Invitation and Engagement


A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of participating in the first Open Agile Adoption workshop given by Daniel Mezick. The first hour of that workshop opened my eyes to a powerful pair of words. 
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​​​          - Invitation

        - Engagement


These are two simple words that appear quite commonplace. That holds true until the power of those words used in combination is discovered. That's what happened for me in the first hour down in Chapel Hill. This article won't make an attempt to teach Open Agile Adoption. My focus here will be just those two words and the aura that now surrounds them when used.

Invitation brings engagement.

If a team* is told how to perform their work, they will not be fully engaged in doing so. They may go through the motions and do things as mandated. The team will have output and deliver value, yet it will be just enough. No more.

If a team is invited to help determine how we do something, they will be more interested in the process of getting things accomplished. More interest, more engagement. 

We as members of the Agile coaching, training and consulting community need to resist mandating how teams transform and improve. We teach and mentor on the benefits of the retrospective. Let's bring that mind set to the beginning, as well as the end, of the cycle. Let them know the vision of what needs to be traversed and allow them to determine how to get there from here. Invite, and you will have many co-authors in the story of that journey.Sit down and invite each person on the team to assist in creating the plan. 

These aren't just words. This is a mindset. Invitation works regardless of the journey being attempted. Whether it's a transformation to Agile, or a small step towards improving how something is currently being done. 

If you want to learn more on this, I highly recommend attending the next Open Agile Adoption workshop. 

More information on Daniel Mezick's operating system can be found here: ​Success with Open Agile Adoption 




* Context as used here can be a small group or an organization of several thousand. Even a large entity should be considered as a team when working together to reach a common outcome.




Agile Yoda


​​Always Learning