What Are Best Practices for Agile Managers?

What are the best practices for Agile managers? Which recurring tasks should managers put on their task lists?

Yes I know, there is no such thing as a “best” practice. But some practices are a “best guess” when you try to produce some good results.

• Scrum has the product backlog, user stories, definition of done, and retrospectives.
• XP has TDD, pair programming, refactoring, and continuous integration.
• Kanban has the Kanban board, visualized flow, classes of service, and limited WIP.

But what about Agile management?

It’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?

Software developers, testers, business analysts, and project managers have plenty of frameworks and methodologies available to select their “best” practices.

But what should be on the TO DO lists of development managers and team leaders?

• Some of my own suggestions are delegation poker, authority boards and 360 Degree Meetings.
• Other people have suggested one-on-ones, the happiness index, goal setting, or the Gemba walk.

But what do you think?

Which practices make a manager’s job Agile?

I want to know the concrete best practices for Agile managers. And with concrete I mean we should be able to explain to a novice manager how to perform it. “Trust your people” is abstract, not concrete. “Bring them coffee each morning” is concrete.

Many managers and leaders still operate at the Shu-level of management. They need concrete advice, and step-by-step guidance. A person who is just learning to drive a car has no use for high-level values. They need concrete tips for sitting in their chair, holding the wheel, and looking at the road. They will understand the values soon enough, if they survive.

What do we teach managers who are just learning to survive Agile projects?

Please add your suggestions to this blog posts. I will select three people who will each win a free copy of the Management 3.0 book.

(Jurgen Appelo is author of Management 3.0, a best-selling management book for Agile developers. It has a picture of a monster in it.)

(photo by GrowWear)