Building Agile Teams
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Building Agile Teams
Brian Watson, PMI-ACP, CSM, PSM1Product and Agile Coach
@bdub1pmpbrian@versionone.com
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Agenda
• Team Building Analogy• Enablers• Other Considerations
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Team Building
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Analogy
• Growing Agile teams is like learning to fly a plane….
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Formal Training
• 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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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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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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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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Teams…
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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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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
Transition
Coach
Formal Trainin
g
Experienced UXNew UX
Pairing
Pairing
Pairing
Pairing
Pairing
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Cost/Benefit Analysis
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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
• 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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Agile Team Progression
Pre-CSM
Train
ing
Post-
CSM Tr
aining
Pairin
g
Flying
Solo
Shari
ng
KnowledgeSkillConfidence/Desire
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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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Enablers
• Management support• Team spaces• Empowerment
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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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Other Considerations
• Continuity• Culture• Organization
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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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Culture
• Embrace the new culture• Work to convert pessimists– Lack of understanding– Change
• Not everyone is “cut out” for agile
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Satir Model
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Organization
• Think local…act global
• Work to limit roadblocks this will cause the team frustrations
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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
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