An Alternative to Consensus - Individual Decision-Making in Agile

Michele Sliger (Sliger Consulting Inc.)

Discovery Sessions · Customer, Individuals & Teams

Wednesday, 08:30, 1 hour 30 minutes | Meeting Room 4

In the recent best-seller /Joy at Work/ Dennis Bakke describes how he effectively scaled what is essentially an agile approach across his entire company. One practice is distinctly different, however: the way that these self-organizing teams make decisions. In Bakke's company, teams don't make decisions via group consensus. Instead a team member volunteers to be the decision-maker on a particular issue. The decision-maker has only one mandatory rule: follow the "advice process". It is what it sounds like - asking the advice of others before making a decision. The bigger the impact the decision will have on the organization, the wider the quest for advice must go, all the way to the board of directors if appropriate. Here is what Bakke says about this approach: "The advice process is my answer to the age-old organizational dilemma of how to embrace the rights and needs of the individual, while simultaneously ensuring the successful functioning of the team or company. I observed that Japanese companies tended to emphasize the group and consensus, while American culture pushed rugged individualism. I believe the advice process strikes a better balance. It leaves the final decision to individuals, but it forces them to weigh the needs and wishes of the community." Join us for a fishbowl discussion as we debate the merits of Bakke's advice process and whether it's an agreeable option in agile organizations.

Michele Sliger has worked in software development for over 20 years, and has been embracing change with agile methodologies for the last eight of those years. As a self-described "bridge builder," her passion lies in helping those in traditional software development environments cross the bridge to agility. Along with co-author Stacia Broderick, their forthcoming book "The Software Project Manager’s Bridge to Agility" will focus on that topic, helping PMI-trained project managers make the transition. Michele is a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). If you have a question or would like help with your agile adoption, Michele can be reached at michele@sligerconsulting.com