Don’t you love to hear the word?

‘Yes’

Mom, can I have a… ‘Yes’

Do you agree? ‘Yes’

Can I have a raise? ‘Yes’

Am I doing a good job? ‘Yes’

Could you please help me? ‘Yes’

Using Agile software delivery allows consistent use of the word ‘Yes’. It has a focus on priority rather than agendas. The idea is to keep technology accomplishing business value. (Isn’t that what it’s really about?) This puts business people in the driver’s seat.

**Wait!!** You mean that those lazy stamplickers are going to be responsible for the success of the business?

Yes.

That’s what they are hired to do. Determine the market need, create a theoretical solution, work with the tech-guys to meet the need with the solution. Repeat.

This is not a position they are accustomed to – given that technology usually takes a combative stance and says:

‘No.’

• No, we have too many things to do.
• No, we have to do an infrastructure project first.
• No, we don’t have enough resources.
• No, you can’t change that now, we’ve already started.

The power of ‘Yes’ is quite formidable. I can almost always say ‘Yes!’ The caveat is that the requisite follow-up question is: ‘How important is this relative to the other things you’ve asked us to do?’

I interacted with one business executive with a Northeastern bank that said, “You don’t know how wonderful it is to hear you say ‘Yes.’ I’ll never get tired of it. We’re just not used to hearing that.”

After the initial transfer of power and decision-making, the business person is then responsible for making a logical, fact-based decision. This may sound like common sense… but we know it’s not common at all. After priorities have been set according to business value, then it is a simple math equation:

Effort required to complete/Available developers = project completion time.

The battles are not necessary. Say ‘Yes.’