I recently read an article about how to help someone get back to work after a long absence, perhaps due to illness or burnout. There was lots of good advice, such as keeping colleagues informed about adjustments to working hours and limiting responsibilities among others things. But what struck me was how a lot of the advice reminded me of the Agile way of working:
- create clearly defined tasks
- allow space to work on one thing at a time
- provide support with prioritising
- do not set short deadlines
- set a clear plan for the week and a review at the end of the week
- ensure delegation of tasks is done via a single channel
This could be from the Kanban playbook. To put it in Agile terms:
- Tasks should have a clear definition of done
- Developers should pull tasks, not have them pre-assigned
- The Product Owner prioritises all work
- Focus on outcomes not deadlines
- Set clear goals and use daily stand-ups to ensure progress
- Nobody outside the team can assign work to the developers
So you could say that creating flow does not just improve the team’s efficiency, it also contributes to the continued well-being of your employees.