Telework and Modified Schedules – The Agile Impact

Agencies around the government are beginning to see more and more of their employees teleworking and going to modified work weeks.  There are a number of employees that work enough so that they can modify their schedules to be off every other Friday or Monday, or even every Friday or Monday.  Due to a number of factors, many employees are also teleworking, or working from home.  Sound like you or someone you know?

What does this have to do with Agile?

I hear very often that one of the most talked about, and even controversial, things about an Agile transformation is the idea that teams must all be in the same room in order to satisfy the 6^th principle of the Agile Manifesto “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.”

If we take this principle into account, then we find that the telework and modified schedules turn this upside down and cause some confusion and concern on whether or not an agency can actually transition.  I have had a number of federal employees, especially leadership; ask if they can really transition to an Agile culture.  The actuality is “yes” – an agency in this situation, can most certainly transition to an Agile environment!

The biggest question for any agency is not “can we?”, but “how do we?”.  The agency needs to start with the understanding that the 6^th principle says that face-to-face is “the most efficient and effective…” way to communicate; it does NOT say that it is the only way to communicate.  It is so very important to encourage face-to-face communication for those that are in the office on a daily basis, but not so important that they relinquish the teleworking or modified schedules.

The key is to have the agency give the teams as much encouragement and support as they can to help create an atmosphere that fosters communication and collaboration in many different ways.  The agency will need to enable team members to communicate through means that may not have been ‘the usual’ in the agency.  Many government agencies have never had to put a lot of effort into ‘unusual’ modes of communication and collaboration because either the employees have been in the office all the time and/or the employees have worked fairly independently.  The more independently employees work, the less they need ways to communicate and collaborate outside of the ‘usual’ means of phone and email.

Agencies that need to step out of the ‘normal modes’ of communication are most likely very skittish of doing so for a multitude of reasons.  Some reasons I have been told that agencies may be skeptical is the level of security that needs to be maintained in the agency; most agencies will admit their security levels are much higher than those of private industry.  Because of the level of security that needs to be supported, many obvious communication mechanisms are overlooked or pushed aside without fully investigating the overall options.

However, in today’s technological age, there are many options that are available.  Any agency that is looking to transition to a more collaborative environment, one in which Agile can flourish, needs to look beyond names and find what works.  They should start by understanding the needs of the teams and work with the teams to find solutions, such as Office365, webcams, bridgelines, etc.

The one thing that agencies should never assume is that they cannot transition to an Agile environment simply due to these modified schedules or teleworking situations.  It all comes down to support and encouragement of teams made of people that are not all sitting in the same location…something that many agencies have not had to deal with before now!

Have you been in this situation?  Do you know some that are?  What do you, or they, think can be done to be more collaborative?