Assigning accountability in a team is perhaps one of the most critical success factors that every leader needs to account for. In a waterfall model, accountability is seen as a proxy for seniority and power, but this ideology may not work in an agile model. In a typical Agile world – amid a myriad of iterations, and incremental developments - team members may often find it “too-risky” to take accountability of certain tasks, and may find some tasks as a burden, when assigned to.
Thus, the critical question here is– how can a project manager build a culture where the team members enjoy what they are accountable for. The answer lies in striking a fine balance among below three approaches:
- Play a servant leader: The Project Manager needs to arrange team brainstorming sessions – but let the team decide who is responsible for which part of the scope. As a leader, the project manager should facilitate the assignment process and never force his decision on the team. However, once the assignment is finalized, the PM needs to ensure that it is clearly documented. Paste it on a wall, display it. Make the team proud of their ownership.
- Build a culture of reward: Reward is considered to be the best form of power that any project manager can exercise, and perhaps the easiest source of incentive for the team. The message is pretty simple: Reward those who do more – not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of the underlying risks involved (which can be measured using a Probability-Impact matrix).
- Do not cultivate fear: Fear of failure may dither individuals from volunteering to own critical tasks. Unless it is too costly to fail, being too cautious to a change or being a perfectionist in every small decision may make the team too self-conscious of their work, and less prone to experimentation – which ultimately kills the spirit of an agile effort.
In today’s agile world, the role of a project manager is to enable self-accountability in a team of experts. A self-accountable team treats ownership as a leadership value – which has a multiplicative impact in delivering superior outcomes. The above tips may provide a much-needed impetus in this direction.