Agile Leadership: More Than Just Methodology

Competition, in general, is a contest between two or more entities, like animals, individuals, economic groups or social groups, etc. Competition is often considered as antonym of Co-operation. As the world is getting more advanced, organizations have to change. Organizations must be more flexible and self-organized. Their goal is to be Team oriented. In the end, any success in the project is not only an individual’s role, but, the overall contribution of the working team..

In software industries, lots of people think that you cannot be a ‘good’ Software manager without having a sound knowledge of Software Development. But, people who understand software development are innumerable in our industry. Additionally, they do various certification courses and develop command over various software technologies.

What we really need is- people who understand both leadership and management quality.

Product development using Agile Methodology has become the norm in many Software industries. That means products are developed by self-determining, cross-functional teams, and delivered in less timing as well as improving the developed product as per the real customer feedback.

When a single problem arises and dozens of teams try to work that out concurrently, a chaos ensues. Even if the entire organization is neatly following the agile process, things will not end up well. To get a solution to this jumble, you may need a person who can handle this state smartly. This person can be called a Leader, who can focus on coordinating the teams and distribute work between team members to work efficiently.

The successful Agile Leader should hold principles like:

• Successful Agile Leader should be able to make correct decisions over some issues.
• An agile leader must have clarity about the current project plans, and about future project decisions.
• He should be able to make skilfully constructed statements.
• A leader should be equipped with superior management strategies
• The leader should create a great environment role, so that others can work successfully.s
• An agile leader should be trustworthy, as Trust is the foundation of any relationship.

Behaviour of An Agile Leader:

• As agile is delivery-focused, hence our leaders should be tactile enough to plan the strategies. Agile leaders can make strategies to achieve short term goals as well.
•  Every day, changes are made and brand new things are created. So, our leaders should be open to new ideas, willing to work in risks, and should be comfortable with agile’s change. In short, Agile Leader should be adaptive and versatile in nature.
• Our leaders should be passionate. They should have a constant enthusiasm for work, which they can infuse into their team members.
• Agile is all about bringing people together to produce more quality things. Communication is the key to this productivity, since it allows them to express their thoughts and ideas openly.
• Agile teams are more fruitful when they respect each other. This behaviour is expected to begin from the leaders. The Agile leaders themselves should set examples on how to maintain integrity within a team by showing respect to the co-workers.
• Agile Leaders can encourage their team members to open up so that they can state their decisions confidently without any hesitation.
•  Agile leaders need to empathize with their team members. They should have the ability to understand and support their team members.

To improve the success rate of your large team efforts, you can be an Agile Leader, who can improve the performance of the team, resulting in a victory for the Organization. You can do relevant certification and can get 14 PDU’s (Professional Development Unit) and SEU’s (Scrum Education Units). These industry-level courses are aimed at establishing the participants as certified Agile professionals,who, with time, grow as successful Agile leaders and give rise to more leaders in future.