The Beginning of the End, or just the End of the Beginning?

Today at our daily Stand Up meeting, I let my Feature Team know that I'd be transitioning out of the Feature Lead role this week, as we wrap up our current Iteration. I'd love to report there were tears, or pleading for me to stay, or even a single, "We'll miss you," but the reality is that it was pretty much a non-event. I choose to think that reaction was more a testiment to how well I'd prepared them for this, from the beginning, than an indication that they're glad to be rid of me... but you never know!

I've already started working on my list of general Agile issues that need some attention right now. Most of these came from discussions with my boss and wouldn't surprise anyone at work:

- help the Feature Teams reach the "performing" stage of the forming / storming / norming / performing team lifecycle
- find ways to prevent the Feature Teams from silo'ing as they produce features
- continue to define and refine the role of the Feature Lead
- ensure all Feature Teams are working with a sense of accountability to their commitments and to each other
- help our Product Team succeed in the new Agile world
- and so on

This list represents an interesting challenge for me, as I'm being asked to influence people who I have little or no control over. I'm much more used to the old style of forming a team and building them up along certain lines of deliverables and skillsets, where trust in both directions is earned and counted on. Even with the Feature Team that I'm soon leaving, while it wasn't a reporting structure relationship between them and me, there was at least the sense that I was there to help them go Agile. That situation made it clear to everyone on the team why they should give me the benefit of the doubt and listen to me, at least at the start. What I'm faced with now, though, is potentially groups of people who either think they're faring better than they are - and here I come to burst their bubble - or that I don't know know what I'm talking about, or both. Talk about a tough crowd!

If nothing else, it should make for some entertaining blog entries in the coming weeks!