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. 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.
You can hear the podcast here; Let's talk about Envy
I have been guilty of committing the agile sin of being envious. Of envying the success or opportunities of others. This has happened in the past where someone has been promoted ahead of me, secured a 'good project', role, responsibility, or opportunity that I had wanted myself. The problem with this is that we're limited by our own biases and our own limiting beliefs. We attribute our success in comparison to others, we make judgements about our value in comparison to others based on the information we have available to us, but we don't often see or hear everything that goes on behind the scenes. We aren't privy to all the rationale by which decisions such as promotions are made, and this influences our frustration. I've become a firm believer that you make your own luck. Good things happen to those who put in the effort, who seek opportunity and seize the opportunities available to them.
Watch the video of my confession below;
How can you avoid committing the agile sin of being envious?
Don't compare, or judge your value based on others - Particularly on Social media as this often only portrays the good side of people. Their best side. We all progress at different rates. Focus on your own happiness and goals as opposed to how fast or prominently others are achieving theirs.
Support others within your company / industry, don’t envy or hinder them - Demonstrate humility and support those who are doing well. There will likely be opportunities to learn from them also and even collaborate
Remove your ego from the equation - Patrick Lencioni in 5 Dysfunctions of a team said that 'Ego is the ultimate killer of a team. Focus on collective outcomes as opposed to individual ones and set your own ego aside.
Look out for the next agile sin video where I talk about the sin of gluttony Don't stop believin folks