How can servant leaders ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects?

Servant leadership is a philosophy and practice that emphasizes the empowerment, development, and well-being of others. Servant leaders put the needs and interests of their followers before their own, and seek to serve them with humility, compassion, and integrity. But how can servant leaders apply their principles and skills to agile projects, which are characterized by fast-paced, iterative, and collaborative processes? In this article, we will explore some of the ways that servant leaders can ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects, and how they can foster a culture of trust, feedback, and continuous improvement among their teams.

1 Understand the agile mindset

One of the first steps for servant leaders to ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects is to understand the agile mindset and values. Agile is not just a set of tools or techniques, but a way of thinking and working that embraces change, experimentation, and learning. Agile values individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan. Servant leaders should align their vision, goals, and actions with these values, and communicate them clearly and consistently to their teams and stakeholders.

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Donald Grim, RTE, SSM, SP, SA, POPM, LSSBB, PSM

AVP | Lead Agilist - Fifth Third Bank
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The first step a Servant Leader should take is removing the ideology of "on-time" or "in-budget" from the team. Building an understanding around value delivery, process improvement, and quality are the first steps around building a high performing team that will be predictable and sustainable over time. Focusing on concepts like on-time or in-budget creates an idea that there is a beginning, middle, and end with a detailed project plan (waterfall). As teams come up against these arbitrary constraints, they will lose sight of quality, the customer, and begin working to meet these "deadlines". They should remain focused on removing obstacles from the team, anticipate their needs, and work to ensure they are safe, from themselves and the org.

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2 Empower the team

Another key step for servant leaders to ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects is to empower the team to make decisions, solve problems, and deliver value. Servant leaders should delegate authority and responsibility to the team, and provide them with the resources, support, and guidance they need. Servant leaders should also encourage the team to self-organize, collaborate, and innovate, and trust them to deliver high-quality work. Servant leaders should avoid micromanaging, imposing, or interfering with the team's work, and instead focus on removing obstacles, facilitating communication, and providing feedback.

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Donald Grim, RTE, SSM, SP, SA, POPM, LSSBB, PSM

AVP | Lead Agilist - Fifth Third Bank
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Empowering the Team requires the Servant Leader to step back from management. They need to establish themselves as equals on the Team, regardless of role or title. By ensuring the Team has the space to make their own decisions is key! Most importantly, they need to be empowered to make the mistakes that increase learning an innovation. Accountability needs to come from within the Team, and the Servant Leader needs to ensure that the surrounding organization understands and respects that. Lastly, the Team need to be empowered enough to say no and negotiate. As Teams learn more in their journey, they should be empowered to push back on timeliness and budget or negotiate trade off without sacrificing quality.

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3 Define and prioritize value

A third essential step for servant leaders to ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects is to define and prioritize value for the customer and the organization. Servant leaders should work closely with the customer and the team to understand their needs, expectations, and preferences, and to elicit, validate, and refine the requirements. Servant leaders should also help the team to break down the requirements into small, manageable, and testable units of work, and to prioritize them according to their value, urgency, and risk. Servant leaders should ensure that the team delivers value incrementally and frequently, and that the customer provides feedback and validation at every stage.

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Donald Grim, RTE, SSM, SP, SA, POPM, LSSBB, PSM

AVP | Lead Agilist - Fifth Third Bank
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Everything outlined above is true as it relates to a Servant Leader and a Team with the exception of on-time and in-budget! A Team should constantly evaluate value, urgency, and risk in their prioritized decision making. Teams should accept that conditions and climates are going to change several times over the course of development. This understanding shrinks and expands scope regularly as the needs, wants, and desires of the customer changes over time rendering on-time and in-budget constraints useless. On time should be stated as the value right now based on the customer and in-budget should never be a consideration for the Servant Leader or the Team unless it involves relentless improvement efforts to increase efficiency.

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4 Adapt to change

A fourth crucial step for servant leaders to ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects is to adapt to change and embrace uncertainty. Servant leaders should recognize that agile projects are dynamic and complex, and that they require flexibility, creativity, and resilience. Servant leaders should be open to new ideas, feedback, and opportunities, and be willing to change their plans, assumptions, and strategies when necessary. Servant leaders should also help the team to cope with change, and to learn from their successes and failures.

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5 Promote continuous improvement

A fifth vital step for servant leaders to ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects is to promote continuous improvement among the team and the organization. Servant leaders should foster a culture of learning, reflection, and improvement, and encourage the team to seek and share feedback, knowledge, and best practices. Servant leaders should also facilitate regular and effective retrospectives, where the team can review their performance, processes, and practices, and identify what went well, what can be improved, and what actions can be taken. Servant leaders should support the team to implement the improvements, and to measure and monitor their impact.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can servant leaders ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Understand the agile mindset

2 Empower the team

3 Define and prioritize value

4 Adapt to change

5 Promote continuous improvement

6 Here’s what else to consider

Servant Leadership

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How can servant leaders ensure on-time, in-budget agile projects?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Understand the agile mindset

2 Empower the team

3 Define and prioritize value

4 Adapt to change

5 Promote continuous improvement

6 Here’s what else to consider

Servant Leadership

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