Project Manager's responsibilities in agility)

AuthorVinay AggarwalTranslatorGu Quan

 

Agility in the book does not talk about the roles of managers, but about coaches/promoters. This article first explains the project manager role in the general sense of each industry, and then tries to associate it with the coach/promoter role in agile. In this discussion, this article also tries to broaden the scope of work of coaches/promoters.

Before discussing Agile Project Manager roles, Let's first look at why managers are needed in various industries.

2. No perfect person

   The ways in which human minds work are very complex. No one in the world has the same idea. Just as two fingerprints cannot overlap, and the two individuals cannot work in even 90% ways. It is amazing to create so many different individuals. However, the business goals are "unique and identical" to all stakeholders ". The people mentioned here represent all stakeholders involved in the project. They come from different departments, such as (a) project team members, (B) business users, (c) Management and investors. Every project requires management personnel in every place:

   1. Align people with the project goals and optimize their work methods.
   2. Give full play to people's best abilities.
   3. Help people stay focused and motivated.

   If everyone in the project is perfect, no matter what industry any project can fail, whether it is waterfall or agile software development model, perfect people can always create a perfect project.

4. control change

   the only change in life is change. Everything changes, whether tangible (such as demand) or intangible (such as personnel ).

   1. the demand is like the wind, always blowing (that is, changing ).
   2. people's experience and experience are changing every day [for example, my experience tomorrow is more than one day Today]. This will bring about changes to me:
      1. ambition
      2. skills
      3. belief
      4. attitude
      5. Any other hardware and software skills
   3. business and market changes rapidly. Therefore, customers' expectations may change.
   4. changes and innovations are emerging in the technical field-the software project environment, architecture, design, and development processes may all change.
   5. resource flow is inevitable in long-term projects.
   6. in mathematics, planning is a time function. Whether on the project team, project, or sprint level, no matter how well you plan-it may be ineffective tomorrow. All attributes of a plan (any plan type at any level) have time limits, and some are close to tomorrow. How can yesterday's plan be effective tomorrow when all things change constantly and unanticipated. In this context, the role of a manager is:
      • continuous encouragement is given to people, allowing them to devote themselves to the project.
      • the actual transition plan should be used to cope with resource flows, minimizing the impact on the business.
      • always pay attention to the plan to keep pace with the times and take additional steps to manage the impact and changes.
      • because both personnel and plans are dynamic, we need to maintain continuous communication with stakeholders on impact and response strategies.
6. Communication leads to gaps and conflicts
   1. Communication is the source of all happiness and the source of all conflicts.
   2. It is an art. It always requires diligence and careful consideration. Think about how the information will be interpreted by the audience, whether it will offend someone, and whether it is enough to ensure that the information is transmitted smoothly. Few people in the world have this art.
   3. Developers usually focus too much on technology, so (intentionally or unintentionally) They ignore this delicate art.

      The project manager controls the communication function to a large extent. He/she should assign part of his/her responsibilities to team members if they are willing.

8. The process is not perfect
   1. There are no completely ideal processes (such as software development methods, No matter agile or waterfall, they are not perfect, there is no ideal process to faithfully define customer-supplier relationships, and even if there is, it is almost impossible to fulfill the performance according to the actual spirit ).
   2. Even if a process is absolutely good for someone or under some circumstances, it may be terrible for another person in different environments.

      Managers should focus their teams on the results, rather than always worrying about the process. "The process is used by me, and I am not used by the process" -- it means that following the process is not the final goal. It is just a tool to achieve a certain result. The manager should work with the team to determine which part of the process is best for the project and only applicable to that part.

10. Improper Process Implementation
    1. Process implementation always means more work, more effort, and more tracking records, which any development team in the general sense tries to avoid. Process overhead is regarded by many people as the culprit.
    2. It is rare that a specific process is implemented 100% in an original manner throughout the project.

       If any violation of the process may cause chaos and negatively affect the project, the manager needs to intervene and ensure high compliance with all good practices.

If none of the above five reasons is true, no industry needs managers. However, unfortunately, the five above exist in every industry, every company, every project, and every sprint. Investors and stakeholders must get a good ROI in any project, so someone needs to settle these issues and still help achieve the business goals of the project. All these five attributes are not technically related in nature and can be well handled through application management practices. People who assume this role and bring management practices into the project are called "managers" in the business world ". However, this does not mean that managers have wanling xiandan to perfect the above, but they can help the personnel and processes to be optimized, monitor and apply the management concept of horizontal thinking, to generate creative solutions so that the above five points will not affect the business objectives in a wide range. A subset of this role is described as a coach/promoter in Agile terms.

