Kick-off Pt 3 Scheduling
Rebecca Hudson highlights the dangers of neglecting key kick-off activities. She explores the practical outputs of kick-off, alongside the human-centric, relationship-based elements which are essential to setting teams up for success.
This is Part 3 of 3 articles. If you haven’t read parts 1 & 2, I recommend starting there!
Linear Time vs. Flexible Time
From my travels in Spain & South America I learnt the dual meanings of ‘mañana’, one meaning ‘tomorrow’, though more commonly used to mean ‘at an unspecified future time’.
Similarly in The UAE we have ‘Inshallah’ which translates as ‘God willing’. For example, the ac in my apartment isn’t working and it’s pushing 40 degrees outside. I’ve called the maintenance team to beg them to come and fix it asap. They have confirmed they will be “there in 2hrs, inshallah”. Which, in all likelihood means tomorrow or maybe the day after. I have learnt from my South African friends here in Dubai, that their common phrase ‘now now’ does not mean right now, which as a Brit would absolutely be my assumption. ‘Now, now’ like ‘mañana’ is an indefinite time, but some time soon. ‘Now’ means right now. Confused?! I sure was when I first moved here!
As a Brit working in Dubai I learnt quickly that flexibility in this region is key, which typically goes against my natural linear approach to scheduling.
Recently, I put together a detailed plan and agenda for a 2 day kick-off workshop in Saudi Arabia with a new client. I was joined in person by a colleague from our Danish office. We had colleagues and clients dialling in from different offices in Europe and the Middle East. Naturally, I had set the agenda with clear time-slots including bio and lunch breaks. I shared this agenda with my Saudi clients ahead of the visit.
Us Brits and Danes love to queue, to set agendas and be very time efficient in our linear approach to scheduling. As such I had to warn my Danish colleagues that we should expect the agenda, though agreed by the client, to deviate, overrun and require reworking for day 2.
I first arrived in The UAE just before Ramadan in 2018. Having never worked in an Islamic based country I found it amazing that a public holiday date was not set in stone. The UAE’s moon sighting committee must look for the crescent moon, which indicates the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid Al Fitr. I think the UK economy would fall apart if this was the case! However, the respect for such a holy time means that flexibility is built in to businesses here, and it works.
It’s important as an Agile Lead to have discussions with all parties during kick-off regarding scheduling, as this can mitigate any future mutual frustrations occurring.
I’ve experienced clients in this region hold you rigidly to a release date, only to decide on the day that they need 2 more weeks to sign it off. Or, to suddenly pull forward a release date by 3 weeks without notice. And, conversely to approve an ‘urgent’ project then take 5 months to schedule the first kick-off meeting.
As an Agile Lead or Coach this does present additional challenges, so gaining an understanding of a new client or teams concept of scheduling means that you can flex your delivery approach accordingly, for example -
Determine what guidance the group might need on Agile development best practice
Try to determine how mature their understanding of Agile methodologies is. You might need to choose an approach, such as scrum as the core framework
Understand review, feedback and approval timelines, and bake these into your iteration cycles
Determine the length of sprints that will work for your delivery
Conclusion:
As an Agile Lead you are part coach, part subject-matter expert, part-mediator, part-anthropologist! This is especially true in an increasingly borderless business world: the need to understand cultural norms, establish client relationships over Zoom, and effectively bring together distributed teams on new engagements, means navigating a slalom of obstacles on an often intimidating slope of hidden crevasses!
You can never be all things to all people all of the time, but with knowledge comes understanding and the means for you to build relationships with the right foundations.