In our previous posts, we have emphasized the importance of a self organizing team. Self organization is a simple concept.

• A team is formed and a deadline is worked out.
• The team picks up what it can do in this deadline and off they go building what they committed and at the deadline, they demonstrate working software.
• During the time period between commitment and deadline, the team works together, finding out how they want to track progress, develop, collaborate, divide tasks and everything else that needs to be done to meet the deadline.

The key question is why would this work? It does because the commitment is team’s commitment. In traditional management styles, the management negotiates a deadline, commits the same, decides what all should be done in this time and then tells the team to go do it. This is a bit counter intuitive. The people who are doing the work should know the best on how to do it and how much time it will take to do it. Another reason why this works is because the team has a deadline to deliver quality working software. This means anything that does not contribute towards this end mission [any practice, any team configuration, any team member] is gradually taken out. This also works because the feedback loop is now directly between the team [responsible for building the right product] and the product owner [responsible for constructing the right product feature set].It is important to understand what does “Left Alone” mean here. The team is Left Alone in the sense that no one tells them what methodology to use to transform the requirements into functionality and there is no one but the team to blame if the team fails and also there is no one to bask in the glory other than the team if it succeeds. It is solely and utterly the team’s responsibility to figure out what to do, and to do it. However, there are some basic checks in place - they have to deliver what they commit or let the product owner know if they won’t be able to [and this should happen less and less as the project progresses] and they can ask the management for help in meeting their target [more people, training, removing obstacles etc.] Other than that the team collectively brainstorms and works to meet its commitment. The team self-organizes.

Now that we have discussed, what self organization is, it is important to note some Scrum and XP practices which help foster this self organization.

• Whole Team - The whole team is “whole team”. Everyone required to be involved in converting the features into functionality is a part of the team. If it means copywriters, designers, developers, testers and business analysts all have to be in one team - then that is it. The team also includes the Process Coach or Scrum Master. There may be a a manager as well who would be responsible for logistics, communication and coordinating activities. The idea of the Whole Team comes from eXtreme Programming. XP in fact goes a step forward and also includes the customer as a part of the Whole Team.
• Generalists - A team with Generalists [sharp, efficient, collaborative people] tends to better at self organizing. Why would this be so? This is because the team picks up work, identifies what is needed and sometimes something would be needed and on other times, something else. For instance, on some days, you might need more testers and on some days more analysts and on still others, more programmers. Specialists are unable to change gear while generalists [assuming your hiring practice is good], are able to change gear and collaborate to get things done. This is in keeping with the notion of creating a champion team rather than team of champions.
• Daily Stand Up - The daily stand up is opportunity for the whole team to collaborate and check the progress. They also identify where the most effort needs to be put in and if they are on the target to achieve their goals.
• Big Visible Charts - This is not something we have discussed so far. However, this is a powerful unifying tool. The team sees at all times, what is pending, what has been done and what is still pending to do. This allows them to plan their work better and also volunteer for more work and see who needs help. It is useful to note that if the team knows that either all of them fail or all of them succeed, big visible charts help the team see the tasks that are still to be done and plan for them.
• Flat Hierarchy - It is pretty obvious that if the team is left all to itself but one or two people are deciding what they should do and how they should do it, the team would fall into command and control again. Rather, the team has to be like a crack sports team which can organize itself beautifully depending on the current match situation.

Now that we have discussed about self organizing teams, it is important that we understand when is the team self organizing.  As per Wikipedia, self-organization is a process of attraction and repulsion in which the internal organization of a system, normally an open system, increases in complexity without being guided or managed by an outside source. Self-organizing systems typically (though not always) display emergent properties. A key characteristic that is generally overlooked is that “something is self-organizing if, left to itself, it tends to become more organized.” A team would not inherently become more organized if left “totally” on its own or without components that we talked about earlier. Without proper leadership or an organization structure that does not support self organizing teams, this would not be possible. Also, the move towards self organizing teams is an ever evolving theme and any equilibrium would be temporary. A single most important fact which management in Agile needs to learn is how to create such self organizing teams/ units. We will touch on this in our next post.

