PROJECT IN THE SPOTLIGHT
MAKING THE SWITCH
HOW TWO HIGH PERFORMING PROJECT MANAGERS MADE THE SUCCESSFUL SWITCH TO BECOME HIGHLY EFFECTIVE AGILE PROJECT LEADERS Galit Guershon and Tim Bates have had successful project management careers building innovative technical solutions across a range of industries and for many Telstra customers. Courtesy of Telstra’s transformation towards agile-at-scale, both have made the shift towards new roles and become very successful lean agile delivery leaders. In this article, we sit down with both Galit and Tim to understand this shift, their experiences, lessons for others and a chance to debunk some myths about the differences between traditional and agile project management.
WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT ROLE AND CAN YOU BRIEFLY DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO? Galit: I am an Agile Technical Delivery Manager. Tim: Yes, same as Galit. We are a flexible resource; we deliver any project challenge. We empower teams to get work done, deliver value for customers and coach teams to adopt new ways of working. We work between technologists who work within their domains and the business who wants outcomes delivered. Sort of like building a bridge between the old and new worlds.
WHAT WAS YOUR PREVIOUS ROLE? Galit: Previously I was a Senior Project Manager. Tim: I was actually an external consultant engaged as a senior Project Manager. I was then offered a full-time role here.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR PRIOR AND NEW ROLE? Galit: The biggest differences have been changing how people perceive delivering under new ways of working. For example, having to apply new routines, adapting to tasks that used to be shared across multiple people into one role, like doing project financials. I certainly spend more time now focused on delivery and less on documentation. There are less hygiene tasks, but this isn’t necessarily a good thing. 20
For me the big difference has been a shift to more transparency and decentralised decision making away from a single project leader. We have gone from ‘command-and-control’ to ‘servant-leadership’. Tim Bates
Tim: Yes, I agree. Agile is very disciplined when it is working properly, so hygiene should be in place. For me the big difference has been a shift to more transparency and decentralised decision making away from a single project leader. We have gone from ‘command-and-control’ to ‘servant-leadership’. But good leaders operated like this anyway and good teams did these regularly to drive outcomes. The difference is that it is good to see this embedded into formal ways of working practices.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THIS CHANGE? Tim: It has been quite a positive experience. I have been trying to do this stuff anyway and pushing of it for a few years. I have been lucky to have worked with good people who have the right mindset and pick up these concepts quickly. It’s just a shame we haven’t hit critical mass yet so that everyone is working this way. Galit: I like that we want to simplify tools and delivery methods, but we are still being asked for project forecasts at a detailed level over long time frames and we still produce too many status reports. These are difficult to do at a detailed level under agile. There are traditional impediments that get in the way of stopping to deliver at speed. For example, Telstra has a strict operational readiness process and it is there for a reason. This process is difficult to speed up, but it can be broken down into smaller parts. We just need more time to get this done.
DID YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE CHANGE? IF SO, WHAT WERE THEY? Tim: I was concerned to hear we were going straight to scale on this change. I was concerned we would end up with a half-baked solution. It’s great to see that the executives and the teams have stuck with it. I would hate to see us roll back to the old ways of traditional, largesequential, siloed delivery. Galit: When we were initially briefed, it felt rushed to me. We heard about how these new Product Owner and Scrum Master roles would drive delivery and so would not need a Project Manager. We now see that Project Managers can operate in these roles and still drive initiatives to keep work under control.
