focus on the essentials for team self-improvement

Creating winning teams.

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Presentation TitlePresenter NameFOCUS ON THE ‘ESSENTIALS’ FOR TEAM SELF-IMPROVEMENT


DOES IT FEEL LIKE YOU SOMETIMESHAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO EXTREMES?


Are you caught between the devil and the

deep blue sea?


One Prescribed ProcessVersus

No Shared Practices(just “Agile Values”)


Does either extreme work well in practice?

• Tell the team what to do AND how to do it

• Expectations of predictable results irrespective of team and environment challenges

• Assumes all problems are the same shape and size

• Demotivating, deskilling, dehumanizing!

• Each team figures out from scratch how to meet its challenges

• Needs a “critical mass” of team members with agile experience and agile values truly internalised

• And constant guidance from a highly experienced Agile Coach

• No reuse of practical experience!

Prescriptive Process

No Shared Practices

L K


SO WHAT ARE THE SYPTOMSOF A TEAM STRUGGLING TO ALIGN AROUND AGILE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES?


ENDLESS STORMING

Strong team voices with different, convictions about “the true spirit of agile”

No concrete visible agreement on the way of working


LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

No one knows how the team is workingNo one knows how the team is doing


NASTY LATE SURPRISES

Stakeholders not engaged in a timely fashion (security, legal, …)

Too late it is discovered “what the PO says, goes” isn’t actually true


FINGER-POINTINGThe team saying “the PO doesn’t really

understand their role”

The Coach saying “the PO is in the team –has the rest of the team explained the role

and worked with the PO to cover it off?”


WHAT IF THERE WAS AHAPPY MEDIUM?


THERE IS!AGILE ESSENTIALS PROVIDES:

Modular, Selectable Practice OptionsTeams Selectively Try, Adopt, Adapt, Swap


1. Not prescriptive, “all or nothing at all” methodologies

e.g. “Do Scrum!” versus “No, do Kanban!”

2. Concise, practical, approachable, usable3. Clear where practices are complementary

vs. alternativese.g. Swap “Continuous Flow” for “Timeboxing”, without changing anything else

4. Not a silver bulletCan’t be mistaken for all-encompassing processClearly requires a minimum level of expertiseThe cards help coaches to help teams to adopt and adapt good agile practices


Agile Essentials Practices


USE AGILE ESSENTIALS CARDSFOR SELF-ASSESSMENT & IMPROVEMENT


J KProductOwnershipEssentials

Own,evolveandcommunicatethevision,andguidetheevolutionoftheproducttoachievethevision.

2015.01©

ProductOwnership

StakeholderNetwork

EvolvetheProductVision

BuildStakeholderNetwork

DemonstratetheProduct

AchieveAcceptance

ProductVision

PO

L

!!!

(!)

–

ProductOwnership

Asinglepointofownershipforaproductthatprovidesrapid,empowereddecisionsanddisputearbitrationregardingwhatshouldbebuiltintotheproduct.Havingonepersonplaythisrole(the“ProductOwner”)providestheresponsivenessneededforagiledelivery,butthispersonmustbeabletorepresentallstakeholdersandwillneedsupportfromothersintheteam.

PO2015.01© 2015.01©


Agreeandcommunicatethegoalsandreturn-on-investmentcasefortheproducttodriveandinformongoingdecisionsabouttheproduct.

ProductVision:ValueReleaseStrategyOutlined

ExplorePossibilities

Opportunity:ValueEstablished

3

Dev.

3

StakeholderRep.

3

Analysis

PO

2015.01©

ProductVisionCommunicateswhatisultimatelywantedorneededfromtheproductaswellashowvaluewillbeprogressivelyrealised.

SolutionEnvisaged

ValueReleaseStrategyOutlined

ROIProjected

OpportunityDescribes:

NeedIdentified

PO

2015.01©

BuildStake-holderNetwork

Activelyengagethestakeholderswithalegitimateandmaterialinterestintheendeavor,includingelicitingfeedbackandnegotiatingcompromisesasrequired.

