building agile teams
DESCRIPTION
Brian Watson Brian is an Agile and Product coach for VersionOne. He has over 16 years of experience providing Project Management, Business Analysis, and Agile coaching on small to enterprise level projects in web and software development, process improvement, communications, healthcare education, marketing, aeronautics, mergers and consolidations, long distance telecom, wireless, distribution, and government industries. Since 2005, Brian has been an Agile transformation coach helping consulting software development factories, insurance, manufacturing, workers compensation, and government agencies achieve the benefits of agile. In his spare time Brian enjoys golfing and craft beer.TRANSCRIPT
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Team Building
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Teams…
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Analogy
• Growing Agile teams is like learning to fly a plane….
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Formal Training – Ground School
• You can read a book or take a class to learn the “major” theoretical elements– Takeoff/landing, Stalls, Weather, etc.
• You might even be able to pass a written test after class
• However, are you ready to fly the plane?
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Formal Scrum/Agile Training
• Critical foundational element to starting down the path to agile
• Theoretical concepts• Review key ceremonies
– “Guard Rails”• Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or
Professional Scrum Master (PSM)
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Flight Training
• With formal knowledge in hand, the student must fly with an instructor
• Time in the pilot seat will allow the student to encounter the numerous situations formal training cannot cover
• There is no substitute for practical experience…with a guiding hand
• Converts theoretical knowledge into skill
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Growing the Team
• Accomplished through pairing the major skills sets (Dev, BA, QA, PM) with experienced people
• Allows the experienced people guide the new team through how to apply their theoretical knowledge
• A Transition Coach assists with guiding the entire process– Provide “guard rails” to the process– Product owner, management, other teams
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Agile Team Schematic
Product Owner
New Dev Experienced Dev
Experienced SMNew SM
Experienced BANew BA
Experienced QANew QA
Management
TransitionCoach
Formal Training
Experienced UXNew UX
Pairing
Pairing
Pairing
Pairing
Pairing
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Flying Solo
• Once the student’s skill level has caught up to their desire and confidence, they can fly solo
• This occurs after many hours of guidance from the instructor
• Each person will learn something new when they fly solo– Reinforcing and existing concept– New situation
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Coding (Flying) Solo
• Once the team has worked through 3-5 sprints, they should be ready to fly solo
• This will allow the team to grow their skills in new situations by applying concepts learned in training and pairing
• Teams will make mistakes in this phase– Mistakes are part of the learning process– Mistakes are OK
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Sharing the Passion
• Flying solo will allow the knowledge/skill of the pilot to exceed their level of desire and passion for flying
• When this occurs, they can begin to share their knowledge with others– The cycle begins anew…
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Agile Team Progression
Pre-CSMTraining
Post-CSMTraining
Pairing FlyingSolo
Sharing
Knowledge
Skill
Confidence/Desire
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Sharing
• When team members are ready, they can be transferred to a new team to guide and lead their transition– Option 1: Remove members of original team– Option 2: Pairing
• Set expectations - Velocity on the original team will be reduced
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Cost/Benefit Analysis
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Infection Rates
• 10% of a team will infect the other 90%– It is critical that the 10% is positive,
knowledgeable and evangelizing agile concepts• When removing resources from a productive
team to create a new one, you do not want to remove more than 10%
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Management
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Management Support
• Learning is a process, mistakes will happen• Management needs to transform along with the
team
Command/Control“Approver”
Work Assignor
CoachMentor
Remover of Roadblocks
Transition
Beware the “middle manager conundrum”
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Team Spaces
• Functional, not fancy– Elbow room for pairing and collaboration– Dual monitors
• Stimulate teamwork and communication– Remove walls– Central location for card wall and stand-ups
• Do not break the bank
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Empowerment
• The team should be able to say “no”• Encourage the team to take risks
– Within guard rails
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Culture
• Embrace the new culture• Work to convert pessimists
– Lack of understanding– Change
• Not everyone is “cut out” for agile
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Organization
• Think local…act global
• Work to limit roadblocks this will cause the team frustrations
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Continuity
• Only a small part of overall team success is “Agile”
• Teams form a bond• Teams must be kept together
– Tuckman’s “law” is undefeated and untied…
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Psychology
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Satir Model
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Motivation
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Wrap-up
• Avoid “shock and awe”– Go slow and low…
• Set expectations– Mistakes– Not an overnight transformation
• Embrace psychological roadblocks of humans
Allow the teams to evolve into high performing, motivated groups
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Questions
Building Agile TeamsBrian Watson, PMI-ACP, CSM, PSM1Product and Agile Coach
[email protected]@bdub1pmphttp://www.linkedin.com/in/bdub1pmp