Freedom

We have written here about freedom before. But, as Rousseau said, man is born free and everywhere is in chains. So, it is a topic that bears repeated discussion.

In business and in life, too many people want to think that they own other people. Other 'resources' or whatever they may call these people. These owners might be managers, generals, admirals, spouses, older brothers.

The more correct attitude should be as a manager or as a person: 'Thank you for graciously allowing me to work (or live) with you."

No one owes us anything.

Yes, I know it is hard to accept. But there is no amount of anything that we 'gave' them that makes them our slave.

Not an employee, not a spouse, not a friend, not a child, not anyone. They always have the choice to work (or live) with us or not. We never, in any way, own or command them.

(Yes, perhaps in wartime, it may be useful for the commander-in-chief to command from time to time. But almost always, according to good military ideas, it is setting a mission rather than commanding a specific action. Cf. Maneuver Warfare in Wikipedia, as one example. Thus, even in this situation, there is much scope for freedom. And few are the successful generals who lead troops that do not choose (freely) to accomplish the mission.)

Least of all should we contravene their freedom for their own benefit -- for our view of the 'benefit' for these employees (except perhaps for children who are 17 or less).

We have to respect that God, in his infinite wisdom, has given them their freedom (and given us our freedom). And allowed them to make mistakes (and us to make our mistakes). And we have no right to control what God has made free.

Now, this does not mean we can not give our friends advice or our employees (or others) advice. But, real soon, if they don't take the advice, we have to let them be free. Leave them alone, as we say.

"People are remarkably good at doing what they want to do." Little's Second Law

Meaning: They will do what they want. And they won't do what they do not want to do (what we wish to 'force' them to do).

It may seem like a traffic wreck to us, sometimes, but we have to let them do it. Often we (who think we are so smart) are wrong. It does not become a traffic wreck at all. Sometimes we are right, that it does become a traffic wreck (of some proportion). Usually even that actually ends up good -- they learn from that. Far better learning than what would have come from our so-called brilliant advice.

So, if your team trusts you, from your actions in removing their impediments perhaps, trusts that you actually care about the team, then, surprisingly, they may actually listen to your advice more. But you have to accept, as a manager, that it MUST be only advice, and not a command.

Sorry! It seems so much harder than just commanding.
In fact, it is so much better. (So, the 'sorry' is retracted.) Even for you as a manager.

Many are the men who bob their heads, saying by that action that they believe in freedom, perhaps even that their lives are dedicated to freedom. And then in the next hour they try to abridge the freedom of another. 'As you from sins would pardoned be, let your indulgence set me free.' I too of course have made this error; and so I can forgive.

PS. Not only is freedom still to be learned by those who wish to command. Equally we who continue to be commanded must learn that we really are free, and we cannot put up with abridgments of our freedom. This is the path that humanity has been on for only a millennium or perhaps two, so we still have far to go.

PSS. As soon as we talk about freedom, we must immediately speak of responsibility. It seems paradoxical, but it is not. On that topic next post.

A real person in a good team

Some people take the view that they will be lost in a team. And, to be fair, this can happen. There are bosses and there are teammates who want you to conform, to submit, to lose your identity. To a meaningful degree.

But in a real and good team, the opposite occurs. We each become able to become more of who we are.

We each can learn faster. We can be more honest. We can make mistakes and admit to them. We can learn faster from these mistakes. We can enjoy our colleagues, whom we come to know as more complete people.

Yes, there can be dysfunctions in a team. Some teams can learn their way from those dysfunctions. Some cannot.

So, we and Scrum are not in favor of collectivism, of people losing their identify. We are in favor of each person using his or her unique abilities to be creative. And struggling to find themselves within the context of the team. (Yes, one must face and deal with some compromises, which to the inexperienced or immature can seem really tough. May indeed be really tough sometimes. But unavoidable in our life as humans. 'No man is an island' it was once said.)

So, we are not talking about dysfunctional teams mainly. We are talking about good to great teams.

Perhaps most importantly, I get to contribute to the team making a great product that real customers will like (more). This is very satisfying.

So, it is funny how life can be more satisfying when you give to others. You get more for yourself when you are thinking mainly of others.

Now how are things for the so-called top performer?

Umm. Well, the good team should be able to recognize fairly the talents of all it's members. (But it won't happen every time.)

So, again, we cannot promise nirvana, but we think in good to great teams, even the top performer(s) can have a better life.

Some of this seems paradoxical to those who have been in bad situations. My sympathy to you. But do not lose the faith that some day you will see, in a good team, that it is true.

In my opinion, one of our deepest desires as humans is to be known for that person that we truly are, neither hiding nor boasting, both the good and the bad. It is a deep desire, and a good team can enable you to experience that in a far greater degree than we may have up to now. And it even happens while we are going real work. (ie, Not from some fluffy exercise from a consultant, not in some artificial way.)

King of Anything!?

Sara Bareilles, whose music I have enjoyed a lot, has a new song: King of Anything.

I think you will like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR7-AUmiNcA

You might well ask: Why is he talking about this song here?

And the answer: In work, we must recognize the importance of freedom, of self-organization. For their own sakes (these are human rights, after all). And because work actually gets done better if we recognize and operate on those principles.

Some of you will recognize that these are, in one way or another, key principles of Lean-Agile-Scrum also.

So, as we all make mistakes, watch out for when (not if) you treat others as though someone died, and left you king of something. The people that we do this to (we must forgive first, ourselves; we are only human)...they are usually too kind to sing us this song, or their version of this song.

