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Why Cutting Agile Leadership Hurts Teams More Than It Saves
- Many organizations are cutting the Agile leadership role to save costs by distributing its responsibilities among team members, but this move can have negative impacts on team dynamics and long-term effectiveness.
- Maintaining Agile leadership as a distinct role has proven to be more beneficial than the savings derived from eliminating it, as evidenced by the experience of one company.
- Roles like Agile Delivery Manager have emerged to encompass a broader range of responsibilities beyond traditional Scrum Master roles, incorporating value stream management and flow engineering.
- Eliminating dedicated Agile leadership can lead to increased cognitive load for Product and Engineering Managers, reduced team alignment, and breakdowns in Agile practices and team culture.
- The role of Agile Delivery Manager is essential for providing a holistic view of the system, ensuring balanced flow distribution, and facilitating healthy delivery over time.
- Agile leaders play a critical role in enabling self-managing teams, continuous improvement, and long-term value delivery, evolving to focus more on strategic optimization as teams mature.
- While some high-performing teams can self-manage without dedicated Agile leadership, the absence of a system-level enabler for delivery efficiency and value optimization can be felt in many organizations.
- Experimenting with shared responsibilities versus maintaining a dedicated Agile leadership role is a decision that varies based on organizational needs, team maturity, and culture.
- Overloading Product and Engineering Managers with additional Agile leadership responsibilities may create challenges in maintaining delivery balance and sustained attention to team health.
- The industry struggles to fill roles with strong candidates when one person is tasked with multiple responsibilities, leading to what is called the 'unicorn problem.'
- Before eliminating the Agile leadership role, organizations should consider who will prioritize delivery balance across various aspects like features, tech debt, security, and defects, as this responsibility is crucial for successful outcomes.
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