Is your team moving in sync—or spinning in circles? - Mike Cohn
Ever feel like your agile team should be working smoothly—but something’s just a bit off? Handoffs feel clunky. Meetings drag. Even small changes spark big debates.
It’s not that your team isn’t skilled—it’s that you’re not quite in sync.
Rowers have a word for the alignment you’re seeking: swing.
What is swing?
In crew rowing, swing is that near-magical moment when every rower moves in perfect unison—each stroke in sync, each effort amplified. And I do mean perfect unison. This means each rower:
- puts an oar into the water at the exact same time
- pulls for the same time and distance at the same speed
- lifts the oar out of the water at the same time
- slides forward at the same pace
- Team members hand off work frequently, without fanfare, and in small chunks.
- Team members can finish each other’s… (Did you try to finish my sentence for me?) work. They can jump in and pick up tasks if someone is out sick or on vacation.
- Meetings are short, focused and valuable.
- Goals are ambitious, but usually met. When the team falls short, everyone (including leaders) understands that goals are not guarantees.
- A try-it-and-see mindset permeates the team. They’re willing to experiment with new practices (such as user stories vs. job stories or story points vs. time) or frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban).
- The team is confident in their ability to succeed. As they deliver more and more value, and achieve outcome after outcome, the team feels almost unstoppable. Team members have fun. I sometimes decry that work is called work. I sincerely want work to be fun. I’m not naive: I know that won’t always be the case. But when a team is working together well, it is fun.
Swing is rare. When I rowed, our boat might have gone an entire race without once truly achieving swing. (And yes, it was usually my fault. Thanks for asking.)
But when it happens, it’s effortless. The boat flies.
Agile teams can experience the same kind of swing.
When everything starts to flow
When teams are aligned and in sync you’ll know it:
None of this happens by accident
Achieving all of this isn’t easy.
Like rowers chasing swing, agile teams have to practice, reflect, and adjust—over and over again—in their quest to go from good to great.
But take it from me, when it clicks, it’s magic.
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