At Pandoblox we’ve had numerous engagements with CEOs discussing the viability of their technology roadmaps, relative to their vision for the organization.

Lately, while advising we’ve been asked by quite a few clients “Should we be using a Waterfall or Agile approach to managing our projects?”. The first few times this question was asked, I “took the bait” and began to explain how each discipline fits a particular type of industry, project and/or team.

We have a process framework at Pandoblox that dives deep into the company’s business to understand their operations and objectives before recommending an approach to technology. Through this process, we quickly began to realize, it wasn’t a question of mismatched methodology at the root of their problem. It was the siloed teams allowed to develop over time at the root of their problem.

A mentor of mine once told me a long time ago “not to confuse the team you lead for the team you’re on”. Human nature, unchecked has us naturally focus on the work within our group and lose sight of how it fits and/or effects the other groups who all should be working toward the business goals, the macro picture.

Silos form when employees develop more loyalty to a discrete group rather than their employer. If silos are allowed to take shape, its members become more biased and distrustful of others outside of their silo. Once you lose trust, it becomes increasingly difficult for groups to work together.

Trust makes team-work possible, and team-work stimulates the ability to keep pace with your competitors. Organizations can develop ecosystems that allow silos to form and thrive. Lack of direction from the top regarding regular meetings and acceptable communication gives implicit permission for employees to form silos.

Methodologies in and of themselves will not solve your organization’s problems. Let’s put aside methodologies of organizing work for a moment. These can be divisive and counter to solving the real issue.

Let’s pivot to the more probable cause of inefficiency in your process, the silos that exist.

There are a few areas your teams can take on to break down the silos.

Meeting Structure

How many meetings do you attend in a week? How many times have you heard meeting participants walk away from a meeting saying it was a waste of time?

Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel, is remembered for his perceptive insights on what makes a business succeed. He once wrote, “Just as you would not permit a fellow employee to steal a piece of office equipment, you should not let anyone walk away with the time of his fellow managers.”

Let me hazard a guess…

• The primary reason the meetings are seen as wasteful is because people are having discussions and making decisions in silos.

• The meeting feel like a waste of time because not all of the right people are in the room, at the right time, all together.

• The person who calls the meeting is not prepared with a well thought out agenda and the meetings are allowed to go sideways or down multiple rabbit holes.

• The people talking about the work to be done are not the people actually doing the work.

• Current solution: add another meeting

…rinse, repeat.

“The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”

—Albert Einstein

Changing our thinking and behavior. Try this…

• Identify the core team from the beginning. You want productive cross-representation from people in the trenches as well as leadership. For example, in Software Development: developer(s), Product, project mgmt, QA, Operations, etc.

• Get rigorous about your meetings. Thoroughly prepare for the meeting. Get very clear on why you’re having the meeting. Is it to inform others, or to get their help solving a problem?

• Ensure everyone knows the expected outcomes.

• Hold people accountable.

Don’t have time to prepare, you say? Chicken and egg problem…If you start spending less time in meetings, including the ones you run, you will!

The Backlogs

The organization needs one, prioritized backlog.

Why? If the entire company doesn’t align on the priorities, people will make them up based on what most interests them or the person who complains the loudest. It will not be based on what is most important to the organization.

Companies that thrive have a single source of truth everyone references for priorities aligned to the business’ goals. This single source is updated religiously and reviewed with the same rigor at all levels of the organization.

Tools

Organizations need an agreed upon toolset. Software As A Service has been extremely beneficial to our productivity. However, it’s a double edge sword. The ease of spinning up a new tools has led to information sprawl. A disjointed, unnavigable jumble.

With code repositories, project management tools, service desk, email, spreadsheets, shared drives, local drives, team work flow tools, test case tools, etc. it makes it impossible to manage priorities and get everyone rowing in the same direction.

Pick one comprehensive tool for each need, with little overlap and adopt a uncompromising policy of storing appropriate information in one place, in the appropriate tool.

This is easier said than done. There’s bright and shiny tools cropping up weekly, if not daily. Just keep in mind it’s not the tools… your mojo comes from your people all working together toward a unified goal(s) in a disciplined fashion.

Ok, so a lied about setting aside the discussion of Agile vs Waterfall methodologies for a moment. If you found this even slightly compelling, try putting the decision on hold. Yes, you’ll need to eventually decide, but it’s much wiser to make the decision from strong foundational team footing.

The answer of which methodology is not going to solve the underlying fatal problem of silos. It’s a cancer that has to be addressed if you ever hope to have a healthy foundation for success. However, if you solve your root problem, decisions such as methodologies have a way of solving themselves.