2

Analysis

3

StakeholderRep.

UnderstandStakeholderNeeds

StakeholderNetwork:RepresentativesNamedorbeyond

Stakeholders:Involved

PO

2015.01©PO

StakeholderNetwork

Whothestakeholderrepresentativesare,andhowwewillengagewiththemthroughouttheendeavor.

StakeholderTypesDescribed

StakeholdersDescribes:

CommunicationPlansDocumented

RepresentativesNamed

2015.01©


Showtheevolvingproducttostakeholdersandelicitfeedbackasfrequentlyaspossibletoconvergeonanoptimalsolution.

3

Testing

3

StakeholderRep.


Opportunity:ViableStakeholders:InAgreement



Contributestoachieving:

PO

2015.01©

AchieveAcceptance

Theproductisacceptedforrelease.Progressivelyacceptingtheproductenablesfrequentreleasestobemadetomaximisereturn-on-investment.

Opportunity:Addressed

3

Testing

3

StakeholderRep.

EnsureStakeholderSatisfaction

Stakeholders:SatisfiedforDeployment

Opportunity:Viable

Stakeholders:InAgreement

PO

Play a game of tic-tac toe to identify and prioritize agile team practice improvements.


ORUSE THE CARDS FOR SANITY CHECKING YOUR WORK


Explore Possibilities

Ensure Stakeholder Satisfaction

Shape the System

Implement the System

Test the System

Deploy the System

Use the System

Operate the System

Understand Stakeholder Needs

Prepare to do the Work

Coordinate Activity

Support the Team Stop the WorkTrack Progress

Understand the Requirements

Customer

Solution

Endeavour


2015.01©


Agreeandcommunicatethegoalsandreturn-on-investmentcasefortheproducttodriveandinformongoingdecisionsabouttheproduct.

ProductVision:ValueReleaseStrategyOutlined

ExplorePossibilities


3

Dev.

3

StakeholderRep.

3

Analysis

PO2015.01©

BuildStake-holderNetwork

Activelyengagethestakeholderswithalegitimateandmaterialinterestintheendeavor,includingelicitingfeedbackandnegotiatingcompromisesasrequired.

2

Analysis

3

StakeholderRep.


StakeholderNetwork:RepresentativesNamedorbeyond


PO

2015.01©


Showtheevolvingproducttostakeholdersandelicitfeedbackasfrequentlyaspossibletoconvergeonanoptimalsolution.

3

Testing

3

StakeholderRep.


Opportunity:ViableStakeholders:InAgreement




PO2015.01©

AchieveAcceptance

Theproductisacceptedforrelease.Progressivelyacceptingtheproductenablesfrequentreleasestobemadetomaximisereturn-on-investment.

Opportunity:Addressed

3

Testing

3

StakeholderRep.

EnsureStakeholderSatisfaction

Stakeholders:SatisfiedforDeployment

Opportunity:Viable

Stakeholders:InAgreement

PO

-PO

representsthisspace

!!!Needbetteragilearchitecturepractices

2015.01©PB

RefineProductBacklog

GetandkeeptheProductBacklogvisible,up-to-dateandingoodworkingorder,withhighpriorityitemsagreedandwellunderstood.

2 2 2

Dev. Test.

3

AnalysisS’holderRep.

ProductBacklog

ProductBacklog:ItemsPrioritized

ProductBacklogItem:Identified

UnderstandtheRequirements

2015.01©PB

PrepareaProductBacklogItem

EnsurethattheProductBacklogItemisreadyfordevelopmentandthatitisclearhowitwillbetested.

3

Testing

3

StakeholderRep.


ProductBacklog:ItemsPrioritized

ProductBacklogItem:Identified

ProductBacklogItem:ReadyforDevelopmentTestCase:TestIdeasCaptured

2015.01©PB

AgreeDefinitionofDone

DefinitionofDone:CompletionConditionsListed orbeyond

2 3 3

Dev. Test.

