This article is a part of a series aimed to aid that very important journey. Today, we will discuss the 3 roles that exist in the Agile Journey, and the importance of each one.
The Agile Evangelist
This is the person who takes upon themselves the responsibility of converting everyone to the Agile cause. They vouch, canvass and convince. It doesn't matter what their professional role is. It also doesn't matter how much Agile they actually know. They just have to want to convert the team to the cause. The evangelist is of immense value to the Agile journey. Because their passion is personal, their enthusiasm is infectious.
How do we maximize the potential of the Agile Evangelist?
First, identify them. Next, give them the role they crave. All our team members on the Agile journey have a delivery role and a change management role. This person is the ideal harbinger of change. Identify the evangelists in the team (they are easy to spot - they are the ones whose eyes light up when you mention the right terms), and give them the additional responsibility of running Agile familiarization sessions. Ask them to make and/ distribute cool videos that explain how we are going to do stuff better. They are the converters. Let them convert.
The Agile Educator
This is the person who understands Agile and is the coach of the rest of the team. They know Agile and what it entails. They are the go to person for the rest of the team to understand and learn.
How do we maximize their potential?
The educators need a bit of work. They need to unlearn the parts that don't apply to our organization and learn the parts that will. They also need to be prepared for the role separately. Often, when new team members come to the seasoned Agile practitioners for guidance and support, they may not recognize their very important role. If we identify their role and educate them about it, they will be able to guide and aid everyone's journey, and do it with well earned pride.
The Agile Adopter
The Adopter is a curious term. Because it forms the essence of our organization. It can be applied to the person, the unit or the organization as a whole. The adopter is the person who learns, willingly, how to move to a new way of delivery. The vast majority of our project team on the Agile journey will fall here.
How to maximize the potential of the Agile Adopter?
The Agile adopter needs what every change situation needs - frequent positive strokes, timely guidance and course correction, and more importantly, proof of success through milestones or other familiar terms. This is a person learning to walk on stilts - an entirely new way of doing something so familiar its second nature. The Agile adopter must, above all, be recognized, respected, and aided.
Your thoughts?
This article is contributed by Nidhi Arora, Co-Founder and Director at Topgain Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
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