The Manager - Edition 79 - Agile is Dysfunctional - by Rob Lambert

THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT

WELCOME

Hi, 

I hope you've had a cracking weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. 

I've had a great weekend with the family. Birthday parties, outdoor climbing and getting all set for EuroSTAR. 

It's a little bit of a rush this week, but as promised - the newsletter is still here :)

Rob..

AGILE IS DYSFUNCTIONAL

I love this interview with John Seddon from Vanguard about how Agile is so dysfunctional.

I am writing an article about it myself and those who know the Releasing Agility framework will recognise that the agile practices and behaviours are at Step 4 and play a small part at that level too. 

Why? Well John Seddon, in his very direct way, covers most of why I've got agile at Step 4 and he doesn't hold back about how Agile is the most Dysfunctional management fad of them all.

The podcast is a treat for anyone working in an "Agile" environment. John covers such topics as:

Why there is a bias towards what Technology can do, versus, doing something to satisfy the customer. I see this often where Digital Transformations are taking place because people want, or have been sold new tech, not because new tech is helping the customer. 

Why we don't need the rituals of agile - instead we need people to understand the demands on teams and learn how to study how to improve the world of work. 

Why the Agile Manifesto is great and how people want to do a good job, but somewhere along the journey Consultants and Agilists have offered misguided advice. 

And a lot more. 

Instead of me writing a little article - John's interview is much richer and better and laced with insight. It does contain some fruity language. 

Enjoy..

https://www.bosslevelpodcast.com/john-seddon-on-agile-the-most-dysfunctional-management-fad-there-is/

Rob

FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN

1 - Great article on how to run effective 1:2:1 meetings with your direct reports - awesome stuff. 

2 - Oh dear - it seems excessive brain activity is linked to early death. I struggle to turn my brain down :(

3 - Work on growth - not just goals. 

4 - People are trying but they're just not good enough - let's not criticise those people - what about all the other people who aren't even trying.

5 - Why Digital Transformations fail. I've seen this :)

6 - What happens to your brain when you eat junk food. Oh dear - I've got Dominos for tea tonight. 

7 - I've long held a deep mistrust of NPR (Net Promoter Score) and it's evil cousin ENPR (Employee Net Promoter Score). Here's why it might not be a great choice. 

8 - How to stay healthy when you're stressed. 

9 - New Kickstarter aimed at teaching failure. 

10 - Amazon......in the dirty dozen of companies for poor employee health and safety. Here's another example of potentially why. 

11 - Remote managers need to consider things like imposter syndrome, communicating intentionally with their remote teams, finding ways to talk about productivity, and communicating in writing rather than face-to-face chats.

12 - The good and bad of remote working.

Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager. 

If you enjoyed this newsletter and you think someone else would benefit from it, then please share it.

If you'd like to support Cultivated Management, consider buying a book - or working with me.

If this is the first time you've seen this newsletter - then you can subscribe here.

Thanks
Rob..