Setting the challenge

Most of the great leaders of our time have rallied others by inspiring them to believe that theirs is a worthy cause. If people feel that they can contribute and make a real difference, they will be willing to bring the best of their abilities to make such things happen.

In Chapter 9, Seeking Value – How to Deliver Better Software Sooner, we looked at a few ways of giving our team their purpose. Setting high expectations makes it a challenge. The aim is to nudge people out of their comfort zones, but in a way that they connect and engage with.

This aspect of a leader's job is perhaps the most valuable. A clear problem statement for our team sparks motivation and engagement—it inspires them to do great things.

Get The Agile Developer's Handbook now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.