Chapter 16
How Managers Help Agile Teams

Your organization might have technical leaders, managers, directors, vice presidents, and so on. All those people are organizational leaders. They have titles and some sort of organizational power. I’m going to call those people “managers” as shorthand.

Regardless of your team’s project approach, you’ve seen managers who helped or hurt the team’s momentum. And many people who try to use agile approaches say, “We don’t need any managers in agile approaches.” Those people are mistaken.

Managers hold the key to creating an agile culture. Managers remove impediments that teams can’t remove. Managers make choices about removing or reinforcing these impediments all the time. Their choices create the culture for the organization. If you can help the managers see value in agile approaches, they’ll work to create a more agile culture. If no one can help the managers see the value in agile approaches, the teams won’t be able to sustain an agile culture.

Let’s see some possibilities for managers to help your cross-functional team thrive in its chosen agile approach.

Here are primary areas in which managers can help the team become more effective with their agile approach:

• Removing impediments the team cannot remove on its own.

• Helping the team find or create its own workspace so the team can collaborate more easily.

• Managing the project portfolio with flow-efficiency thinking so people work on one project as part of one team.

• Helping HR understand how to transition to a team-based recognition and reward structure.

There are plenty of other actions managers might take to support agile approaches. For example, managers might help remove hierarchy by seeing if some people prefer to be technical leaders on teams instead of being managers removed from teams. Every organization I’ve consulted with has not enough product owners. Managers can offer people the role of product owner instead of project manager or manager. With the creation of communities of practice, people might be interested in technical work.

Let’s start with looking at what managers might be able to do about four typical impediments:

• Resolve problems the team can’t, especially systemic organizational problems.

• Create team workspaces.

• Manage the project portfolio.

• Start the transition to a team-based recognition and reward structure.