Ever been on a software development project where one team is putting pressure on another because of a hidden agenda?

I was once asked to investigate two teams that worked together to build a software product for doing taxes.

The first team contacted us and said they needed help with releasing software better. So I planned to use an interview I'd come up with over the years. It had questions I could ask people about how they work together. Things like how they gather requirements, test the software, and approve releases for example.

While interviewing the first team, it became clear that they did't like the second team. The second team wasn't following scrum, while the first team was. The first team was convinced the problem was with the second team.

However after interviewing many people on both teams, we realized the second team was following kanban. But they were doing it for a good reason - to respond to unpredictable changes in tax code.

So eventually we presented our findings, and though many people were pleased - our client was disappointed that we hadn't only found issues with the second team.

In this episode, I share the story of how I had to avoid being used as a pawn in corporate politics at my client. I hope it helps you avoid being put into a situation where you're pressured to side with a group of people to force another to change unwillingly!

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