Starting the Agile journey with TopLeft means facing change. It’s important to set simple, clear goals so you don’t lose hope when things get tough. This keeps your team honest and helps them see better results. By being aware of your own thinking habits and staying open to new ideas, you can avoid letting biases affect your decisions. Remind your team that challenges are a normal part of growth and can help everyone get better.
If you’re just starting with TopLeft and Agile, feeling unsure is totally fine. Agile focuses on being flexible and improving quickly. It’s about working in shorter steps, seeing what works, and making fast changes when needed. This approach encourages constant growth, but it can also bring up challenges and doubts. That’s where recognizing and overcoming mental shortcuts, like cognitive biases, comes in. If these biases go unnoticed, they can cloud your judgment, slow progress, and make it hard to adapt. Being aware of these biases is key to building a stronger mindset and ensuring a smooth transition to Agile. Here’s a simple guide on what to expect and how to handle these emotions.
1) Enthusiasm and Optimism
Starting with Agile and TopLeft can feel exciting. Teams often look forward to making work easier, sorting tasks better, and finding ways to improve. This excitement might push them to jump right in. But here's the catch: optimism bias. It's easy to assume everything will go smoothly and forget that challenges can pop up.
Many people think new tools like TopLeft will fix all their problems automatically. But that’s not quite how it works. TopLeft’s Kanban boards help by organizing tasks, tracking progress, and letting teams adapt to changes quickly. TopLeft also seamlessly integrates with ConnectWise and Datto Autotask, making it simple to manage projects in one place. But to really see the benefits, you have to stay involved. Keep tasks updated, check progress regularly with your team, and work together to improve. The teams that take the time to learn TopLeft and follow Agile practices end up getting the most out of it. By using Agile methods and Kanban boards, you’ll track work more clearly, solve issues faster, and keep your team connected—all leading to better results. For example, with Kanban, work is "pulled" into progress when your team needs to work on a task. This pull-based workflow helps prevent overload and keeps tasks moving smoothly, unlike traditional systems that "push" work onto your team without considering how urgent or non-urgent the task is.
2) Frustration and Resentment
When switching to Agile, change can bring back old frustrations, especially if past methods didn’t work out. It’s important to notice these feelings because they can cloud your decisions. This is called negativity bias—when we focus more on bad experiences than the good, even though positive moments can boost mood and productivity.
Agile is all about adapting fast and learning as you go. So, instead of getting stuck on what went wrong before, think of those moments as lessons. Challenges will happen, and that’s okay. If you view setbacks as chances to grow, you’ll find it easier to improve and do well with Agile.
3) Skepticism and Resistance
It’s normal for your team to feel unsure about implementing agile and switching to TopLeft’s new software. They might be hesitant because they’re used to the old way of doing things, and Agile can feel new and different. Often, people stick with what they know, even if there’s a better way to do things. This is called "status quo bias." Ignoring it could cost your MSP both time and money.
To help your team move forward, talk to them about this bias. Let them know it’s normal to prefer what feels safe and familiar. But staying with the old way can hold things back, while using something more efficient, like Agile, can lead to big improvements.
You can start by sharing simple facts about Agile’s benefits. For example, in traditional projects, team members might wait until the end to complete their tasks. In Agile, teams work in short bursts for usually 2-weeks or a month at a time called sprints—each person focuses on their tasks, checks in often, and quickly adjusts as needed. This approach helps save time and catch issues early.
Share stories and examples to build confidence in the new system. Showing how Agile can make a difference helps your team see that settling for “good enough” could be holding back even greater success.
4) Anxiety and Fear
Your team might worry about balancing different tasks, learning to work in shorter sprints, or quickly adjusting to new project changes. When things change, it’s easy to think about everything that could go wrong. This type of thinking, called catastrophizing, makes things more stressful by focusing on the worst outcomes.
To help your team move past this, encourage them to spot when they’re stuck in negative thoughts. Once they see it, guide them to shift their mindset. For instance, instead of saying, "Agile seems too complicated for our team," encourage them to ask, "How can we break this process into smaller steps?" or think, "Adapting to agile will help our MSP handle projects more smoothly." This shift in thinking helps the team focus on how agile can make their work easier and more effective over time. By changing their perspective, they'll face new challenges with confidence instead of worry. This way, the move to agile and TopLeft feels more like an opportunity than a struggle.
5) Relief
Your team might worry about balancing different tasks, learning to work in shorter sprints, or quickly adjusting to new project changes. When things change, it’s easy to think about everything that could go wrong. This type of thinking, called catastrophizing, makes things more stressful by focusing on the worst outcomes.
To help your team move past this, encourage them to spot when they’re stuck in negative thoughts. Once they see it, guide them to shift their mindset. For instance, instead of saying, "Agile seems too complicated for our team," encourage them to ask, "How can we break this process into smaller steps?" or think, "Adapting to agile will help our MSP handle projects more smoothly." This shift in thinking helps the team focus on how agile can make their work easier and more effective over time. By changing their perspective, they'll face new challenges with confidence instead of worry. This way, the move to agile and TopLeft feels more like an opportunity than a struggle.
6) Disappointment
Your team starts using Agile to speed up a project. Everyone’s excited, thinking they’ll see quick results. But after a few weeks, they notice tasks are taking longer, and the new way of working feels confusing.
This is completely normal. Agile is all about testing, learning, and improving over time. At first, things might not go as expected, and progress could be slow. But once the team finds their groove, they’ll see how Agile helps them adapt quickly and improve. It just needs some time and patience.
7) Curiosity
Once your team gets used to agile practices, they’ll probably want to experiment more with different agile technologies or methods. This is a great time to dive into Agile practices like daily check-ins, short work cycles (sprints), and organizing tasks (backlog refinement). Encourage them to use their curiosity to make work easier and improve communication
But it’s important to guide this curiosity. For example, if they’re trying out Kanban boards, connect the practice to real team goals like reducing switching between tasks or fixing problems faster.
This balanced approach helps your team find better ways to work without losing focus. It’s about trying out TopLeft while sticking to core Agile habits that boost productivity.
8) Determination
In the end, staying determined is really important. Using Agile and Kanban methods will help you build success in the long run. You can do this by encouraging a growth mindset in your MSP, avoiding a culture based on fear, and setting clear long-term goals. Keep pushing your team to stick with it, but also remind them to stay flexible and always look for ways to improve. When your team adopts agile, they’ll stay motivated, work harder, and be ready to overcome any challenges that come their way.
Navigating your journey
In the end, staying focused is important. Using Agile and Kanban will help you succeed in the long run. You can do this by having a mindset of growth, avoiding fear in the workplace, and setting clear goals.
Open Communication: In Agile, sharing thoughts openly during daily stand-ups or reviews keeps everyone in the loop. Addressing concerns early helps make changes smoother for the team.
Tailored Support: Every team member has different needs. Offering the right help boosts their confidence and keeps everyone on track.
Celebrate Successes: Celebrate small wins, like finishing a sprint, to lift spirits and show how Agile is making a difference.
Continuous Learning: Encourage your team to learn from each sprint and quickly adapt. This way, they’ll keep improving and stay aligned with team goals.
As you prepare for your Agile journey with TopLeft, remember that the path is as much about managing emotions as it is about implementing new systems.
TopLeft sets the systems in place, while it is on you to set your mindset in place.
TopLeft also integrates seamlessly with ConnectWise and Datto AutoTask.
If you are ready to see how TopLeft’s systems can transform your team’s productivity and efficiency, you can book a demo here:
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PS: We have a handful of online workshops and events in the coming weeks and months. Visit our events page for the regular updates about our workshops/webinars.
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