I have been talking agile and preaching servant leadership for quite some time now. And in all honesty, I stand by every word that comes out of my mouth.
I believe that without the spirit of sincere cooperation and genuine trust nothing meaningful can be achieved. Most people (yes, there are exceptions) can only blossom in permissive environments where failure is not a ticket out. And it should not be, otherwise at least half of the wonders we enjoy today would not be there.
But lately, I have been challenged with a situation where agile starts meaning political correctness, talking to people in certain ways so as not to hurt feelings and in general operate with ease of attitude for the faint-hearted. I want to strongly object to this notion of agile being the new PC madness.
Agile is there to help build stuff better, not babysit professionals to the point they feel loved and wanted. There is a fine line that separates meaningful servant leadership from useless pampering. At the end of the day, our customers expect deliverables, not happiness rates and amusement charts. Agile is here to help us streamline our toolkits and processes while not losing sight of the individual. Taking it further than that is a lost cause and one that will cost significantly.
Author: Lampros Lamprou.