agile cops and robbers - apln - jordan job · a brief history • situated learning: legitimate...
TRANSCRIPT
Agile CoPs and RobbersHow do you prevent status quo protectors from robbing you of the
benefits of change and improvement? Become a CoP.
Jordan Job - APLN Chicago - May 2017
Jordan Job• Managing Consultant with Responsive
Advisors
• Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org
• Previously: Scrum Master, .NET Web Developer, DBA
• Connect: • www.jordanjob.me • www.linkedin.com/in/jordanjob • [email protected]
The Organization
• Transitioned to Scrum about 3 years prior
• 15+ Scrum teams distributed across 3 locations
• 15 Scrum Masters (only 3 of them knew each other)
Me
• Scrum Master / Agile Coach
• Hired by head of the PMO
• Directive: Reinvigorate stalled Agile adoption
Satir Change ModelMe
Communities of Practice
“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and
learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”
- Wenger & Trayner
http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
AKA… CoP
A Community of Practice Has…
1. Domain
2. Community
3. Practice
http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
Why a CoP?
Grow a culture of continuous improvement
Getting Started
• Met with each Scrum Master individually to invite them
• Scheduled weekly meetups
• Asked an agile consultant to help out in the first few meetups
• Created a shared intranet page and invited Scrum Masters
Our Typical Meetup• Met over lunch for 1 hour
• Topic of focus determined at previous meetup
• Briefly reviewed agenda
• Round-table updates
• Discussed topic
So… What Happened?• Continued weekly Scrum Master CoP meetups for 1 year
• Reduced meetup cadence to biweekly after 1 year
• Built strong relationships among Scrum Masters and people who wanted to be Scrum Masters
• Shared a lot of organizational knowledge
• (some) Scrum Masters were excited about being Scrum Masters again
A Brief History• Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral
Participation (1990)
• Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice (1991)
• Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (1998)
• Cultivating Communities of Practice (2002)
What does a CoP look like?
Wenger’s Indicators of a CoP1. Sustained mutual relationships – harmonious or
conflictual
2. Shared ways of engaging in doing things together
3. The rapid flow of information and propagation of innovation
4. Absence of introductory preambles, as if conversations and interactions were merely the continuation of an ongoing process
5. Very quick setup of a problem to be discussed
6. Substantial overlap in participants’ descriptions of who belongs
7. Knowing what others know, what they can do, and how they can contribute to an enterprise
8. Mutually defining identities
9. The ability to assess the appropriateness of actions and products
10. Specific tools, representations, and other artifacts
11. Local lore, shared stories, inside jokes, knowing laughter
12. Jargon and shortcuts to communication as well as the ease of producing new ones
13. Certain styles recognized as displaying membership
14. A shared discourse reflecting a certain perspective on the world.
Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, Etienne Wenger, 1998
What does a CoP look like?• Meetups?
• Colocated?
• Size?
• Leaders?
• Does it have to be called a CoP?
1. Building relationships
2. Learning from others’ experiences
3. Sharing problems and helping solve others’ problems
4. Finding new techniques
5. Establishing norms and good practices
What does a healthy CoP focus on?
https://jordanjob.me/2016/04/28/community-of-practice/
1. Build Relationships
• A CoP brings people together who wouldn’t otherwise interact
• Bridges gaps in the org chart
• Allows people to meet others who have common interests and struggles
• Allows people to quickly learn who to go to for advice on particular problems
2. Learn from Each Other’s Experiences
• Members should frequently share “lessons learned”
• These insights could be shared through multiple mediums, but face-to-face is often best
3. Share and Solve Problems
• Optimal place to solve problems since the most experienced people interested in a topic will be involved
• CoP != complaining session
• Solving problems is just as important as sharing problems
4. Find New Techniques
• Active CoP members frequently find and share new techniques and practices
• Often shared during CoP meetups
5. Establish Norms and Good Practices
• CoPs frequently inspect the way they work and find common patterns
• Patterns (or anti-patterns) are shared with the community
Getting Started• Identify the domain
• Identify coordinator(s)
• Identify a clear purpose and value proposition
• Determine meetup frequency and schedule meetups
• Determine membership qualifications
• Recruit members
• Decide how the group will communicate
Management’s Role
"The ambiguity of whether this is to be genuine empowerment or if the
management involvement introduces a new form of normative control may be
the key to why so many CoPs fail.”
- Andrew Cox
http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/
– Richard McDermott and Douglas Archibald
“To be well integrated into the organization, communities, like teams, need strong, formal relationships with the organization's
top leadership.”
Harnessing Your Staff’s Informal Networks, McDermott & Archibald, March 2010
Making CoPs Last
• Focus on issues important to the organization
• Establish community goals and deliverables
• Provide real governance
• Measure value provided
Harnessing Your Staff’s Informal Networks, McDermott & Archibald, March 2010
Scaling CoPs
• Having multiple CoPs in an organization can result in siloed knowledge
• Finding ways to “link” CoPs can be helpful
When Does a CoP End?
CoPs exist only as long as they provide value*
Summary
Domain + Community + Practice = CoP
Questions?
