" When you walk to the edge of all the light that
you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must
believe that one of two things will happen…there will be something solid for
you to stand upon or you will be taught to fly. "
When I first read this quote, I thought of how nervous I was
when I became an independent consultant. I left my company of more than 18
years with a 6-month plan and faith that things would work out. It definitely felt
like taking a step into the darkness of the unknown...
And then I remembered how I felt on my first agile
team...new lingo, new tools, new practices. Everything I had known was
disappearing and I was being figuratively pushed into darkness – or at least it
felt that way at times.
Some of my teammates must have felt pushed too, because they
resisted every step of the way. They clung to their old roles and familiar
behaviors. They did not trust that the team had full support, or something to
stand on, if we failed. And without support, we retreat to what is comfortable,
even if it’s dysfunctional.
Even after we got an agile coach, and reassurance from
management, I don’t think they had faith that we could succeed. Their fear of
the unknown, of the uncomfortable, kept them grounded in the status quo. They
did not want to learn how to fly.
I understood their trepidation. They had been taught that
their value was in knowing the answers, not in discovering better questions. So
they stopped being curious. They no longer searched for new ideas. They had no
time for experiments.
Thankfully, I had a moment of enlightenment early on, something
like an ‘aha,’ where it just clicked. I don’t remember what I was doing at that
moment, but I knew that I would never go back to the old way. At that moment, I
stepped off the edge.
Agile is a curious thing. As a methodology, it provides
solid development practices and proven testing techniques, as well as better
ways to collaborate with stakeholders and customers to make sure we’re building
the right thing. These are solid things to stand upon.
And, when embraced as a mindset, agile creates environments
where trust is valued and expected. New ideas are respected and expanded.
Learning & discovery are the new status quo. In this way, an agile mindset
teaches us to fly to heights not yet imagined.
What about you? What have you resisted? What helped you to step into the darkness of the
unknown?