Agile creates a new word called "Self-organizing team ". I am a loyal fan of the self-organizing team. It often works well, especially in cultures where people are highly responsible and obligated in public life, because they bring these high standards into the office, it perfectly matches the "self-organizing" team. It is the dream of all companies to make every employee work in a self-organized model. But like all humans, not everyone is suitable for Self-Organizing teams. For example, not every doctor can become a surgeon, dentist, or plastic surgeon, but every doctor is still useful to society. Similarly, it is impossible to expect everyone to work in a self-organized style. However, these individuals (not suitable for self-organizing definition) can still become great contributors if they are processed in different ways. This is where the project manager role has become particularly helpful. It allows team members to do the best work through more or less (depending on individual situations) supervision. Agile uses the word "coach/promoter" to represent this role. On the other hand, this role also works well when people are slightly away from self-organizing. In the following three cases, coaches/promoters may have to extend their work scope.

1. People tend to deviate from self-organization (such as being unorganized, unfocused, and emotional ).
2. People's soft skills do not match business needs (for example, they cannot be proactive, afraid of speeches, poor communication, and poor time management ). The lack of these soft skills cannot translate the real potential into performance.
3. People suffer from enterprise diseases (such as slander, jealousy, self-confidence, knowledge monopoly, and adsorption ). Technically, if there are strong managers (rather than coaches) who control them with continuous supervision, they will be killed before they affect team interaction, and they may still be able to generate something.

I mean that we should be highly inclusive to all professionals. However, when dealing with and giving full play to the strengths of each individual, the methods vary from person to person, and there is no rule that applies to everyone. Organizations should reflect on this point. All countries have good technical staff who can be good contributors, but may not be self-organized. This is where the coach/promoter will become more like a project manager. These people may make mistakes, maybe need guidance and supervision, maybe lack of soft skills, and so on. Within the limited scope of coaches/promoters, it is a nightmare to make these types of personnel adapt to agility to complete their work. I have full respect for all kinds of people and I firmly believe that these people can become good contributors, but you need to extend the coach's responsibilities and give a strong indication of what to do, ". Here, the role of the Project Manager becomes helpful. The following table shows other areas that require project managers.

Situation no.	Fact	How agile works	Agility cannot help (The manager can !)	Remarks
1	no one is perfect	hold daily progress meetings to keep them focused and ensure that product owners keep their requirements consistent with their businesses.	1. is the focus in the correct direction? 2. Does the product owner change the target during each sprint? 3. Are the responsibilities really shared? What should I do if I feel that others are more experienced and knowledgeable? 4. Do people mask their lack of capabilities in the name of agility? 5. Is the team truly self-organized? 6. Are people looking for external reasons as an excuse or are they actually improving? 7. Is there anyone in the team who is taking advantage of all the credits that damage the team's motivation? 8. Do you want to share your knowledge with the team?	managers with horizontal thinking can come up with innovative ways to manage imperfections. coaches can propose how to do things in an appropriate way, but what if people do not follow them? For example, what if the team does not listen to the feedback from the product manager after the demonstration? Is this acceptable, or is it mandatory to listen?
2	control changes	agile welcomes new requirements at the beginning of each sprint, while the scrum master prevents range creep during the sprint.	1. Is the scrum master performing its duties correctly? 2. Have the testers finished their work on time? 3. Are People's soft skills and commitments changing? 4. Do customers suddenly start to trust agility? 5. Do customers suddenly expect unrealistic things?	agility takes care of changes based on the demand priority, but only part of the changes. product owners can exert their influence and add stories during the sprint, but the team does not know how to deal with them? No way can cope with invisible changes.
3	Inappropriate Communication	The agile website provides opportunities for daily communication and creates a platform for everyone to speak freely.	1. Does the team really raise obstacles? 2. Does the Team actively communicate with all matters? 3. Does the audience fully understand the communication content? 4. Are there any language or culture gaps in our communication? 5. is distributed communication a bottleneck? Is the user experience good? 6. Have all emails been replied to as expected and of good quality?	The company communicates with users who know how to writeProgramDifferent topics are also very difficult. Management studies explain the artistic nature of communication. No process can handle soft skills.
4	Imperfect Process	Agility is effective in software development.	Each methodology has its own limitations. Ultimately, it is people who make the project successful.	Less agile than less agile.
5	Incorrect Process Implementation	Agility is a human-dependent process for implementation.	1. Do people follow the process? 2. Can the process be improved? 3. Which subset of the process is suitable for my project? 4. Where are the exceptions and when is the deviation from the process irrelevant?	A simple example: in agility, does the team perform a lot of Pair programming? When will best practices become the best practices for my projects?

