8/10/2019 5 Ways to Compromise Your Team

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/5-ways-to-compromise-your-team 1/2

5 Ways to Compromise Your Team'sSuccess

Gil Broza - January 13, 2015

Gil Broza's mission is to make software development more effective,

humane and responsible. He helps people pick up where Scrum left off,

especially on the technical and the human sides of Aile. Gil is the

author of !"he Human Side of Aile!, the definitive practical book on

leadin Aile teams to reatness. Any iven day, you can find him

coachin, consultin, trainin, speakin, facilitatin, and writin. Get

Gil's popular #$%session mini%proram, !Somethin Happened on the

&ay to Aile!, free at n"he&ay"oAile.com.

SHARE

The popularity of agile methods among knowledge

workers continues to rise. nfortunately, most

organi!ations that use such methods are actually not agile

friendly. "n particular, they ha#e grafted the flat,

empowered, colla$orati#e agile team construct onto their

e%isting functional power hierarchy. &#en in those

companies that ha#e made it work, it meant e%tra conflicts

and struggles all the way from the top to the ranks.

'ou can(t really e%pect to succeed with agile if you don(t ha#e a solid team. To grow such a

team, you need leadership. )hether centrali!ed or shared, whether through formal authority or not, leadership draws protecti#e $oundaries inside which a team can succeed. *er#ant

leaders--the kind fa#ored in agile-- promote helpful behaviors throuh communication,

coachin, feedback and facilitation. Just the same, leaders should avoid doing certain things

that compromise a team(s success. "f you are a ser#ant leader, or aspire to $ecome one, here

are fi#e agile killers to a#oid+

1. Allow ati!patters to emer"e early i a a"ile team#s li$e. )hen people oin a team,

they $ring their ha$its along. "s your star de#eloper used to wearing headphones while

working few days of that and the other team mem$ers will $ecome less inclined to start

con#ersations with him. /o mem$ers still ask you a$out upcoming deli#era$les rather than

engage the product owner roduct de#elopment pro$a$ly won(t $e cheaper, $etter or faster./o programmers report my part(s done at daily standups 'ou can e%pect regularly shippa$le

software to $e elusi#e. e e%tra watchful the first few days and don(t let undesira$le patterns

settle. 4eep checking your o$ser#ations of the team against the agile principles.

%. Alieate maa"ers. ike it or not, functional and senior managers are going to affect your

agile proect. The two most common complaints from agile practitioners are a$out micro-

management and fre6uent status re6uests. ut there(s a $igger challenge7 team mem$ers

8/10/2019 5 Ways to Compromise Your Team

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/5-ways-to-compromise-your-team 2/2