Agile and motivation
In general, team management's role is to “ensure the project deadline is met, with the contribution of each individual on the team.” For this, there is a need to manage both tangible and more complex: intangible factors.
Regarding tangible factors, deadlines and budget management are some examples. Although they are not easy to manage, they are at least concrete.
Interpersonal relationships both between team members and with clients—along with individual and collective motivation—represent complex challenges with many variables that do not have a one-size-fits-all formula for individuals and projects.
According to a PwC study, Agile projects have a 28% higher success rate compared to projects using more bureaucratic and less flexible methodologies.
Motivation cannot be assigned to team members in the same way as different tasks are. For this reason, those focused on management should try to maintain an environment with conditions that promote motivation.
Agile methodologies allow requirements to change and evolve during various iterations, enable teams to organize more independently, and promote transparency throughout the development process. This contrasts with the way projects are handled when they are planned long-term with little or no flexibility for changes to the initial plan.
Although there is no direct link between Agile and changes in the motivation of various team members, some characteristics primarily have a positive influence.
Some early studies related to the implementation of Scrum in teams show data about negative reactions to the Agile approach, where some team members reported increased stress due to all the visibility and accountability it brought.
The Iteration Planning, Retrospective, and Daily Stand-up meetings are Scrum ceremonies quite familiar to most developers in the IT field. Although they have different functions and timings, they all promote transparency among team members: from when tasks are estimated to the moment when each iteration is evaluated. The Daily Stand-up contributes to the overall visibility of tasks, their status, and whether something needs to be unlocked. Estimates made during Planning help everyone understand the urgency and complexity of each task. Finally, the Retrospective aims to learn and avoid repeating mistakes from previous iterations, but also to highlight what was done well and evolve from there.
The fact that there is transparency and visibility in task distribution results in more concrete and clear objectives. Another positive factor is the ease of getting help with problem-solving during the Daily Stand-up, as the whole team is gathered. If there are difficulties, there is a high probability that a colleague can immediately unlock the issue or provide an estimate of when they will be able to help. With all the information available and clear, the Scrum Master can expedite problem-solving.
It is unlikely that there is a methodology that pleases everyone individually, but Agile methodologies do offer greater flexibility, scalability, and transparency. The team management also benefits from this, as ideally, everyone is properly informed and aware of the project's status.
There are no perfect formulas that everyone agrees on. However, Agile methodologies facilitate communication within the team and between teams. For management, it is also more transparent. For many, motivation increases when everyone has a clear and tangible goal, where there is also a team available to help and everyone is aware of what needs to be achieved. Transparency and flexibility are factors that ease daily operations and problem-solving, and all this can have quite positive impacts on everyone's motivation.
Recent News
Rupture between professional and personal life is a myth: employee well-being should be a whole.
In industrialized countries, we spend most of our time indoors. According to the National Human Activity Pattern Survey in the United States, we spend about 90% of our lives in enclosed environments, meaning that by the age of 40, we will have spent 36 years within four walls.
And there's nothing like the comfort of a hug from my child while I work.
As children return to school and daycare, one of the issues that arises is the coordination between parents' work schedules and their children's school schedules. The question of who will drop off and pick up the children becomes a domestic negotiation among parents. For the first time in my life, I am facing this dilemma, and I couldn't be more proud to be part of a company and group that views this paternal moment in a natural, respectful, and understanding way.