If an error occurs, the Project Manager can extend his/her role to other coaches/promoters. He/she can control team members who are not agile or unwilling to be agile in nature. I would like to point out three widely used myths in the industry. They are more prominent in Agile context.

Myth 1: The managers have wanling xiandan.

Fact: dealing with people's minds is very complicated and extremely challenging. There is no science, only pure art. No matter what you do, there are always unmanageable people and uncontrollable changes. With my ignorance, a good manager can:

1. Completely solves 50% of problems,
2. Partially solves 15% of problems,
3. Make the problem apparent through communication, and make 15% of the problems appear unaffected or out of scope,
4. 20% of problems always exist (in some specific situations, people and changes cannot be managed ). We must accept this.

Please note that the above figures are just an expression of my experience, not based on any scientific research.

Managers are also people, and they are not perfect like others. The management of holistic approach is another concept. It is a completely different profession, designed to manage imperfect people and processes. People with considerable experience and knowledge can bring a lot of value.

Myth 2: Managers are always limited to freedom.

Fact: this may be true for some dominant managers. But in fact, good managers create an environment, improve performance, and bring people to the optimal level. Experienced and knowledgeable managers may temporarily restrict the freedom of the team, but the goal is ultimately to help people. Sometimes people cannot see this in advance, because (a) lack of experience (B) the work environment is too loose (c) it is always accompanied by short-sighted arrogance (d) for any other unknown reason.

It is also possible that incompetent people are afraid of being exposed, so they feel that managers are limited to freedom. People eager to make achievements should raise their own standards, use the manager's experience to make up for the shortcomings, and work closely with him/her to gain more responsibilities, so that managers can rest assured.

Myth 3: Managers should not have authority.

Fact: some countries and cultures have always instilled a sense of responsibility and obligation in public life. In such cases, no authority is required, and coaches/promoters will be in such circumstances. However, the concept of authority is more meaningful in some societies that are still evolving and not mature. To control these five reasons (mentioned at the beginning of this article), any manager needs authority in those environments. No authoritative manager is like a car without oil. Research shows that people's thoughts are as hard to bend as hard wires in their minds (especially in their years. To make steel a beautiful device, authority is necessary. When the world becomes very diligent, responsible, mature, and efficient in a self-organized manner-the school of management around the world is crucial.

Conclusion

Agility is a good software development method, which helps overcome some shortcomings of the traditional waterfall process. However, agility is not the trump card for project success. In the project, the performance is still the same group of people, and there are always challenges if someone exists. This world (and people) is filled with problems and shortcomings. Scientists use innovative technologies to help society. Similarly, the management profession helps people get business and career success while being constrained. There is no methodology to exclude managers unless they are executed by perfect people. A process is a set of guidelines. If there is a process, there will be deviations. If there is someone, there will be problems. To manage people and problems, control deviations and changes-each project requires professional management help. At the same time, managers are also people, and they also belong to the world composed of defects. Some management decisions may also fail. Stakeholders must accept this. In a certain environment, managers may need authority to apply certain measures to ensure the best interests of the project. These measures may face resistance among team members, so in order to apply them-sometimes coaches/promoters work well, and in some cases, authoritative managers can.

About the author

Vinay Aggarwal is the delivery manager of xebia IT platform ts in India. He has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. He has a bachelor's degree in engineering and is a PMI-certified project management expert (PMP) and a certified scrum master (CSM ). He has worked in IBM, Accenture, and other companies. He has a lot of experience in waterfall and agile (scrum) methodology. He believes in horizontal thinking and applies the concept of management to solve various delivery challenges.

View Original English text:The role of project managers in agile.