Pete On Rails

Have you ever found yourself explaining to a co-worker or a boss the intricate details about why something CANNOT be done?

In working as a software engineer, a product manager, an agile practitioner, a pragmatist, and a director of a tech startup, I’ve often found myself responsible for introducing a “healthy dose of reality”. Often, stakeholders will cook up great ideas that are difficult or costly to execute on.

After reading Fred Wilson’s blog post on Words Of Wisdom, I had to reflect a bit on the balance between healthy pragmatism and “being a roadblock.”

As a practicing Scrum master, I know one of my jobs is to be realistic about what can be achieved, and to say, “No, you cannot have the world in two weeks. But you can have a little piece of it.”

As an engineer, I know one of my jobs is to point our that “If you build a house out of cards, it’ll eventually fall down.”

But as a signatory to the Agile Manifesto, I am also responsible for placing value on “responding to change over following a plan.”

It’s easy to dismiss “change” (or new ideas) that threaten a well designed plan. But be careful. Don’t be someone’s roadblock. Be the way around it.