The 3 Es: A Worthy Balancing Act

If you've been coached by me or any of the marketing coaches, you've no doubt heard us talk about the concept of the 3 Es - and why they create the feeling of speed.  The 3 Es articulate a balance between execution, continuous improvement, and valuing individual interactions and individuals.  It can be easy for newer teams to over-index by focusing more on one particular “E” at the expense of the other two.  Healthy, growing and maturing agile teams balance all three of those Es every day, and while the Scrum Master is an important part of facilitating that balance - it's everyone's responsibility to ensure that all three are cared for! 

Consider this...

When talking about agile teams to “outsiders” (people outside of our core team) it’s easy to
put an emphasis on Engagement, because, quite frankly, it really is an energizer!  But think about this, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer.”  Sound familiar?  It should!

Delivering value is actually articulated by Effective.  Is the team, program and portfolio ON TRACK to deliver their teams objectives and business outcomes?  What progress have we made against our Business Outcome and Key Results?  Did we reach our deposit account goals?  Did our last effort create the lift in Zelle transactions we were looking for?  What has the team done this quarter, this sprint, today -  to get us a step closer to delivering value to our prospects and customers by achieving those business outcomes?  Are we being Effective in delivering our team/program/portfolio?

Another familiar phrase should be, “Relentless improvement over settling for status-quo.”  This value is brought to life in our second E… Efficient.  What has the team done to improve the way they work together to deliver value?  Have they shortened their end-to-end cycle time (idea to in-market?) by self-organizing?  Found a way to work more efficiently with partners?  Eliminated wasted time or delays?  Have they found a way to more accurately plan and execute together?  I think about it this way;  how are we improving our team so that we can deliver MORE value (achieve more business results) faster?

To be 100% clear, the last E is also a critical piece of the puzzle.  If Effective is “what” we deliver, and Efficient is “how” we deliver it, then Engaged is "why" our team keeps getting better.  Do your team members feel safe to call out new ideas, or identify things that could be done differently?  Are they willing to “step outside of their lane” to help out a team member or partner who is behind, overwhelmed, or just needs help?  Are they collectively achieving the team’s goals, or is everyone laser focused on “doing their job?”  It’s no coincidence that our first shared value is “Individuals and interactions over process and tools.”  We know that healthy, self-organizing, self-governing teams, with clear objectives... deliver.  This is the “why.”

The next time someone asks YOU how your team is coming along… .what if your response went something like this...?

“We are doing great!  We’ve achieved X% of our objective, are on track to exceed that goal and are looking at what else we can do to help our customer and the business.  While achieving these amazing results, our team found ways to reduce our Legal, Risk and Compliance reviews by Y days meaning we reduced our end to end cycle time by Z%.  We accomplished this by building a team that is willing to self-organize, reflect, trust, take risks, etc, etc, etc.”

That narrative emphasizes the balance between the 3Es and how they all play together to help teams focus and drive value!

As I mentioned before, everyone has a part to play in our teams being able to have a robust conversation about their team's 3Es.  As a nudge - 

Portfolio/Program/Product Owners - do you talk about your business objectives, outcomes, and KPIs with your team?  Is everyone clear on how your team(s) impacts achieving those results?  Can they talk about how the work they are doing today helps you all to achieve those results?  Can everyone articulate how Effective the team is being?

Scrum Masters - are you celebrating the continuous improvements the team is making?  Are you planning and executing experiments to work together better with each other and partners?  Are you all talking about how more Efficiently the team is working together?  Are you making it a priority to find ways to be able to deliver together more efficiently?

Team Members - Do you know your team's 3Es?  Do you know how your team is progressing / improving?  Can you articulate how the work you're doing today and how it directly helps us to add value to your customers/prospects and achieve your business objectives? If not, what's stopping you from asking?

Managers and Leaders - what questions are you asking team members?  Are you asking what team objectives were achieved or are you asking how many widgets got turned?  Are you challenging team members to talk about end-to-end efficiency (cycle time) or the efficiency of the particular step you are accountable for?  When was the last time you asked team members how Effective, Efficient and Engaged their agile team is?

We all have a part to play when it comes to delivering value to our customers, and achieving our business goals and objectives.  It doesn't matter where you sit, it matters how you show up.  When focus is on the 3 Es and we strive to keep them in balance, we can continuously improve while delivering value at a sustainable pace!  If we focus too much on one E at the expense of the others, we may get short term gain, but we lose in the long run.

We ALL win together.