This is the April 2025 Pragmatic Manager Newsletter, from Johanna Rothman. The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email.
Early in the agile community, people referred to the Product Owner as the “single wringable neck.” Somehow, if the product owner didn't define the stories well, or create acceptance criteria, or even represent what someone wanted, that person's neck was on the line.
I thought that was nuts—and totally incongruent. Why would we want to wring anyone's neck just for getting something wrong? Everyone makes mistakes.
Developers create defects. Testers don't realize they missed a whole class of tests. Product owners rank features in the wrong order. And let's not forget all the cascading problems when senior leaders don't set an organizational strategy.
A “single wringable neck” is a terrible idea if you want agility, the ability to finish something small, and get feedback so you can choose what to do next. Yet, many organizations focus on blame. That's because they focus on the idea of resource efficiency, where each person is an expert and work can “just” move from expert to expert.
Resource efficiency looks efficient, but it's not. It's the least efficient way to work because it creates delays between experts as in this image.
(See the series that starts with Resource Efficiency vs. Flow Efficiency, Part 1: Seeing Your System for the detailed explanation.)
Yet, many organizations stay wedded to resource efficiency thinking. Often, that's for two reasons: cost accounting and too many people want to know who to blame when things go wrong.
I'm trying to write a series of blog posts about cost accounting, so I'll address that later. I worry that no one can change their organization's reliance on using cost accounting measures.
However, everyone can move from blame to trust. That requires a focus on collaborative teamwork to create frequent deliveries.
Collaborative Teams Can Deliver Faster
I have never worked on a useful effort that did not require at least three or four people to complete. Even my books require several people: my editor, my cover designer, and technical reviewers. We all need to trust that each of us is doing the best job we know how. Sure, we might need to verify that trust along the way, but we start with trust.
It's the same thing in organizations.
Think of the product you're working on. You might work with a team that delivers a product that goes to your organization's customers. Or, you know how to write a spreadsheet macro that the person next to you needs. Maybe you're working with a team that enables your organization to deliver its products or services, such as financial services.
What's common among these? The customer, whether that person is an end customer, your colleague, or your organization, wants a specific outcome. Delivering “parts” of the work does not satisfy the customer. Instead, that delivery requires collaboration.
The faster the team delivers, the faster the team builds trust with each other and with the customer. Even if the customer sees problems, the customer is more likely to trust that you are doing the best job you can. The happier the customer and the team are.
No blame. Instead, collaboration toward an overarching goal.
Collaborative teams always deliver faster—because their collaboration helps them decrease delays and manage their WIP (Work in Progress). (See Measure Cycle Time, Not Velocity and Flow Metrics and Why They Matter to Teams and Managers.)
That's why more frequent deliveries can reduce blame and build trust.
Frequent Deliveries Can Build Trust
When team members work alone, as in resource efficiency, the slower those deliveries are. Worse, we hear blame, such as when someone says, “My part is done.” The inference is that someone else's part is not done. Then, the blame spreads through the team, and worse, up and down the organization.
If you see this happening in your team (regardless of your team type), ask the team if they are willing to try an experiment: more collaboration on fewer items. They might map their value stream first to see where they have delays. Or, they might start with reducing WIP as a forcing function for collaboration.
It doesn't matter how they start, as long as they collaborate on fewer items to focus on delivering something useful.
That focus on delivering reduces WIP, decreases cycle time, and increases throughput. The team finishes faster. Not everything—that's not possible. But a ranked backlog, one item at a time? Yes, that's what collaborative teams do.
Even better, the more the team delivers something, the more everyone trusts the team to deliver something again. Those frequent deliveries build trust inside and outside the team. They also build momentum for the entire effort because everyone sees progress. And even better, the frequent deliveries stop the pervasive blame that too many organizations use.
Deliveries Create More Ease; Blame Increases Friction
The more a team delivers, the more ease the team has. That's because they're not frantically moving from item to item to try to finish something—anything. Instead, the team finishes something valuable and can get feedback on it. Even better, they can retrospect on how they worked. As part of that retrospective, they can ask how they can make it easier to deliver the next time. This works for all teams: product development teams, managers, and even workgroups.
In contrast, blame increases friction. People tend to act in a way that covers their tushes (CYA). They hoard information because information reflects their personal power. Worse, deliveries continue to take longer and longer.
Agility requires collaboration. Resource efficiency thinking makes that difficult, if not impossible. When people decide blame is more important, they focus on the individual. When people decide delivery is more important, they focus on the system.
No one needs a single wringable neck for any effort. Instead, we can collaborate to create an environment where everyone can succeed. Focus on small, frequent deliveries. You'll build trust and avoid blame.
Read More:
This newsletter touches on topics in these books:
- I first learned about flow efficiency thinking in This is Lean: Resolving the Efficiency Paradox by Modig and Ǎhlström. (That's a universal book link, where you can choose your favorite store. Yes, my affiliate code is embedded in the link.)
- The Modern Management Made Easy books. The more managers think about flow efficiency and collaboration, the easier it is to manage the work. That includes projects, programs, and the portfolio.
- Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility
- Create Your Successful Agile Project: Collaborate, Measure, Estimate, Deliver
- Predicting the Unpredictable: Pragmatic Approaches to Estimating Cost or Schedule
- Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects
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Johanna
Pragmatic Manager: Vol 22, #4, ISSN: 2164-1196