An agile team is one that performs at a level greater than the sum of the individual parts and, more pragmatically, takes this synergy beyond the walls of the team to their interactions within the larger organization, building and innovating in small, meaningful ways on a regular basis. The goal is not simply specific tools and processes, but a mindset focused on getting things done as a unit.
A NEED FOR CHANGE
As the demands and expectations placed upon the technology team in my organization have increased, our ability to keep pace has waned. Duties and tasks became blocked waiting on one team member’s resources while another team member has too little, only to have the roles reversed a few weeks later.
Our team is comprised of a group of individuals, each focused on a set of skills and a specific problem domain. The current demands of our organization require the technology team to function collaboratively and grow beyond the ability of a sole contributor. The interdependencies among the roles each team member provides should be supporting instead of hindering our solution delivery.
A new mindset to our problem solving is needed to successfully address the demands placed upon the technology team by our growing organization. In contemporary terms, this approach is often described as an agile software development methodology. My goal was not to simply introduce new task tracking tools and a few new processes, but to develop and focus this new mindset to get things done. The right things at the right time. As a team.
DESIGNING CHANGE
While the development team had the skills needed to create innovative software solutions, the challenge we were facing was primarily centered on utilizing these skills as a group in a new way. A way in which everyone must become comfortable with other team members contributing to the completed whole. To support a shift in our approach to problem solving, changes to work processes and daily habits were going to be essential. Other, more broadly defined areas of focus including team structure and interpersonal relationships were likely to need focus. It was also important to consider how our development team interacts with other teams within the larger organization and what structures and support systems exist within these other teams to help, or perhaps hinder, our own restructuring effort. Lastly, while the initial change effort was to be focused on the development team members of the information technology department, I intended to quickly engage the operational team as the development team began to show signs of progress in their transformation.
To expedite the transformation effort and our team’s understanding of agile methods, I engaged an experienced agile coach to facilitate a weeklong training session focused on Scrum methodology. From these objectives, the following general outline was created:
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Why Agile?
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Immersion
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Team Discussions
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Follow-Up Sessions
ENGAGEMENT OF THE TEAM
Sharing my vision of becoming an agile team was initially presented during a team meeting on April 23, 2018. The purpose of this meeting was to communicate the desired target-state of the team as well as impress upon them the urgency for change. The immersion training session with our agile coach, which had been scheduled and confirmed for the week of June 4th-8th, was announced to the team during this meeting as well.
Leading up to the immersion week in June, three additional team meetings were planned throughout the month of May and would be themed after a book club Q&A gathering. The intention of these meetings was to review background material on agile methodologies to become effectively prepared for the agile training experience. While only the development team members would participate in the agile training week, all I.T. team members were included in the book club meetings.
The immersion training week was fast past and, as anticipated, our preparatory work paid out well. Under the guidance of our coach, the team reviewed the backlog of work items, planned and then began to execute their first development sprint. Post immersion feedback from everyone was positive and the expert coaching was perceived as very beneficial to quickly adopting to the new workflow practices.
BUILDING TEAM CONNECTIONS
An agile team must be open to alternative design patterns, with each member being comfortable challenging the solution designs of others as well as being challenged themselves. This team-oriented approach to problem-solving will set a foundation for interactions with new team members as anticipated growth of the I.T. team occurs.
While our team is generally well acquainted with each other and the average team member tenure is 6 years, this is skewed heavily due to the longevity of three senior members. The newest team member, who is also the only member of the team to work remotely, had only two months experience working with the team when the immersion training week occurred.
To help develop the interpersonal connections and trust needed among the team members to support a positive environment of agile collaboration, a team building day was scheduled roughly 10 weeks after the immersion training. Activities for the day were designed to reinforce the benefits of a team approach versus an individual approach to problem solving and focused on the forming and storming stages of team development. Opportunities would be presented throughout the day for each person to build upon their existing personal connections with their peers.
EVALUATING CHANGE
To date, the demands and expectations placed upon the technology team have not slowed, but our team’s ability to respond and deliver has improved significantly. Internal processes and workflow controls have improved, and I am preparing to hire additional staff to address bottlenecks highlighted in our process reviews. Project deadlines are beginning to be met as anticipated and new project work is no longer derailing in-progress items. This is a significant improvement from six months ago and additional improvement is expected to come as we continue to refine and improve our approach to agility.
The agile mindset and methodology around team problem solving is, by its very nature, a cyclic process. This is focused on solution delivery while providing critical value to customers in a limited and fixed time frame. The agile approach is also reflective, with time at the end of each sprint cycle dedicated to the review of what worked, what did not and what should be tried during the next sprint cycle to support continuous improvement. The reflective approach of agile is also an effective tool for me to determine the pacing of further changes in our team’s transformation process allowing us all to support the mindset required to be in a constant state of transformation.