Agile in a Flash 12

Got Individual Obstinance – The Idea
Agile in a Flash by Jeff Langr and Tim Ottinger (card #12)


> Personal bubble: “I don’t want to share my space.”
> Lone ranger: “I work best alone.”
> Old dog: “I already know how to do my work.”
> Zero-sum game: “Why should I share credit?”
> Inferiority complex: “They won’t want to work with me.”
> Superiority complex: “Co-workers just slow me down.”
> Rejection of insufficient miracle: “I’ll wait for a panacea.”


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Before you can overcome personal resistance to agile, you must understand it.


Personal bubble/social dysfunction. Agile demands interpersonal interaction. Self-esteem issues, social dysfunctions, jealousy, and grudges can make it hard for members to collaborate.


Lone ranger. Developers who seek to be the team’s guru or hero, by staying late or mastering arcane code and skills, may fear losing their esteemed status.


Old dog. It’s hard to abandon productive old habits without certainty that new skills will prove to be even more productive.


Zero-sum game. A classic dysfunction is viewing a teammate’s failure as a personal success, and vice versa.


Inferiority complex. Some developers fear that collaboration will expose their self-perceived weaknesses and devalue them to the company.


Superiority complex. Some developers will object to agile because working with their “inferior” teammates will “drag them down.”


Rejection of insufficient miracle. Though agile software development may help solve many problems, it may leave others unsolved.


Civilization World Wonder quote: "The Taj Mahal rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time."

–Rabindranath Tagore