Facilitate, do not direct

So, the move to ATF for me was definitely a mindset change.  I had already started adopting the mindset change of Agile in general, but now was the mindset change from Business Analyst (aka Systems Analyst in some companies) to Agile Team Facilitator.  Many times in various discussion forums, people seem to think they are essentially the same, but with different titles.  Well, so not true.

As a Business Analyst, I wrote long detailed documents on not just what needed to be done, but how to do it. These got very specific, down to placement of fields on a screen or edits of minutia on the inputs. Nothing wrong with that, that's how Waterfall worked, that's what a BA did. Then, basically, I "tossed it over the wall" to development. Sure, I walked through the documents with the developers first, and it was interactive, but not collaborative in the truest form of the word. There was a document on what to do, why to do it, and specifically how to do it. After it was "tossed over the wall" - I waited for it to get "tossed back" either completed or with questions. This is how waterfall worked. During that time, I also "checked up" on it, asking for weekly statuses and such. In retrospect, the BA role, no matter how politely worded, is to tell someone what to do and how to do it. That's fine, that's how it worked for decades. No judging. 

Then, I learned the Agile Mindset and eventually moved to the role of ATF. The ATF does NOT "tell" people what to do. The ATF does NOT "throw it over the wall". The ATF guides, the ATF gives the team room to be creative, room to learn, room to grow. And, well, even room to fail. Because if we fail fast, we learn fast, and we improve fast. The ATF never tells anybody what do to or how to do it. The ATF helps explain what outcomes are expected and why. The ATF does not write a big document telling them how to do it. The ATF makes sure the big picture of the story is understood, and let's the team decide how to do it. The ATF is there to make sure the team has the tools and the space it needs to do it themselves, to be creative, to be self-motivated, to explore, and to grow. The ATF is there to remove impediments. If the delivery team needs to get time with another system resource, the ATF helps find that resource and hooks them up. When the team is deciding on how to do something, the ATF doesn't decide or influence, but the ATF can help guide the discussion, make sure everybody is on the same page, maybe even rephrase things. The BA would have decided and documented, end of discussion The ATF guides and motivates and protects collaboration. The ATF, as the name implies, facilitates. It's not called the ATD (Agile Team Director). 

Coming from a BA role, which was very hands-on, with hooks into everything, and sort of a controlling mindset, the switch to ATF is almost like undoing what one already knows. The BA directed - the ATF facilitates. The BA said what was to happen. The ATF helps make it happen. 

An analogy that hit me while riding home on the train one day is the Movie Director vs. the Movie Producer. The Director tells everybody what to do, where to stand, what lighting should be used, how to read a line, what set to use - very controlling - the Director basically is like the BA. Everything is detailed and specific and the Director tells people what to do and how to do it - even if in a collaborative way - it's still directing. Now, the Movie Producer, that person "makes it all happen". If the Director needs a new filming location, the producer acquires it. If the Director needs certain actors or extras, the producer gets them. The Producer pulls the team together, gives them what they need, and removes impediments. The Producer is the ATF. Both very important roles to the movie - but both extremely different. The producer facilitates - the director directs. 

My journey from BA to ATF, for me, was very similar to that analogy. The ATF makes it all happen, brings it all together, and let's the team grow and succeed and gives them what they need - but almost from a distance. More like a guiding hand, and helpful hand, a servant leader. 

The key to being an ATF is understanding, really understanding, Facilitate Don't Direct. Help it happen - don't tell it to happen.