Human Resources! The very nature of this term gets any Scrum Master or Agile Coach hot under the collar. Calling humans “resources” is the same as calling them a capital asset – like a vehicle or building. It’s not surprising that the term annoys us. After all, the term was first coined in 1893 by John R. Commons – around the same time that child labour was still legal! Sadly, many organisations still refer to people as “resources” today…

Luckily, Human Resources has started making huge strides since those dark days. They now focus on the things people care about – like hiring, compensation, performance management, and training. But they are still playing “catch-up” with our new agile ways of working. They are often blamed for not making changes needed to support an Agile culture, but Human Resources can’t change the company culture on their own! They often do not know where to start…

We have found a great approach to help Human Resources find the humans behind the “resources” – using Agile values and principles as a guide. Join us as we go through these techniques to help Human Resources (and other support functions).