{"id":17987,"date":"2020-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-agile-teams-can-master-the-art-of-saying-no\/"},"modified":"2020-04-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T05:00:00","slug":"how-agile-teams-can-master-the-art-of-saying-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-agile-teams-can-master-the-art-of-saying-no\/","title":{"rendered":"How Agile Teams Can Master the Art of Saying NO"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Legendary investor Warren Buffet has said that the core habit that separates successful people from very successful people, is that the latter say no to almost everything. Evidently, very successful agile marketing teams are borrowing from Mr. Buffet’s playbook, because compared to their counterparts, they’re supremely talented in the art of saying no.<\/p>\n

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What makes this trait even more impressive, is that conventional marketing teams — including very successful ones — have typically been wired to say yes to virtually all requests and changes. In fact, marketing’s assent is so utterly assumed in some organizations, that requests aren’t really requests. They’re basically orders, albeit with a cursory “would you mind?” or “can you help with this?” thrown in for esthetic purposes.<\/p>\n

Yet when conventional project teams adopt an agile paradigm, one of the first things they must do is learn how to say no. This isn’t because they want to. It’s because agile is built on three integrated pillars:<\/p>\n

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  1. Prioritizing work and focusing on what matters most vs. what matters least.<\/li>\n
  2. Ushering prioritized work through a standardized workflow (e.g. create, review 1, review 2, launch ready, to launch, complete).<\/li>\n
  3. Limiting the number of tasks in each phase of the workflow.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Agile teams that cannot say no undermine this integration — and open the door to chaos and failure. Nobody knows which tasks are a priority anymore, because everything is a priority. Workflows stop flowing as tasks crash into each other. And team members suffer an overwhelming, endless workload burden that leads to disengagement and burnout, along with quality issues, missed deadlines, unhappy customers, and sub-par results.<\/p>\n

    So, how can agile teams learn to say no, but without triggering endless conflict, or being unfairly perceived as chronically disagreeable and blatantly unhelpful? Frankly, it’s not easy. But it can (and must) be done. Here are some practical tips to keep in mind:<\/p>\n

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