Fellow agilists,
I recently took part in the Agile Confessional podcast with Giles Lindsay. This podcast explores the agile sins people have committed in a confessional format and for me, there have been many.
You can hear the podcast here;
I have fortunately been granted absolution for my agile sins, however as penitence, I agreed to confess my 7 agile sins on video to all who wish to hear them.
Sloth
I have been guilty of committing the agile sin of being slothful. Of resting on my agile laurels and not making time for personal development. As agile practitioners, we often encourage those we work with to be continuously learning, inspecting and adapting, however I have been guilty of not doing this myself, on more than one occasion.
I've wrongly believed that I knew enough to get by, that I was an expert, that I didn't need to make time for learning new approaches, concepts, or to challenge myself. I have since learned otherwise.
How can you avoid committing the agile sin of being slothful?
Seek mentorship. You are never too senior to benefit from a mentoring relationship, particularly from someone who doesn't always agree with you, or challenges your perceptions
Engage in communities of practice - I personally am involved most in 'Hands on agile' - A slack community filled with 1000's of fellow practitioners who challenge me to think differently, and learn more
Carve out time on a weekly basis to try new things, to read and digest new content. It can be all too easy to allow meeting after meeting to get in the way, so make the time in your diary. Block the time out and stick to it
To quote Arie Van Bennekum - Agile is an ambition, not a state. Aspire to be more agile, to learn more, to live and breathe the principles you profess
Look out for tomorrows agile sin where I talk about lust (Or coveting something others had).