery, and big data. Also, we’ll have some fun with stickies! In this third episode, we get a bit more technical with me interviewing some of the most excellent programmers in the known universe: Age Mooy and Barend Garvelink. Then, I […]
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The Xebia KnowledgeCast is a bi-weekly podcast about software architecture, software development, lean/agile, continuous delivery, and big data. Also, we’ll have some fun with stickies! In this second episode, Agile Clinic Doctor Kristian Spek talks about one of his patients at XebiCon 2013. Then, Jan Jouke van der Zee from CJIB takes us through his […]
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The truth about agile management is that there's too little of it. So little in fact, that there are those who believe it does not exist. Or worse, that it should not exist. Many companies are switching to an agile approach. As a result, wave upon wave of agile transformations strike at the heart of […]
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Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, while in flight, without a parachute is generally not recommended. Strangely, it’s exactly what happens in a lot of corporate lean/agile transformations. People jump enthusiastically, enjoying the rush of sudden speed and the exhilaration of getting things done as a team, only to discover organizational gravity when they […]
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Podcasts are a passion of mine. I love to listen to them, and I love to create them. But, not unlike writing, what I love even more is thinking about creating podcasts. I’m a natural born procrastinator, but I’m recovering. That is why I’ve volunteered to reboot the Xebia Podcast by Serge Beaumont and Robert […]
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Two days ago, I read the book Toyota Kata by Mike Rother. Like most management books, the central message is hammered home by repetition. Some people, like me, may find that a bit annoying. That does not make this book any less a must read though. If you’re interested in making Lean/Agile really work in […]
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I’ve taken up sketchnoting recently, and I love it! So, what is sketchnoting? Why is it useful? And how do you get started? The answer to the first question is pretty straight-forward: Sketchnoting is a way of note-taking that involves not just notes, but also sketches. Mike Rohde, the godfather of sketchnoting, defines it as […]
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Create a list of all your requirements in Epic format (think Product Breakdown). Break down each Epic into work items in User Story format (think Work Breakdown). Determine which Epics and/or User Stories have dependencies. Visualize dependencies in a network diagram. Create an estimate for each User Story using Planning Poker Points, NESMA Function Points, […]
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