Self-Organizing Teams

By Rajesh Parikh

What, Who (are responsible) and How (to

Organize) ?

Self-Organizing Teams

What do we understand by self Organizing team ?

Self-Organizing Teams

Who are responsible ?Scrum teams ?

Senior management ?

Both ?

Do you have self-organizing team?If so, half the battle is already won.

Scrum team needs to focus in building self-organizing team

Challenges ? Do you have self-organizing team?If so, half the battle is already won.

Creating a self-organizing team is far more challenging than we had ever imagined.

In today's dynamic world (changing business need) , Focus is side lined in building a team.

Scrum team needs to focus in building self-organizing team

What is self Organized Team ?

Defining self-organizing team

What is self Organized Team ?

Defining self-organizing team

• A group of motivated individuals, who work together toward a common (team) goal

• Have the ability and authority to take decisions and readily adapt to changing demands.

Let us discuss some important ingredients of a self-organizing team

• Team members pull work for themselves and don't wait for their leader/Scrum Master to assign work. - greater sense of ownership and commitment.

• They manage their work (allocation, reallocation, estimation, re estimation, delivery, and rework) as a group.

• They do not require "command and control ; may require

mentoring and coaching

• They communicate with each other, and their commitments are to the project teams and NOT to the ScrumMaster.

• They understand requirements and not afraid to ask questions to get their doubts clarified.

• They continuously enhance their own skills and recommend innovative/creative ideas and improvements.

What are attributes of self-organizing teams ?

1. Competency: Individuals need to be competent for the job at hand. This

will result in confidence in their work and will eliminate the need for direction from

above.

2. Collaboration: They should work as one team rather than as a group of

individuals. Teamwork is encouraged.

3. Motivation: Team motivation is the key to success. Team members should

be focused and interested in their work.

4. Trust and respect: Team members trust and respect each other. They

believe in collective code ownership and are ready to go the extra mile to help each other resolve issues.

5. Continuity: The team should be together for a reasonable duration;

changing its composition every now and then doesn't help. Continuity is essential for the team.

5 key attributes of self-organizing teams

Who is Responsible ?

Is it the Scrum Master ?

Is it the Senior management ?

Both ?

Who is Responsible ?

Is it the Scrum Master ?

Is it the Senior management ?

Scrum Master : responsible and is also focusing on timeline and delivery;

Senior management: is concerned about financials; and has bigger challenges for the organization itself.

Every one is responsible and it takes a combined effort from all three entities to help a team emerge as self-organizing.

Who is Responsible ?

Every one is responsible and it takes a combined effort from all three entities to help a team emerge as self-organizing.

ScrumMasterWork / act as a coach and ensure that the team gets

job-specific training and coaching.

Responsible to ensure cohesive and soothing work environment, will help the team to blossom as self-organizing team.

Coaching individual team members to understand the principles of self-organizing teams and trust each other.

(ScrumMaster) should also look at a variety of ways to improve collaboration within the distributed team

Senior management

Encourages the team work

Provides support and not distractions.

Encourages Team goals and discourages individual heroism (it only acts as a block to self-organizing teams. )

Full organization support and ensures motivation, necessary infrastructure, training are provided

A three-step processTraining, coaching, and mentoring

Training: Groom the employees to get the desired skill set and ensure that the team has the capabilities to exhibit self-

organizing behaviors.

If necessary provide classroom and on-the-job training

Ensure that each employee competent in a particular domain/technology.

Provide Behavioral training – which may help.

Coaching Adopt a coaching style that helps the team; remove all

obstacles/ road blocks and are not facing difficulties.

Provide required support and guidance at the beginning.

Indicators of a self-organizing team are: Scrum ceremonies are productive, the team enjoys the work

members are helping each other.

New ideas/ innovative ideas are forthcoming, and teams are pulling work by themselves.

Keep your eyes open; use stethoscope to measure the effectiveness.

Mentoring Assign mentors who can help the team go to the next level.

Provide Job rotations / cross-training ; which helps employees involved and of encourages continuous learning.

Self-organizing team doesn't need "command and control," but it does need coaching and mentoring.

Building and maintaining a self-organizing team is an ongoing process, and we're really never done.

Whenever a team's composition changes, we need to repeat the whole process.

Sustain the self-organizing team for the longer run.