How the Pontiac Aztek is a Cautionary Tale for Agile Teams

Sometimes, no matter how well-intentioned, no matter how well designed, and no matter how well a team orchestrates a product release – it fails.

A brief history of the Aztek

In the case of the Aztek, a new car added to Pontiac’s line in 2001, all the signs pointed to success, but it ended going down in history as one of the great automotive rollout failures of all time.

At the time, GM had a reputation for being staid or not taking chances, and they were ready to make some changes. That year, GM was set to make 40 percent of their new vehicles “innovative,” meaning 40% of their vehicles were designed to look a little weird.

The Aztek was first introduced as a concept car in 1999, and it was well-received on paper, but somewhere between concept and market, it became the joke of the automotive market.

Why was the Aztek a colossal failure?

The Aztek scored dead last in market research. People hated it, but GM didn’t listen. The team involved in developing and bringing the Aztek to market was uncomfortable giving any sort of negative feedback. Bob Lutz, who was GM’s vice chairman of product development at the time, wrote about the debacle in Road and Track.

“The guy in charge of product development was Don Hackworth, an old-school guy from the tradition of shouts, browbeating, and by-God-I-want-it-done. He said, “Look. We’ve all made up our minds that the Aztek is gonna be a winner. It’s gonna astound the world. I don’t want any negative comments about this vehicle. None. Anybody who has bad opinions about it, I want them off the team.” As if the public is gonna give a sh** about team spirit. Obviously, the industry is trying to get away from that approach.

The danger with the totalitarian management style is that people won’t speak up when there’s a problem. They’ll get their heads cut off, or the messenger gets shot.”

To understand the failure of the Aztek, you only need to take one look at projections versus sales. From 2001 to 2005, Pontiac forecasted that they would sell 75,000 Azteks per year. Thirty thousand would have spelled a break-even scenario for Pontiac, but they could only sell 27,322 cars in their best year.

There were many complaints about the Aztek from the get-go. Consumers said it was too expensive. It was marketed as a sport utility vehicle but lacked the 4x wheel drive that nearly every competitor boasted. It was also dull to drive.

The biggest complaint was, of course, the aesthetics. Time Magazine called it “deformed and scary.” Ironically, though, the people who did buy the car seem to have been quite happy with it, scary looks and all.

Maybe the Aztek was ahead of its time, at least in appearance. After all, it looks surprisingly similar to many cars on the road today.

While the Aztek had an insurgence several years ago, thanks in part to the fact that it was a character, of sorts, in the show “Breaking Bad.” Sill, the car is partially credited with the downfall of the Pontiac brand.

One blogger disagrees with the idea that Hackworth was a tyrant, and he sees it as a cautionary tale of design by committee. He holds up the example of Steve Jobs as a tyrannical boss who made his company wildly successful.

Perhaps with the Aztek, they were trying to be design-by-committee, but tyranny won.

Regardless of whether Aztek’s development was a tale of a tyrannical dictator or a not tyrannical enough CEO, there are lessons to learn for any agile team.

Team leaders should have a goal in mind, and while they shouldn’t switch gears as the team is cruising along, they should refrain from dismissing team members and their ideas.

Team leaders should always listen and attempt to understand complaints without judging. If the team leader disagrees with team members, they should explain why with facts and put egos to the side. Leaders should be willing to alter the epic, or even the theme, as new facts emerge.

That said, agile teams need a clear leader. Mutual respect is important, but a team should not be a democracy. Ultimate responsibility must lie in the hands of one person. Still, that person needs to remember that their only goal is for the product development to succeed, not to bring their personal vision to fruition.

As for Steve Jobs, I suppose he could have been a tyrant, but he always put the needs and wants of the buying public even before his pride. Perhaps that’s why when Jobs stepped down from Apple, it was the most valuable company in the world.

The takeaway to this cautionary tale is that an agile team should always have clear goals, but open communication is key to preventing future Azteks.

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