Mind human nature!

Humans are not as rational and predictable as we often expect. They are strongly led by their experiences and emotions. What does this mean for projects and project management methods?

Human beings in classical processes

Most organizations created big comprehensive processes for software development and change projects. In nearly all these cases the process descriptions are based on the concept of humans as wise and rational beings. They assume that people are everyday equally motivated, well-trained and experienced. In these process models team members behave as half-aliens like Mr. Spock or robots like Data:

It is possible to collect all necessary pieces of information.
If a complex topic is well explained, it is understood by all recipients in the same way.
Well informed persons will behave rationally based on the received information.
Co-workers will work according to their best interests and goals.
People act as agreed or described in processes.

But according to my experience, we all behave more like very emotional human beings like James T. Kirk:

We don’t have a direct objective approach to the world around us.
Each piece of information we receive is swayed by our experiences, education and culture.
In everything we do or don't do we are strongly influenced by our emotions.
We are not able to know what we do not know.
Most of us are determined to think we will make it.

Human behavior

Some statistics support this difference:

In 2017 each German older than 15 years drank 10,5 liter pure alcohol.
Most people practice less sport than they think they should do.
In 2019 more than 50% of all Germans were overweight.
127.000 Germans died by cigarette abuse in 2018.
Many people tend to buy things they do not really need.

And even more severely:

Each year every fourth grown-up in Germany fulfills the criteria of a psychic disease.

These are the numbers from Germany but the situation should be similar in most industrialized countries.

Every team or project manager can easily imagine which team member is part of one of the mentioned groups. These facts show that human behavior should be considered when a project management process is defined. The process or method has to accept the following factors:

Humans are different.
Humans change from time to time.
Humans are often irrational.
Humans make mistakes.
Communication is difficult.
Motivation is crucial.

Agile will fix it?

Some of the statements in the agile manifesto address these points:

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Indeed agile methods tend to fix some problems of classical project management methods:

The work in smaller teams eases communication and helps to compensate temporary personal problems.
Small iterations with clear goals motivate better than long phases with abstract milestones.
The focus on productive work results after each iteration reveals problems early.

But this does not mean that an agile project will automatically be successful. Agile methods bear challenges as well. They are only different.

Next post: Agile challenges (coming soon)

References

John, U. et al., Alkohol. In: Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen (Hrsg.): DHS Jahrbuch Sucht 2020, 2020, https://www.dhs.de/suechte/alkohol/zahlen-daten-fakten, found 10.12.2020

aerzteblatt.de, Mehr als die Hälfte aller Erwachsenen in Deutschland ist übergewichtig, 02.04.2019, https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/102121/Mehr-als-die-Haelfte-aller-Erwachsenen-in-Deutschland-ist-uebergewichtig, found 10.12.2020

Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Tabakatlas Deutschland 2020 – auf einen Blick, 02.04.2019, https://www.dkfz.de/de/tabakkontrolle/download/Publikationen/sonstVeroeffentlichungen/Tabakatlas-Deutschland-2020_Auf-einen-Blick.pdf?m=1606813149&, found 10.12.2020

Jacobi F, Höfler M, Strehle J et al, Psychische Störungen in der Allgemeinbevölkerung: Studie zur Gesundheit Erwachsener in Deutschland und ihr Zusatzmodul Psychische Gesundheit (DEGS1-MH). Nerven-arzt 85:77–87, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-013-3961-y2, found 07.01.2021

Jacobi F, Höfler M, Strehle J et al, Erratum zu: Psychische Störungen in der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Studie zur Gesundheit Erwachsener in Deutschland und ihr Zusatzmodul „Psychische Gesundheit“ (DEGS1-MH). Nervenarzt 87:88–90, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-015-4458-7, found 07.01.2021

Agile Manifesto, https://agilemanifesto.org/iso/en/manifesto.html, found 30.01.2020