With more and more organisations transitioning to agile practices so they can optimise ways of working and improve effectiveness, there are very clear reasons how agile can support mental health and reduce stress too.
Here are eight ways that we’ve found agile can help promote positive health and 幸福 at work, 无论是在办公室还是远程工作:
团队和关系
人们不再独自工作. Agile practices are founded on collaborative teams working together and sharing the load to deliver against team level goals, 不是个人.
历史上我们知道, the silos and individual task pressure can lead to overload which is one of the leading causes of stress and consequent mental health problems.
Collaboration can also bring improved work-life balance and team spirit as teams have more choice on when, 他们将在哪里以及如何工作和协作. 例如, working parents can flex work time around childcare whereas other workers might prefer working late into the night.
自主与控制
在敏捷团队中, people have more input on the tasks they pick up within their team, and also have a say on how work is performed, with teams then collectively deciding what is prioritised.
This autonomy and control of what is prioritised can reduce stress on team members, so they are able to apply their best skills and capabilities.
日常的支持
Team members need to know they have support to deal with their problems as they arise. The daily stand up is a super simple routine that means no problem goes more than 24 hours without it being raised to the team.
The wider team can then help or the Scrum Master role is there specifically to guide and support the team and help address their blockers and problems.
可见性和透明度
不为人知工作, constantly changing priorities and requirements and unexpected workloads can be a major point of stress for teams.
Visual tools like the Kanban board ensure all the work is visible and there are real clear expectations on the team and the work to be done.
智能规划
Sprint planning is all about selecting the right amount of work a team can deliver within a sprint.
当团队开始测量他们的“速度”时, workloads can be planned to match their velocity, so no extra pressure is placed on people and they are expected to work to their natural pace and capacity.
更小、更频繁的交付成果
Big, long deadlines and deliverables are a major cause of stress, with work often building up that leads to last minute cramming to meet deadlines.
Agile working advocates breaking work down into small, manageable chunks and delivering these in a constant flow, 从而减少积累和压力.
迭代
There is often pressure to get things perfect first time – an obvious point of stress. 敏捷实践也提倡持续, 工作的迭代交付, taking on board feedback and improving over time, removing the stress of the one ‘big bang’ reveal.
例程 & 习惯
人们喜欢clear, structured routines and constant changes to working 习惯 can cause uncertainty and anxiety, so the regular rhythm of the scrum ceremonies builds that consistency and helps to minimise stress levels.
