No time like the present to BE agile!

Before I say anything else - I sincerely hope that all of you, your families and friends are all healthy and safe.  I know that this is a trying time for folks for a lot of different reasons, and I'm going to repeat one of my most overused phrases - we all win together.  That means we can rely on each other to share the load, to work through the unexpected, and to help each other out in any way that we can.  Never forget that before anything else, we are teammates, and that means we take care of each other the best that we can.  Please be sure to monitor the  CDC Coronavirus page for updates and resources.

All of the health and wellness related stress aside - what a better time to be agile?  It's like our shared values and principles were custom designed for times just like this...

"But Coach Dan!  Whatever do you mean?" 

Well, I'm glad you asked!

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. 

I can't think of a more important time to put people first.  Everyone will be impacted differently

and we will need to rely on each other more than ever.  Our customers will be impacted and they will need us as well.  Be kind.  Be empathetic.  Communicate.  Be there for each other.  Pitch in and help, even if it isn't your job to do so.  We can do amazing things together as a team, and our current situation doesn't change that fact.

Iterative discovery over static predictions.

Talk about a time to test and learn!  It's not an understatement to say that we're all in uncharted territory personally and professionally.  We will need to test and learn our way through how we communicate with and support our customers.  We will need to think differently about what they need, and what they don't need is to wait 6 months to get solutions from us.  Reading our early indicators and results can inform our next move.  The more flexible we can be in what we deliver the better.

Customer-focused collaboration over silos and hierarchy

We're being told to hunker down - but that doesn't mean we should stay in our silos.  Innovation, improvements and good ideas can come from anywhere on the team, and now is the time for us all to speak up and share our perspectives.  At the end of the day we're all customers of financial services and we're all in the same boat with uncertainty.  Share your perspective with your team.  Let your voice be heard, come to a decision and then move forward.  Hunker down physically and geographically, not mentally!

Responding to change over following a plan

I think we can all agree that the phrase "things are in flux" is not an understatement.  We've spent a lot of time putting our plans, roadmaps and backlogs in order.  Now we may need to pivot.  That's ok.  Prioritize, analyze, align and act!  Our plans were great yesterday.  Also, yesterday we weren't being told to stay out of bars and pubs.  Things change and agile teams (and people) roll with those changes, align on what our customers and users need, and we work hard to deliver those things.  

Relentless improvement over settling for status-quo

I don't care how uncertain and frantic things get, we can always improve.  We can be more effective in how we communicate with our customers and each other.  We can be more clear and concise.  We can make decisions more effectively.  We can test and learn faster.  In uncertain times, it's more important than ever to inspect, improve and adapt.  Take a moment to breath and reflect on our 3Es - effectiveness (is our customer benefiting?), efficiency (is our team operating as well as possible?) and engagement (are we taking care of each other as well as our customer?)

Closing thoughts...

I'm not saying that everything will be unicorns and rainbows if we just embrace the agile values, grasp hands and sing "Kum-Ba-Yah" (in fact, please don't grasp hands - social distancing!!!)  With all of the changes that are going on around us - the constant barrage of new, the ever-shifting priorities, the uncertainty around our health and the economy - it's all very real and very challenging.  I can tell you this - we know for a fact that we are stronger together than we are individually.  We've got great teams.  We've got great team members.  We got shared values that we can lean on as we work through our challenges.  Be kind to each other.  Keep our customer front of mind.  Be agile.

We all win together.