building agile teams

Building Agile Teams

Brian Watson, PMI-ACP, CSM, PSM1Product and Agile Coach

@bdub1pmpbrian@versionone.com

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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

brian@versionone.com@bdub1pmphttp://www.linkedin.com/in/bdub1pmp