It’s common for a newly formed agile team to find it unnatural that they could be self directing. “What do you mean we decide the right path?” Creating a team of leaders means empowering the team to have a little more autonomy without a manager dictating their every task.

 

The Ant Colony

Ants don’t have a central command to coordinate their behaviour from a high level. Each ant decides what they need to do for the success of the colony through individual interactions with each other and pheromone trails from others in the colony.

 

The Bee Colony

Similarly, bees also don’t have a central command. Forging bees communicate their findings to the colony, allowing each bee to make a decision on what to do.

 

The Agile Team

In a healthy agile software team, the individuals communicate with each other and pursue the best path to achieve their priorities. Although there is the occasional need for a manager to correct their path, the team will learn each time they derive a false assumption or conclusion.

This culture harnesses the collective expertise of the team to discover what’s best for the company. It produces a team of leaders.

Do you think software teams can be trusted with day-to-day decisions without the involvement of a lead or manager? Tell me what you think.