Confessions of an agile obsessive!

I have a problem.  It’s quite serious and it affects me everyday.  I can’t seem to watch a TV programme without trying to find some (usually tenuous) way to connect it to product delivery and Agile.  

It’s an illness; I can’t stop.  

I’m not just ruining my own life, it’s spreading to my loved ones.  

My wife recently yelled at a team on Australian MasterChef: “Why don’t they test one fully made burger first? That’s Agile!” (*I guess this means she can’t leave me now)

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a new season planned for one of the greatest series of all time.  So I’m currently rewatching it and I gotta say it’s even better the second time.  The first time I watched Ted Lasso I felt a connection to Agile; so this time I made notes.  I’d be interested to know if you agree with any of these…

1. Agile: Iterate and improve forwards. Never dwell on the past but decide what’s the right thing to do now.  

Ted Lasso: Ted’s "Be a Goldfish". Helping the team to let go of their failures to focus on the next game; improve now.

2. Agile: Empower teams to think for themselves by having a clear vision rather than rules

Ted Lasso: The changing room “BELIEVE” sign.  It fosters a shared mission and trust even when outcomes might not be known. 

3. Agile: We care more about people than the process.  Well, we’re supposed to. 

Ted Lasso: It’s clear that Ted’s priority is people.  He even takes it a step further and cares about People more than he cares about Results.  

4.Agile: Leadership in agile is about empowerment and leading by example rather than command-and-control.  

Ted Lasso: This is the arc we see in (my man crush) Roy Kent. He evolves from a lone wolf dictator to a mentor who coaches Jamie Tart (do doo do doo).  Roy even starts to embrace vulnerability.  Is Roy now a Servant-Leader?

5. Agile: Customer centricity - satisfy the customer, not your boss, not other teams… the customer.  

Ted Lasso: This is Rebecca’s arc. She begins by wanting to sabotage the team for her own personal gains but ends up championing the team and letting go of her personal pet project and self-centred motivations.

6. Is the "Diamond Dogs" a retrospective? Open conversations, honest and courageous.  It creates psychological safety.  And nobody took any notes. 

But I want to talk about something even more important when it comes to how we treat people at work.  The recurring theme in the final few episodes is forgiveness. 

In Agile, we talk about ‘fail fast’—but do we ‘forgive fast’?

Jamie forgives his abusive father, Beard forgives Nate; Ted his mother and even Roy forgives Trent Crimm - Independent.  But who did Rupert forgive?   There’s a lasting image I have of him, dressed in a black cloak during his pitch invasion.  

We know he received forgiveness from Rebecca.  Which freed her to lead with purpose, not pettiness. Did Rupert’s lack of growth keep him stuck? How often do we let past failures (ours or others’) sabotage our teams?  

As the ever poignant and elegant Higgins put, “The best we can do is to keep asking for help and accepting it when you can. And if you can keep on doing that, you'll always be moving towards better.” 

But I’ll let Roy sum it up - “Don't you DARE settle for fine”