Badass Agile

In environments where we can’t control how the team is composed, how can we control the team’s attitude, commitment and performance?   The culture you create has a lot to do with it.

* We think incorrectly about teams.  The way the team functions is perhaps more important than any other component of agile.  If the team is not bonded, aligned and committed, they’re not going to accept agile principles or scrum techniques, and it probably wouldn’t help much if they did.

* Although teams are made of primarily non-leadership people, organizational leadership alone determines the health of the team

* The leaders create the culture that allows the team to function well, or to condemn it to failure

* Teams need the same things all individuals need - to be Safe, Free, and Supported

* As an agile leader, you can help promote this by creating a Team Creed

* Team Creed can include the teams purpose, but also our code of conduct or behaviours

* The creed should be advanced by the agile leader as a template and baseline, but evolved by the team to help buy-in

A high-performing team doesn’t just evolve naturally.  What are some of the things you can do that will help kick-start team synergy, trust, and communication, even on day 1?

* There’s a hack I use that is a hybrid of techniques for building trust, likability, understanding and acceptance

* Take them to a bar

* Ask 2 simple questions:

*

* Why do you get up every morning and come to do this job?

* What is something you think very few people know about you?

* These work to expose vision and passion - usually if the first doesn’t exist, the second still does - that you can use to anchor future conversations and find common ground.

* This technique is fast to use, easy to remember, and super effective.

* For even greater results, establish an culture of ‘helping you get what you want’

* If you want a truly elite team, you want some kind of crucible experience.  Easy to do in the Marines, not so easy in a corporate setting.  You’ll be surprised at my favourite substitutes.

A high-performing team doesn’t just evolve naturally.  What are some of the things you can do that will help kick-start team synergy, trust, and communication, even on day 1?

* There’s a hack I use that is a hybrid of techniques for building trust, likability, understanding and acceptance

* Take them to a bar

* Ask 2 simple questions:

*

* Why do you get up every morning and come to do this job?

* What is something you think very few people know about you?

* These work to expose vision and passion - usually if the first doesn’t exist, the second still does - that you can use to anchor future conversations and find common ground.

* This technique is fast to use, easy to remember, and super effective.

* For even greater results, establish an culture of ‘helping you get what you want’

* If you want a truly elite team, you want some kind of crucible experience.  Easy to do in the Marines, not so easy in a corporate setting.  You’ll be surprised at my favourite substitutes.

What could I do to set me apart from every other Scrum Master, Coach, or Leader?

* It’s fine to rest on the shoulders of giants and imitate their mindsets and habits, but you can’t imitate their innovations.  You have to make your own

* Our practice only advances when new thoughts and voices come to the fore.

* Don’t waste a moment of your practical field experience - turn these into opinions which you can test and evolve into your own philosophy for adopting Agile, or just leading well

* There is tons of room for new perspectives.  Don’t be afraid of the inevitable resistance.  The resistance exists to make sure you have the stuff of true leadership.

Of all the Agile Keys we’ve discussed - ‘Team’ is the most mysterious, and yet the most powerful.  How do you build great teams, and what qualities does a great team have?

* Done right, a team is not a collection of people stuffed together by competency or role...A great team is a tribe.

* Done right, a team is a force multiplier that is highly efficient and competitive.

* Tribes have very strong trust, strong values, unbreakable customs and very high standards

* A great team is a privilege to serve on, and can be the best part of your job.

* Very few people know how to create great teams.

Of all the Agile Keys we’ve discussed - ‘Team’ is the most mysterious, and yet the most powerful.  How do you build great teams, and what qualities does a great team have?

* Done right, a team is not a collection of people stuffed together by competency or role...A great team is a tribe.

* Done right, a team is a force multiplier that is highly efficient and competitive.

* Tribes have very strong trust, strong values, unbreakable customs and very high standards

* A great team is a privilege to serve on, and can be the best part of your job.

* Very few people know how to create great teams.

In product delivery, there are so many variables and so much unpredictability.  What’s the best way to manage all the unknowns?

* “There’s an app for that”.   Begin with a standard role definition and simple agreement about how we manage scope.  Use the car-owner mechanic or home-owner/contractor analogy to drive the point home

* The technique is based around ‘communicate, estimate, agree, execute” to get started and then when changes happen simply re-communicate, re-estimate, re-prioritize, and keep on rolling.

In product delivery, there are so many variables and so much unpredictability.  What’s the best way to manage all the unknowns?

* “There’s an app for that”.   Begin with a standard role definition and simple agreement about how we manage scope.  Use the car-owner mechanic or home-owner/contractor analogy to drive the point home

* The technique is based around ‘communicate, estimate, agree, execute” to get started and then when changes happen simply re-communicate, re-estimate, re-prioritize, and keep on rolling.

How the heck did I go from World of Warcraft to Technology Director, or Agile Coach?  How can someone like me lead?

* You already have everything you need.  The archetypal leader is not what we aspire to.   We now value people who are pushing the edge of innovation, and that means a lot of scientific, technical people are making their way into leadership.

* The world needs more people of vision and passion

* The same skills that got you there will get you here.

* If you have some purpose, some change you want to make in the world burning inside you…you already know what you have to do.  You need to get badass.

Why is there a dividing line between the Product Owner Role, and the Rest of the Solution Team?  How do we run our interactions to honour that?

* The division is meant to enforce the freedom of teams to solve problems the best way they collectively know how

* This doesn’t mean the owner can’t have input, but the best way to communicate those inputs is as needs - requirements, stories, Definitions of Done, etc