5 habits of successful team leads - sagi smolarski & yael rabinovitz - agile israel 2014
DESCRIPTION
Agile is providing little guidance on the role of the Team Lead, leaving it up to individuals and organizations to improvise or rely on old-school paradigms. Based on our combined experience working with over a hundred teams, come hear which practices we believe are key to succeeding in this role, and how to be a truly great Team Lead.TRANSCRIPT
The Habits of Great Agile Team Leads
Yael Rabinovitch Lead CoachAgileSparks
Sagi SmolarskiLead CoachAgileSparks
The Team Lead in Agile
Picture CC - https://www.flickr.com/photos/2create/ - Louis Du Mont
Agile (and Scrum in Particular) is saying very little about the role of
the team lead in agile.
As part of our work with close to a hundred teams and team leads, we
have Witnessed Differences between the practices and mindset of team Leads, Which can have a
significant impact on the success of the team
Your Role is
to D E L I V E R
not (only)
Push team to
imprOVEGROWTH = TEACH THE
TEAM to OWN
improveMENT
GROWTH = TEACH THE
TEAM to OWN
improveMENT
Push team to
imprOVE
This is very important
and so is this!
LeadershipInvariablyInvolves Growth
Habit #1:
GROW & IMPROVEYOUR TEAM
GROW & IMPROVEYOUR TEAM
Habit #1:
Create Slack so we can invest in improvement
Create Slack so we can invest in improvementYou Cannot teach a zebra to RIDE A BIKE when it is being
chased by a hungry lion…Agile provide tools to balance demand and supply - Use them
to create slack
You Cannot teach a zebra to RIDE A BIKE when it is being chased by a hungry lion…
Agile provide tools to balance demand and supply - Use them to create slack
GET FEEDBACK . . .
. . . ON EVERYTHING
GET FEEDBACK . . .
. . . ON EVERYTHING
“Feedback is the food of champions”NO Feedback → No ImprovementIncorporate feedback into everything the team Does→ Features / User Stories USAGE TRACKING→ Sprint (e.g. retrospective)→ Meetings (ROI)→ Quality (RCA for escaping defects)...
Frame all you do as Fail-Safe, Learning Experiences
Jurgen Appelo
Challenge INDIVIDUALS’ COMFORT ZONEChallenge INDIVIDUALS’ COMFORT ZONE
Visualize & Track Improvements
The Team Should Own this board
Where Do We Stand?
My team has implemented Tangible improvements in the last month...
Yes/No?
Habit #2:Habit #2:
SHOW ME THE VALUE!
The Value ScaleValue to our client
FEEDBACK FROM our client
INTERNAL FEEDBACK
LOWER SCheduling RISK
IMPROVES OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER VALUE FASTER
IT MUST GET DONE / NOT CLEAR / ???
GREAT
AVOID
The Value ScaleValue to our client
FEEDBACK FROM our client
INTERNAL FEEDBACK
LOWER SCheduling RISK
IMPROVES OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER VALUE FASTER
IT MUST GET DONE / NOT CLEAR / ???
GREAT
AVOID
% of Velocity
60%
30%
5%
0%
0%
5%
The Value ScaleValue to our client
FEEDBACK FROM our client
INTERNAL FEEDBACK
LOWER SCheduling RISK
IMPROVES OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER VALUE FASTER
IT MUST GET DONE / NOT CLEAR / ???
GREAT
AVOID
75 %
% of Velocity
0%
0%
5%
5%
5%
Where Do We Stand?
THE TEam MEMBERS UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF
ALL THE WORK WE DO
Yes/No?
Habit #3:
Engage the team in solving problemscollaboratively
Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
“The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams”
Visual group memory
Group memory :Record ideas and decisions made during a meeting, written on boards in full view for the group members
Prevents common meeting problems:1. More interesting 2. Repetitions3. Everyone's contribution is captured 4. Loss of focus5. Drawings6. Creates a list to process (rank, select…)7. Disruption by latecomers8. Record history
Use Parking lot to focus discussions
Dot Voting – Prioritize to Focus
Fist of five -Voting for team consensus
Does most of the decisions are done by
the team lead ?
Where Do We Stand?
“Always look on the bright side of life”
Habit #4:
Be positive: Believe in your team dare having high expectations
Manager’s Expectations
Manager’s
Behavior
Self Expectations
Self behavior:
Effort, motivation,
learning, responsibility
The effect of Positive expectations
Managers get the performance they expect
Robert K. Merton 1948Pygmalion Effect orSelf-fulfilling prophecyGolem effect
J. Sterling Livingston“Pygmalion in
Management”
Grow your expectations
Communicate consistently youR firm belief in the employee's ability to perform the job.
To him and to others
Acknowledge don’t praise
Specific, Fact base validation VS. General Reports what was observed VS. Gives the power to judgeMatter of fact VS. Extravagant
Coach, Train, Guide, follow-up….
Can you attribute major achievement you did at work to a manager that believed in you and had challenging expectations from you ?
Where Do We Stand?
Have
Fun!
Habit #5Habit #5
Why?It is your role to energize team members
HOW?
Celebrate
Celebrate
Identify Small Opportunities to celebrate:→ The First Unit Test→ 10 Days with No Build Failure→ The 100th Story Completed→ PI Day…Create a Team Celebration culture
GamifyGamify
E.G. Planning PokerCan you think of other ways?
GET PEOPLE TO SHARE FROM
THEIR PERSONAL LIFE
GET PEOPLE TO SHARE FROM
THEIR PERSONAL LIFE
Build Shared ExperiencesBuild Shared Experiences
shared experiences → does not only mean fun days for the teamshared experiences → meanS shared hardship
HIRE FUN PEOPLE
ALSO
Measure Happiness
Where Do We Stand?
I Can Remember our team laughing together
in the last WEEK
Yes/No?
Take the Team Lead Surveyemail us…
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