How Trust Fuels Agility

Home  >  Articles  > 
How Trust Fuels Agility

B. Michael Aucoin

December 14, 2009





I had eagerly begun my first job as an engineer in an industry with a company that was well known for its excellent management practices. Three weeks in, I got the first inkling that something was terribly wrong with that picture.
 
My boss asked for an estimate for the duration of the first phase of a project for which I was responsible, and I replied “six weeks”. He said that he would change that to three weeks because engineers always double their estimates to cover themselves. Although I protested that it was a legitimate duration, he would hear none of it. Without using the word, he had just called me a liar.
 
I am sorry to say that thereafter I lived up (or should I say down) to his rather low trust of his team. With that conversation--and subsequently several more like it--we engaged in a dysfunctional dance that substantially diminished my motivation for my project work.
 
When teams lack trust, projects fail or encounter severe trouble.



Please login/register to read the entire article.





sponsored announcements and special offers
CA Technologies' Innovation Management survey is a study into the barriers to innovation success and the measures companies are taking to improve performance. Each survey respondent will receive a complimentary copy of the report containing the survey's results. Please participate now!

Build and deploy interactive reports and dashboards — without any hidden costs. Our in-the-cloud free trial lets you see for yourself — no download required. SAP Crystal Reports Server 60-day Free Trial

Enable Agile Process; Support Agile Teams
CollabNet announces ScrumWorks Pro 4.4. As intuitive as Scrum itself, this version offers improvements in estimation and integration to CollabNet TeamForge. Improve your Scrum team's performance, enable tracking, view reports instantly, and effectively manage your Agile projects. Request a Trial

Enterprise hardware and software evolve faster than your customers can consume new versions and features. Overcome this gap: learn how professional services can boost product consumption and speed repurchasing in TSIA/Compuware white paper. Read now

Packaged Services Success: Join us on Sept 8 for this Free Webinar as RTM Consulting and Tenrox discuss the competitive and financial benefits of Leveraging Automation to meet the Rising Demand for Productized Professional Services. EARN 1 PDU. Register Here Today to receive a Free White Paper.



"Golf is a good walk spoiled."
- Mark Twain