Month: December 2017

“Good morning, Sir”, these words are hammered into our heads as soon as we start school. Sir is a title with deep roots in British culture and brought over to the subcontinent during the colonial era. The title Sir is used to address people of a “higher social status”, thus reinforcing hierarchies in an organization. It ultimately serves to indicate who the boss is.

Sir used to be reserved for the British ruling class whose orders the subjugated desi locals were supposed to follow without question. After independence, this entitlement remained and was self-granted by society’s upper classes. Sir is now an honorific granted to people of higher social status, bosses, the rich and the powerful but most importantly it reinforces the notion of “whose opinion is more important in the room”.

This classification of who will be called Sir and who will not is a major barrier to a flat culture — a transformation that is important for Agile organizations. In order to introduce a flat culture in an organization, such symbolic and hardwired notions of a bygone era need to be purged. Make people call each other by their names, eliminate tired old honorifics and you will start to notice a change in the way they think.

At DPL we introduced a flat culture amidst skepticism from our desi fellows; as the popular saying goes, “yahan per danda hi chalta hai” (danda being the strong management structures). We faced major resistance within the organization where people were not willing to let go of this “Sir culture”. To some it had become a matter of habit to say Sir, hence difficult to change; some tied the word to basic courtesy and respect for others.

Upon further examination, we found that many people had idealized certain senior people and they themselves had worked hard to eventually become a Sir one day. Taking away this simple word meant taking away their idea of what progression meant. To them being promoted meant someone who gets to control and manage others. They thought their respect lies in being called Sir by others and that seniority only comes if the others around you are juniors.

We had to be very firm in our commitment to introduce a flat culture in our company, even if it meant suffering short term losses. At a time when our HR was struggling to hire 40 additional resources, we received 10 resignations. Most of these resignations were from “Team Leads” who felt that taking away their lead role (the Team Lead role has no room in Scrum and Agile) effectively meant a demotion. They were “managing” 5—8 people, but now everyone was going to be “equal”. We had to make considerable efforts to change this mindset.

One of those efforts was the introduction of our beloved “Gora Sahab” whom we call Sir Carr. He is the only “suit” in our office. He represents a typical colonial era foreign master and the only one who is entitled to be called sir in DPL. If you address anyone else as sir, then you’ll have to pay a “tax” of Rs 50 to Sir Carr. Anyone who likes to be called sir also would have to pay Rs 50 each time he is addressed as such (the same penalty applies to Madam). People are introduced to Sir Carr on the first day of their onboarding at DPL and he has been quite persuasive in ensuring that there is no other who can claim that title in DPL 🙂

#RebelEthos #Culture #DPLOfficeSpace

Communication is the single most important element in project management. The more innovative or demanding a project, the more communication is required. In traditional project management methods nearly 75% of the project consists of communication and other related processes.

New ideas and innovation come when people talk, especially when outside the scope of the project. The high value placed on communication is made apparent by the fact that companies in Silicon Valley are increasingly designing offices that enable better communication. Open office plans are designed to facilitate and encourage chance encounters of people from diverse disciplines, backgrounds and departments.

One of the major differences between traditional project management and Agile is that the former tries to channel communication between stakeholders through emails and project management systems. This practice was adopted to ensure that all communication is controlled through predefined processes and protocols in order to make up for the lack of trust placed in employees. From tardiness to fraud, everything can be mitigated if communication channels are limited, controlled and monitored; thus goes the conventional wisdom.
A few consequences of these old communication paradigms are:

• You have to stick to the company hierarchy while communicating. Bypassing this hierarchy is treated as a cardinal sin.
• All communication has to be channeled through tools such as emails and project management information systems for the purpose of archival and documentation.
• You have to be especially careful while asking a question because you are being judged for what you ask, you might be labeled an idiot. You also have to belong to the correct rank for certain discussions.
• Do not raise an alarm unless you’re put on the spot. Let someone else raise the flag.
  Formality is a tool to keep others at bay or they will run over and take advantage of you. Whenever face to face communication is necessary, try to do it in a formal setting.
• Document everything, even if it makes no sense to do so. Nobody is going to read it anyways and the weight of documents (not the code) will show others how professional and efficient you are.
• Agile on the other hand is the complete opposite of the above:
• Agile promotes a flat culture, therefore no hierarchy. Anyone can talk to anyone at any level to solve problems or discuss ideas, as long as it is towards common team goals and there is no personal agenda involved.
• Communication happens face to face or in any way that is convenient. This ensures quick and frequent feedback. This means less deviations and more progress. An unread email can sit there for hours whereas a quick shout out only takes seconds. This is why open offices are gaining ground among tech companies.
• Encourage people to ask as many questions as possible without any fear of being judged. The simplest question can spark a new and innovative idea.
• Informal communication is more open and often more meaningful. It brings people closer and helps them trust each other, even with bad news.
• Documentation is expensive to maintain and update. Only document what is important. Let the actual work (like working software) speak for itself.

In order for an organization to transform into an Agile one, the culture needs to change. People should be encouraged to let go of insecurities that come with face to face and informal communication. Organizations should trust their people to do the right thing. Instead of emphasizing on controlling communication channels, they must invest in educating people to be honest, transparent and truthful.
Without trust, there is no Agile!

#Agile #Scrum #DigitalTransformation #Culture