Have you heard of the competent people's problem?
You see, I grew up believing that you should always give your best, or at least a little more than what was asked of you.
If my parents wanted me to have an overall average of 14/20, I’d make sure I got at least 14.5/20. If I’m expected to take charge of the team’s work, I do so, and I also point out any problems, delays and what we could potentially improve to be more efficient.
Until the day I realised that people who excelled ended up with more work and more responsibilities, whilst those who struggled got away with doing the bare minimum. And all for the same pay, generally speaking.
That’s when my mum introduced me to the concept of the ‘competent people’s problem’. The more efficient and effective we are at our tasks, the more time we have, and to avoid getting bored, what could be more natural than keeping ourselves busy? Or, the more efficient and responsive we are, the more people will turn to us for a clear and quick answer, and the more distractions we’ll have from our current work. And the better we become, the more responsibilities we end up with, even though our job description remains unchanged.
Of course, it takes all sorts to make a world; I fully understand that. But for me, this raises the question: what happens to these high-performing individuals when it all becomes too much? On the day they have an off day, perhaps due to an unrelated problem, or when they simply can’t cope with that extra workload?
How do we find a balance between being overworked and being bored? How do we strike the right balance so that these people don’t keep resigning, leaving only the less competent staff on the floor?
Because the line between the two is a fine one. How do we avoid being so efficient that we get bored, yet still be recognised for our efforts? How do we set aside time from our efficiency for our peace of mind, yet prevent the envious from using that free time as ammunition or a punishment?
Unfortunately, I don’t yet have an answer to that question. On the one hand, my mindset won’t allow me to settle for anything less than a strong work ethic. On the other, I’m fed up with working and putting all my effort into something that goes to waste. More importantly, I’d like to understand. There’s this idea that time is money, but a high-performing agent would end up being paid less than someone who takes their time. Why link quality to the concept of time? If a job well done takes me 10 minutes for what takes people an hour on average, that doesn’t mean my work is shoddy. But it shouldn’t be normal either to pay me for just 10 minutes when you pay others for an hour. And yet you’d be outraged if you paid me an hour for 10 minutes’ work.
That is what poorly implemented Agile does. It links time spent or estimated to a financial scale, and that is where everything starts to go wrong. But then again, how could we do things any other way? You cannot turn a company founded on financial principles on its head just to be able to work in a truly agile way. And that is why Agile is dying today, little by little. What began with four developers has now become overly commercialised. The principles have been forgotten. Do you remember the first core value of Agile?
"Individuals and interactions over processes and tools"
Aaaah, the competent people’s problem.
What if we asked AI to solve this conundrum for us?
“Competent people can become bottlenecks (everyone wants to delegate work to them)”
said Claude. Great, what an inspirational sentence, not at all depressing.
"Because, in reality, the problem with competent people is an issue of organisational design. Not an individual one”
that’s what Claude and ChatGPT tell me. But they offer no practical solution to the problem.
In any case, they both advise me to do the same thing: write an article on the subject. What insight! A bit late in the day, though as it’s already time for the conclusion.
For my French roots have finally been reawakened, and they’re telling me it’s time to rise up. On a small scale, the time to make an impact on your teams. Fight to ensure that this expertise and efficiency are recognised and valued. Ensure that your skilled staff don’t become bottlenecks, but are celebrated for their abilities. Teach them the art of self-promotion. Make the best of what you have, support them as best you can, be the guiding light, but above all, without burning either yourself or them out.
