Ever had a conversation with someone about what they thought “being” Agile meant?  I was having that conversation today.  The other guy said he was surprised that he wasn’t happier.  I asked him to help me understand what he meant by that.

An Agile team should be happy

Someone, somewhere, convinced this fellow that the Manifesto for Agile Software Development included life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The reality is I feel he was misguided, just like all of those other people who think that if you’re on an Agile team then you don’t plan, you don’t test, or you don’t document. The ideas like Agile is all teddy bears and rainbows has somehow spread to the far reaches of the Agile community.

When asked if Agile makes me happy, my response was simple.

No

Being an Agile coach, leading Agile transformations, and helping customers reach their potential does not make me happy.  It leaves me with a feeling of satisfaction.  Much like mowing my lawn every weekend in summer, it doesn’t make me happy. But, when I am done with the task at hand, I look at what I have accomplished and I feel satisfied.  Isn’t that a more realistic goal? The pursuit of satisfaction, as it relates to work?  Happiness is an emotional state that I reserve to my personal life, when I combine satisfaction from my work and positive emotions in my off-time.

Is the goal of happiness within an Agile team misguided?

I’m interested in your thoughts.