Freedom and Responsibility

Now I wanted to start talking explicitly about freedom and responsibility. The twins.

For most normal people, freedom and responsibility come together. That is, we are only free when we accept responsibility. This may seem a paradox, like saying, "we are only free when we become a slave." But it is not.

So, if we are free we must take the responsibility to decide and act. In the team, for example.

And we must take the responsibility to explain this to managers. "Leave us alone until the end of the Sprint" is a phrase we must be adult enough to repeat often. (And forgiving enough to be willing to repeat again and again.)

Now, managers, contrary to what you were typically taught, God gave them freedom and you have no right to abrogate it.

In a relationship, no decent person wishes to be loved by a slave. One wishes the love, each day, to be truly given. Not required.

In a roughly similar way, in work the magic of the team operates at a higher level when they are free to give what they want, what magically comes to their heads. In the team soup.

Now, this is not foolishness. If the Team goes for a good while and comes up with nothing much, a manger might need to add something to the soup. But she is looking to add a simple constraint or an idea that will juice the team to freer creativity. Not to put an iron box around them to make them work hard.

So, let me repeat a few key ideas:
1. Workers are, by and large, worthy of freedom and responsibility.
2. Managers should be ashamed to assume, tacitly or explicitly, that workers have, even for one moment, given up any freedom.
3. Both managers and workers are human and make mistakes.
4. Neither managers nor workers, in general, are evil. (Yes, there are many managers who are poorly taught in the arts of managing. Yes, there are a few evil managers; but all managers do not deserve to be blamed because of the faults of a few.)

Very good people often misunderstand these ideas, when they try to put them into action. We saw this in what is now called the Place de la Concorde, with the guillotine. It is for us to forgive them, forgive ourselves, and remind.

Happy Independence Day!

First, a word about happiness. I am sure I don't know everything about happiness, but I am still quite sure it is important. Mr. Jefferson included, in his draft, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". And Jeff Sutherland says "if they aren't having fun [with Scrum], they aren't doing it right."

Serious fun, fun that comes mainly from work. But still fun.

Umm. I think there may still be some of us who feel that things are good only when we are in pain. I guess if that is fun for you, go for it, as long as you don't hurt anyone else. Anyway, do not put me in the camp of ascetics or stoics. Pleasure, if done right, can lead to creativity.


But the main subject is freedom! Freedom! What a great word. The second greatest word in the English language.

This is the day on which we celebrate the Declaration of Independence. A declaration for freedom. "We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men a created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." What glorious ringing words.

And still we are not free. In ways big and small, others try to enslave us. In ways big and small, we enslave ourselves. As Rousseau said: "Man is born free and everywhere is in chains."

Managers: Never, never, never, never enslave your associates. They do not belong to you. You did not create them. Even if they ask you to, do not abrogate their freedom. God gave them freedom for many mystical reasons, the source and meaning of which you haven't the least idea. You are a manager to help them fulfill their lives, not to take their freedom away.

Let me be yet more honest. You have been taught, and it is in the bones of most of you, to enslave your associates. I, as one, do not blame you; you have been taught badly and you are human (imperfect). I too have committed these sins. But do not be complacent with your imperfections. Try hard to stop doing it.

Workers: Never, even for a second, give up your freedom. You freedom of action, of speech, of association. Your freedom to be yourself. You never said "I agree to be a slave to this firm or this manager." Don't do it. In fact, most managers can feel in their bones the sin of abrogating your freedom; do not let them sin more.

Yes, you do not have to tell me all the temptations you face to give away your freedom. On some days, it seems a good trade, and it seems that we might pawn it and get it back later. It is hard. But having fun is hard too. You, your freedom are worth the pain of this hard passage.

[Yes, of course, there are certain social constructs that limit our freedom. We don't yell "fire" in a crowded room, etc, etc. It is a complicated subject. So, study it!]

So, how does Scrum instantiate freedom. Well, one way is that each person reports for himself or herself in the Daily stand-up. One way is that the Team gets to choose how many Product Backlog Items to commit to in the Sprint Planning Meeting.

More broadly, in Scrum we accept (well, more) that a person brings everything he or she is to a Team. And thus has much more to offer a team (yes, and, well, maybe a bit more to deal with too). We are free(er) to be who we really are.

Immediately after mentioning freedom, we must also mention responsibility. If you are free, you are also responsible for yourself. This is a great lesson of life. Mysterious, just as God gives us responsibility for ourselves, he also makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the wicked and the good. Consider the lilies of the field, we might say. In a free economy, much is magically provided for us. Still, we must work, we must learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We must learn that we must still get along, in business, with even quite disagreeable people (the simple version of "love your enemies").

How does this work in Scrum? So, in Scrum, the team at the end of the Sprint Planning Meeting commits to 8 or 12 or 15 Product Backlog Items. They become responsible for delivering those by the end of the Sprint. They are free to do it anyway they want, but they have committed to deliver. They are responsible.

"That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it..." Yes, and this is the slow, painful path we are on in abolishing Waterfall and all its associated bad thinking. We have this right. We have this duty even. We must fix it. May it be that the lean-agile-scrum with which we wish to replace waterfall are worthy successors and worthily practiced by the players.

So, on this beautiful day (and are not they all beautiful) send not to know for whom the bells toll. The bells of freedom toll for you. The fireworks of freedom are lit for you. Whether you are in Demorest, GA, or Ottawa, or Bangalore, or Paris, or Amsterdam, or South Africa, or Lima. No man is an island, because each of us is involved in mankind.