Why Transparency Matters

Sometimes it astounds me just how much transparency exists in the world today, and how much benefit we derive from it. In some cases, it's the incredible access to information that we have, mostly thanks to the Internet, while in others, it's simply how willing people are to share what they're doing.

As examples of the former, I started making a mental this morning of some of the data that's now almost literally "at my fingertips" that would have, even a decade or so ago, been at least a phone call or trip somewhere away:

• animated radar images of the current precipitation patterns in my locale, so that I can plan my biking forays accordingly
• real-time, up-to-the-minute sports scores, including details like who's pitching, who assisted on what goals, and how many shots have been taken
• specifications for devices like pool heaters and DVD players that you may have long since lost the paper copies of
• forms, as well as forums, related to topics like Canadian Income Tax, immigration policy and travel destinations, just to name a few
• dictionary and encyclopedia content enabling anyone to write a factual, typo-free essay (or blog post) without having to even get up out of their chair
• transit system schedules so that you know exactly when to be where to catch what (bus/train/plane)
• and thousands and thousands more

Similarly, we're able to get much greater insight into, say, the creative process behind a television show, movie or comic book than we ever could in the past, thanks to creative folks who "put it all out there" for the world to see. Not that long ago, much of that would have been closely-guarded secrets, or simply considered too pedestrian to warrant the time to write it down and the cost to publish it. Now, however, it's just a few clicks away.

So what does any of this have to do with Agile, or software development in general? Well, I think that we're realizing many of the benefits of transparency in the 21st century (as touched on above), but that doesn't necessarily always get applied to how we run our development projects. In an Agile culture, we strive for transparency in some very big ways - Burndown Charts, strictly-prioritized Product Backlogs, Retrospectives - all of which are important and positive. If you compare that to a more traditional (Waterfall-style) software project, though, you can see that the same degree of transparency is seldom achieved there. Team members may seek to hide some of what they're doing out of fear that the work won't be approved if the bosses find out about it. Project coordinators may talk about, or even hope for some sort of post-mortem to be held after the product finally ships, but rarely do those mythical meetings actually happen. Status reports all too often end up being "green-shifted" by those responsible for providing the data, in order to keep the alarm bells from sounding early on. These are all instances where the lack of transparency hurts the success of the project.

Even in an Agile environment, however, there can still sometimes be a resistance to openness. I certainly encountered many situations in my two years as Agile Manager that spoke to this point. Whether it be shutting down conversations or blogs that are bringing to light unsavoury failings among management, or a reluctance to share with others the challenges that are being encountered (because it might be used against you later), it's no easy task to adopt a culture of transparency. Politics can get in the way, as can pride, fear and an exaggerated sense of self-preservation. None of those are trivial obstacles to overcome.

Unfortunately, in virtually every case this tendency toward hiding facts ends up doing more harm than good. Decisions end up being made based on faulty data, morale problems develop thanks to a cloak of secrecy that seems to always inspire conspiracy theories much worse than the reality of the situation, and people waste time going through hoops trying to find "the person with the answer." When I think about how efficiently I can use my time today, thanks to the wealth of information available to me, compared to what life was like when I first started working... it's like night and day. And that's because, given quick access to the necessary data, it's always easier to make a reasonable, informed decision. That perspective sometimes gets lost in the heat of the office battles, though. Those of us in the Information Technology industry need to remember that, as we go about our day-to-day business of cranking out top-notch software products, information is king. And the king belongs to everyone.

So if you're reading this from your desk at work right now, ask yourself: what bit of data are you holding on to right now, that would better serve the company if it were shared? Don't betray any confidences (personal or professional), but rather look for something that you've simply been lax in getting out there, or that you know would help someone else if you made the effort to tell them about it. Sometimes that's all it takes.