Definition
HiPPO (Highest Paid Persons Oopinion) is used as a descriptive term for the tendency for the lower paid people in office to defer to those with larger pay-scales than them, when making crucial decisions. It’s an understandable human instinct, but it is also cautionary and detrimental to the Agile process.
It is to be avoided because the Agile method ranks all team members are equal, wit no member outranking the other. This concept has proven to be difficult for new Agile adopters to grasp and initially, Team Members fear individual retribution. Hence, the solution is to deliver trust in a team to deliver, and eventually empowering them to solve problems.
Further Reading
- “Hippo: The Human Focused Digital Book” (book), by Pete Trainor.