2



Agreethequalitycriteriathatwillbeusedtodeterminewhetheranychangetotheproductisfullyandcorrectlyimplemented.

2015.01©AD

EvolveaReleasableProduct

Increasethevalueofaproductbyonesmallincrementwhileensuringthatitremainsusable,maintainableandofproductionquality.

2 3 3

Dev. Test.

2


SoftwareSystem:Usableorbeyond

ImplementtheSystem

ProductBacklogItem:ReadyforDevelopment

AllSoftwareChanges:TargetQualityAchieved

TesttheSystem

ProductBacklogItem:Done

2015.01©AT

TeamKick-StartTheteamworkstogethertoclarifyitsmission,agreeastrategyforachievingit,anddecidehowtheywillworktogetherasateam.

PreparetodotheWork

Team:Formed

Team

TeamMembership:CapacityEstablishedorbeyond

2

Management

3

Leadership

WayofWorking:PrinciplesEstablishedTeamWayofWorking:Outlined

-Coveredby

PMFramework

2015.01©

ShareKnowhow

Theteamusestechniques,suchaspair-workingandknowledge-sharing,topropagateskillsacrosstheteam,andtohandoverworktootherswhentheneedforthisarises..

SupporttheTeam

Team:Performing

WayofWorking:WorkingWell

Team

WayofWorking

2

Management

2

Leadership

AT

2015.01©

ScheduletheTimeboxes

Putthedatesinthediarywheneachtimeboxwillstartandend,typicallythroughtotheendoftheprojectorthroughtothenextmajorreleaseorequivalenthigh-levelmilestone.

2

Management

PreparetodotheWork

Work:Prepared

Work:Initiated

Timebox:ScheduledContributestoachieving:

TB

2015.01©TB

ReviewaTimebox

Reviewtheoutcomesofatimebox,intermsofobjectivesachieved,andassessprogressmade,sothatplanscanbeadaptedasneeded.

TrackProgress

Timebox:ReviewedProgressUpdate:ProgressAnalyzedorbeyond

2

Management

3

Leadership

ProgressBoard:ProgressofObjectivesVisible

TimeboxPlan:ViablePlanOutlined

2015.01©DS

HoldaDailyStand-Up

Theteammeetseveryday,sametimeandplace,toassessprogress,coordinateactivity,andraiseandactionimpediments.Themeetingistimeboxed,typicallyto15minutes.

CoordinateActivity

Impediment:Ownedorbeyond

Impediment

Work:UnderControl

2

Management

2

Leadership


2015.01©AR

HoldaRetrospective

Thewholeteammeetsregularlytoreflectonitswayofworking.Improvementsareidentifiedandprioritized,andactionsagreed.Atthenextretrospective,theresultsareevaluated.

2

Management

2

Leadership

SupporttheTeam

Improvement:ActionAgreedorbeyond

Improvement

2015.01©AT

Collaborate,Communicate,Coordinate

Theteamappliesandevolvesawayofworkingthatmaximizeslevelsofperformance,communicationandcollaboration,andworkstosecurethefacilitiestheyneedtodothis.

CoordinateActivity

Team:CollaboratingorbeyondWayofWorking:InPlaceorbeyond

TeamWayofWorking:Outlinedorbeyond

Team:FormedWayofWorking:PrinciplesEstablished

3

Management

3

Leadership

2015.01©TB

PlanaTimebox

Theteamisguidedonthecurrentpriorityobjectives,andcollaboratestoplantheworkandnegotiateaviableandacceptableworkplan.

2

Management

CoordinateActivity

3

Leadership

Timebox:Scheduled

Timebox:PlannedTimeboxPlan:ViablePlanOutlinedorbeyond

Work:StartedProgressBoard:WorkObjectivesVisibleorbeyond

DevOpspractices


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