RED FLAG. This was the text I received from a woman I’d been mentoring for a year or so. She had recently been promoted to a senior management position in the software division of a large technology company. We had developed our own language for when she had a serious professional problem. Texting RED FLAG was a call to action.

We met that evening, and she shared the reason for her text.

Eighteen months ago, her division had adopted the Agile methodology, which is basically a set of principles for software development where requirements and solutions progress with collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. Agile introduces a new way of thinking, speaking, and acting, including its own vocabulary. Her division had fully committed to it, and it had experienced extraordinary results.

Unfortunately, not everyone evaluated the results the same way. The chairman of the company had come to the last board meeting, very frustrated with her division in particular. He told the CEO that there was a serious problem due to the lack of a solid road map for each customer. He proceeded to share a bound set of client and technology specifications, written in excruciating detail, from another company where he is a board member.