Section 2.7. Agile Management

2.7. Agile Management

The fact that the team is self-directed raises questions about the role of the project manager, but there are still leadership responsibilities that need to be filled. All of these leadership roles must be addressed with appropriate reverence to the agile philosophies of respect, communication, and feedback.

Most importantly, the transition to agility requires a champion to communicate the vision of agility and to support the team throughout the transition. Everyone will be learning new roles, responsibilities, and techniques, and they will need leadership with vision. Particularly in times of trouble, that clear vision will help ensure that the organization doesn't revert to their old ways. It's important that this leader be a role model of agile philosophies including respect and communication. Agility cannot be inflicted on an organization; this type of change will only succeed with a leader who provides the vision and guides the team as they define and implement the techniques to achieve that vision.

XP defines the role of the project manager as the interface between the team and the rest of the organization. The project manager tracks and reports team progress, and that can require some creativity as the organization transitions toward agility. The planning and progress being made is often hard to quantify with traditional milestones and deliverables, so reporting that progress is an opportunity to advocate for agility and educate the rest of the organization about the changes being made.

In an agile organization, planning isn't something that happens once and is finished. As Beck notes[3], "Planning is an activity, not a phase." The project manager is responsible for making sure that the plan is an accurate reflection of the team's current understanding of the iteration. As adjustments to the plan become necessary, the project manager listens to the team's assessment of the situation and helps the team adjust. The project manager role is very much a "lead by following" role; the team sets the direction, and the project manager does what he can to help the team succeed.

In Scrum, the role of project manager is titled Scrum Master[7], but it closely parallels the project manager in XP. The Scrum Master helps the team set the sprint goal and plan for the sprint. While the sprint is ongoing, the Scrum Master's primary role is to listen to the team's assessment of any impediments they are encountering and then work to remove those impediments. When the sprint is complete, the Scrum Master helps the team assess its performance and plan for improvements in the next sprint.

In some teams and methods, there is a separate role called product manager (or product owner in Scrum) that is responsible for setting the vision of the product being developed. The product manager prioritizes functionality requests to maximize the value of the features being developed and provides a connection from the team to the customer. When the team members realize that they have overcommitted an iteration, the product manager helps them to determine the functionality that should be deferred to the next iteration. If the team members have any questions about how a feature should work, the product manager finds the answers to their questions.

These are examples of the leadership roles that agility requires. However, the responsibility of these roles can fall to one or more individuals. A single person can serve as the project manager and the product owner, but that can lead to conflicts of interest. The project manager's role is focused on helping the team succeed, whereas the product owner is maximizing the value of the deliverable. These two perspectives can motivate very different actions, so it can be difficult for one person to weigh both perspectives carefully. When two people are not available, asking the team to provide the project manager role often works well. They can choose to select one person to play this role or share or rotate the responsibilities.

The leadership necessary for the transition to agility can come from someone playing the project manager role but can also come from any team member (or the entire team). Often this grassroots leadership can be more resilient and idealistic than when it comes from management. In fact, much of the agility movement initially came "from the trenches." More recently, management has been able to initiate the transition to agility with success when it embraces agile philosophies like respect and communication.