Agile in India – 3- Obsolete Managers

In my earlier post I talked about the exit barriers that Indian companies seem to be struggling with to change their course.      Lets say, there is an organization that has set out to effect a culture change in the organization.  Let’s say this organization is willing to break the barriers and is set out to endure the risks that follow.

The next big hurdle that they will have to deal with is, most likely, their established star performers.  Who proved themselves over the years in the organization and/or in this market.    Who gradually went-up the ranks and have become middle to senior level managers.   Most of them are invariably the account managers.

I have extensively quoted my good friend Nagaraju earlier in my article in Agile journal.   I again want to point out where he asked some important and intriguing questions like  the following.  

We are living with “conditioned”, “process freak”,  “control maniac” managers.    That is the reality.   The more successful a guy had been, the obsolete he must have become in the real world today.   Successful professional in this industry is the one who got quickly alienated from programming and other technical abilities and has been made a “manager”.       What percentage of 8 to 12 years experienced (completely in India) can talk about any technology, business, application, emerging areas etc., that are relevant today?    I am only asking the question about those who started as programmers.

Sure they are successful.    What they can talk about is account management.  The best they can do is writing minutes of meeting.   Freak you out with umpteen number of numbers they captured to write a 100 lines of code.   All of those numbers will have fancy names too.     That is a separate language that one must learn.   

They wouldn’t know if it is 100 lines of code or 100 dosas that got produced by their teams.    Truly speaking, something like the FTR (First Time Right) makes sense more for producing 100 dosas than delivering 100 features.   I can go on with each of those wonderful terms and practices.   Some I find utterly hilarious too like traceability

Think of these guys having to endorse Agile!   Do I need to further explain?

• If they want to continue their “successful” career and become group/organization heads, they have to ensure that their competency remains the core of the organization’s business.
• Why would they allow any simpler leaner model proving their role to be redundant (let alone proving them to be a hindrance)
• Even if they are forced to endorse such a model, it is out of their system to trust people on the floor to do their job (let alone joining them on the floor).   There won’t be enough numbers to colour them and make beautiful reports for higher ups.

We can go on adding more to the list. 

Probably it is not the senior managements that have issues with trying new stuff.  It is this middle layer.   They have made themselves completely obsolete to the business they are meant to serve.  It is this crowed that one must face, baby sit, convince, mentor to breath some fresh air in this industry.