Good will toward all

[wiredferret]

One of the interesting things about Agile development is that it assumes good will, or at least professionalism. The team is assumed to code together, no one is in charge of assignments, although there are scheduling coordinators, and no one can tell another person how long it will take to do a unit of work. I don't think this would work everywhere

Comments

[talkswithwind]

At this job? Peer, hands down. My two co-workers who share the same job title and functions both use power-player methods to get what they want when talking to people outside our department. This has earned me the Nice Guy badge, and I'm now the first point of contact when folk want to talk to us for some reason. I've even had side-bar conversations about how they don't like talking to my co-workers if they don't have to, and I'm a lot nicer. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth if/when I decide to leave here

[lexinatrix]

To a significant extent, the success of my job and the projects on which I'm assigned relies on my ability to influence without authority. I recognize myself as an influencer -- or coercer in your lingo -- because I'm making recommendations to both sides of the customer/IT relationship constantly

[bookzombie]

I'm working on an Agile(ish) development project at the moment and while on the whole it is working, we are suffering from a major clash of personalities between two of the team members. Admittedly they always clash when they are both working on the same projects. You want to just bang their heads together for their lack of professionalism frankly (and I get on well with both of them as individuals which doesn't help me.)

So, yes, if the goodwill is missing then the adult relationship tends to dissolve into 'parent-child' rather than 'adult-adult' (if we're going to talk Transactional Analysis).

I have been told that I'm a good person to have in these sessions on the grounds that (and I quote) 'I'm a calming influence'. Not entirely sure what I think about that - it's nice but hopefully that's not all I contribute!