defines \u201csign off\u201d<\/a>\u00a0as follows:
\n\u201cto approve or acknowledge something by or as if by a signature <sign off on a memo>\u201d<\/p>\nHey, that sounds pretty innocuous. I showed you something, or did something for you, and you\u2019re just signing a piece of paper that says you saw it, or I did it. But the benign nature of that thought belies the social complexities and implications of what that sign off really means.<\/p>\n
On one level, it\u2019s an issue of trust. Why do you need my signature? Isn’t it enough that I told you verbally that its fine? If we worked in a world of implicit trust, that might be OK. But if you\u2019re the one looking for that signature from a manager or client, what are the chances you would respond \u201cyes, sure, it\u2019s fine?\u201d I say the chances are slim and none. If you could take it on verbal approval, then chances are:<\/p>\n
1. The decision or deliverable in question is very minor,
\n2. Your organization is extremely small, and\/or
\n3. You really DO work in an organization with a model of implicit trust (this is rare if (2) is not true).<\/p>\n
So if we don\u2019t trust each other enough to take everything on verbal approval, the question is why? What are we afraid is going to happen if something goes wrong?<\/p>\n
In THAT question lies the core issue. It\u2019s not what happens when everything goes well\u2026when the product is delivered on time, on budget, free of defects. At that point, everyone is happy, and someone throws a party. Maybe the only person unhappy with the lack of formal sign offs in that situation is the person whose job it is to make sure all the boxes were checked for process\u2019 sake.<\/p>\n
But when things DO go wrong \u2013 major defects make it into production (\u201cQA is the problem\u201d), business owners or customers report that product features are “what they asked for, but not what they needed” (\u201cRequirements are the problem\u201d) or delivery is very late or well over budget \u00a0\u2013 THAT is when the true nature of the formal sign off shows. That\u2019s when fingers get pointed and people dive for cover\u2026behind the sign off.<\/p>\n
I submit that\u00a0at its core, the formal sign off serves mainly as an abdication of responsibility for a deliverable, or transference of that responsibility to the signatory.<\/b><\/p>\n
This\u00a0<\/i>is why people are so apprehensive to sign off; because the signer puts him\/her self<\/em> on the hook for the deliverable. They\u2019ve accepted responsibility for something they\u2019ve likely had no hand in producing, but for which they have to answer. And when things go wrong, they’ll be left holding the bag. This is an issue of the culture of the process.<\/p>\nImagine a large river being fed by several small streams.
\nAt the point where each stream feeds into the main river, there\u2019s a lock. Water flows from each stream into the main river, but once it\u2019s contributed a certain amount, the lock closes. When a storm hits at the mouth of the river, and water is pushed back upstream, the locks are closed and the streams are protected, but the main river (and its surrounding banks) is devastated.<\/p>\n
This is a metaphor for the classic sign off when things go wrong, and the real tragedy is that in this model, nobody is responsible for the successful delivery of the product (except maybe the last signatory). Everyone else has plausible deniability. If I\u2019m contributing to the product, and something goes wrong because of my work, but you signed off on it, I can make a great case that I\u2019m not responsible because you accepted both my product and the responsibility when you signed off.<\/p>\n
Transparency + Communication + Accountability = TRUST<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Agile mindset, by contrast, emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and mutual accountability. We’re all in this river together…the business, development, delivery…everyone. We move away from the silo mentality that fosters people protecting their camp (or stream) at the expense of the product. We ditch the locks and move to putting the product first, abandoning personal agendas, and diving in together.<\/p>\n
Is it possible to poison an Agile development effort by sticking to the old psychology of the sign off? Absolutely. I’ve experienced it. You have to make a conscious effort to change that atmosphere. It\u2019s not in our nature and it\u2019s not easy\u2026it takes a willingness by the parties involved to give up the protection of the sign off, and sign up for shared success or failure. Foster this culture shift in your organization, however, and trust and a shared sense of ownership of the product can cement the team together, stronger than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n
-Dave<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cMake sure you get the Sign Off.\u201d That\u2019s a common mantra in any business. The sign off is pursued and valued like it\u2019s some kind of ancient idol. (The opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark comes to mind.) We take it for granted that it\u2019s a necessary part of the processes we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,4,3],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agile","tag-culture","tag-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25,"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theagileangle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}