Team Development

Ahad Nazir
Start With Agile Mindset

Managing a project using an agile approach

The answers to the following questions will help
requires that the project team adopt an agile
to develop an implementation strategy:
mindset.
• How can the project team act in an agile
manner?
• What can the team deliver quickly and obtain
early feedback to benefit the next delivery
cycle?
• How can the team act in a transparent manner?
• What work can be avoided in order to focus on
high-priority items?
• How can a servant-leadership approach benefit
the achievement of the team’s goals?

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Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is the practice of leading through
service to the team, by focusing on understanding
Agile approaches emphasize servant leadership to
and addressing the needs and development of team Role of a servant leader:
empower teams.
members in order to enable the highest possible
team performance.
• To facilitate the team’s discovery and definition of
agile. Servant leaders' practice and radiate agile.
Servant leaders approach project work in this order:
• Purpose. Work with the team to define the “why”
or purpose so they can engage and coalesce around
the goal for the project. The entire team optimizes
at the project level, not the person level.
• People. Once the purpose is established, encourage
the team to create an environment where
everyone can succeed. Ask each team member to
contribute across the project work.
• Process. Do not plan on following the “perfect”
agile process, but instead look for the results.
When a cross- functional team delivers finished
value often and reflects on the product and
process, the teams are agile. It does not matter
what the team calls its process.

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Servant Leadership

Characteristics Responsibilities

Promoting self- Serving those on

Listening; Facilitate collaboration (as
awareness; the team;
opposed to managing Remove impediments
coordination)

Promoting safety,
Helping people Coaching vs.
respect, and trust;
grow; controlling;
and Examples:
• Educating stakeholders on agile
• Mentoring, encouraging, supporting the
Promoting the Pave Way For Contribution team
energy and • Helping the team with technical project
management
intelligence of • Celebrating team success
others.

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Agile Team Composition
Attribute Goal
Dedicated people • Increased focus and productivity
• Small team, fewer than ten people
• No multitasking – fastest possible throughput
Cross-functional team • Develop and deliver often
members • Deliver finished value as an independent team
• Integrate all the work activities to deliver finished work
• Provide feedback from inside the team and from others, such as the
product owner
Colocation or ability to • Better communication
manage any location • Improved team dynamics
challenges • Knowledge sharing
• Reduced cost of learning
• Able to commit to working with each other

Attributes of Successful Agile Teams

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Agile Team Composition
Attribute Goal
Mixed team of generalists • Specialists provide dedicated expertise and generalists provide
and specialists flexibility of who does what
• Team brings their specialist capabilities and often become
generalizing specialists, with a focus specialty plus breadth of
experience across multiple skills
Stable work environment • Depend on each other to deliver
• Agreed-upon approach to the work
• Simplified team cost calculations (run rate)
• Preservation and expansion of intellectual capital

Remember the Value “Build projects around

motivated individuals. Give them the environment
and support they need and trust them to get the job
done.”
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Agile Roles
Role Description
Cross-functional team • Team members with all the skills necessary to produce a
member working product
• E.g. designers, developers, testers
Product owner • Responsible for guiding the direction of the product
• rank the work based on its business value
• work with their teams daily by providing product feedback and
setting direction on the next piece of functionality to be
developed/delivered
• E.g. Business Analyst, Customer, Customer Rep
Team facilitator • Team facilitator, a servant leader
• E.g. project manager, scrum master, project team lead, team
coach, or team facilitator.

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Generalizing Specialists
Team members have both a focus
specialty plus a breadth of
experience across multiple skills,
rather than a single specialization.
“I-shaped people” – Specialists.
Have depth, but not much breadth.
E.g. A developer, a tester.
Agile team members typically don’t
start that way, but work to develop
such characteristics due to intense
collaboration and self-organization
to swarm and get work done
quickly, which requires them to
routinely help each other.
“T-shaped people” supplement their
expertise in one area with
supporting, but less-developed skills
in associated areas and good
collaboration skills. E.g. A specialist
developer, but can perform testing
as well, when needed.
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Team Workspaces
‘Caves and common’ Virtual Workspaces
Colocation (Private spaces, Social for geographically
Zones) dispersed teams
Fishbowl Window
(long-lived video
conferencing)

Remote Pairing (virtual

conferencing tools,
screen sharing, voice
and video links)

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Building Agile Teams

Small number of
Complimentary Skills
people (12 or few)

Hold themselves
Committed to mutually accountable
common purpose (shared ownership of
outcome)

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Models of Team Development

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Shu Ha Ri
• Martial Law Principle

Shu (Learn the rules) Ha (Bend the rules) Ri (Break the rules)
• Following the exact • Realizing the • Breaking away from
practice that principles and earlier practices
master is teaching theory behind and reinventing
without any practice and your rules and
vaccination learning new styles practices
and improvements • Be the rules
from other masters • Create your own
• Backlog grooming approach
Adaptive Leadership

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Adaptive Leadership Team Development
S1: Directing S2: Coaching S3: Supporting S4: Delegating
• Autocratic • Sports • Most decision • Leader provide
leaders Leadership by team minimal direct
• Leaders make • Leaders make • Leader quietly instructions
all decision all decision participates in • Leader provides
• Feedback is • Receptive to meetings guidance
discouraged inputs • D3 decides • Leader is
• Democratic concerned with
strategic vision
• D4 decides
Levels of Employee Development

Development Levels Change over time and are task specific

D1: Enthusiastic D2: Disillusioned D3: Capable / D4: Self Reliant

beginner Learner cautious performer Achiever
• Low competence • Low to Some • High Competence • High Competence
• High Commitment competence • Variable • High Commitment
• Low Commitment Commitment
 Conflict Resolution
Level Name Characteristic Language Atmosphere

Information sharing • People have different opinions and misunderstandings or conflicting

Level 1 Problem to solve and collaboration Open and fact based goals or values
• Atmosphere isn’t comfortable, but it is not emotionally charged

Personal protection • Self protection becomes important

Level 2 Disagreement trumps resolving the Guarded and open • Team members distance themselves from the debate
conflict to interpretation • Discussion happens off-line (outside of the team environment
• Good-natured jokes move to half joking barbs

Winning trumps Includes personal • The aim is to win

Level 3 Contest resolving the conflict attacks • People take sides
• Blaming flourishes

Protecting one’s own • Resolving the situation isn’t good enough

Level 4 Crusade group becomes the Ideological • Team members believe that people on the other side cannot change
focus and should be removed

• “Destroy” is the battle cry

Level 5 World War Destroy the other Little or non-existent • Combatants must be separated
• No constructive outcome possible
Examples

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