Popularity: 11%

Posted on April 21st, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Collaboration, Maturity, Practices | No Comments »

If there is one person who has seen Scrum and Agile grow in Asia, it is Pete Deemer. He has been involved in Yahoo’s large scale adoption of Scrum in SunnyVale, CA as well as its state of the art development center in Bangalore. More than 800 people were transitioned to Scrum. He also co-write the Scrum Primer. After Yahoo, Pete founded his own firm, GoodSafe, LLC and through GoodAgile, conducts regular trainings and coachings in India and Asia. Pete, is only one of the very few Certified Scrum Trainers and is a leading thought leader in Agile and Scrum Community. In this interview, Pete Deemer, shares his experiences in implementing Scrum and Scrum in India as well as outsourcing environment.

agilecollab : GoodAgile recently conducted Scrum Unconference in Hyderabad. What was the motivation for the same?

Pete Deemer : Over the last year, we have seen rapid growth of Scrum in India and invariably people have asked me during CSM classes and otherwise, on why there are few oppotunities to meet, learn and network. At GoodAgile, we felt like the time had come to start doing Scrum-specific events where people could meet in person, hone their skills, and have a fun time. We also wanted something that we could pull off quickly and without lengthy upfront planning and also have a model that we could replicate in different cities around India.  So we thought the Bar-Camp style UnConference was the right approach. We got a group of people together, and in real-time we created a full day of talks, exercises, and other fun activities.  But best of all, the format was based on the self-organization and self-management that’s so central to Scrum, so it felt “Right”.

agilecollab : How was the experiences?

Pete Deemer : It was great — we had about 60 people from lots of different companies in Hyderabad coming together, sharing experiences, and learning from each other. Scrum can be very challenging especially if you do not have people to network in your own organization, and it’s great to be able to get advice and learn from other people who’ve been through the same challenges and succeeded.  The main thing I carried back was something I’m constantly reminded of, and why I like being in the IT industry — software people, even though thought of as “geeks” by the rest of the world, are some of the most interesting, creative, and thoughtful people you could ever meet!

agilecollab : Tell us about your implementation of Scrum in Yahoo? What metrics did you guys track to know that Scrum was successful?

Pete Deemer : We did gather metrics, but for most teams, we didn’t need the metrics to tell us Scrum was making a significant difference — the results in business value and team morale were pretty apparent to all.

agilecollab : Based on the above, what is your advice to companies transitioning to Agile?

Pete Deemer : If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly — get the best training and coaching you can find, and make sure the entire organization understands and can support the team’s efforts. 

agilecollab : At what stage do you think is Scrum awareness and implementation in India?

Pete Deemer : Over the last year or so, there’s no question it’s entered the stage of rapid growth. Almost all the best-known IT firms in India have teams using Scrum now. There are lots of people in many companies in India, who are holding on to the values of Scrum, working to implement Scrum properly and trying to improve the way their businesses are run. There are many conferences and events being held as well. We would like to support such people. The challenge now is helping people be as successful as possible within the specific context of India, and helping grow the expertise. Having unconferences and speaking at other Agile and IT events is an effort in this regard. We have also started the Scrum-India Yahoo Group, which is again another opportunity for people to share and learn from fellow Scrum users.  I also appreciate the effort that www.agilecollab.com is making - this is coming up great and explains concepts to beginners in a simple fashion.

agilecollab : Do you think it makes sense for outsourcing/ service companies to use Scrum?

Pete Deemer : Absolutely.  If speed, quality, and “getting it right for the customer” are your part of the value you offer customers, you should definitely consider Scrum. This is not always going to be easy. However, the results can be dramatic, and a lot of teams say “I wish we’d discovered this sooner!”

agilecollab : What are the benefits for customers in choosing a company which does Scrum or true Agile rather than one which does not?

Pete Deemer : Some of the biggest benefits of Scrum for the customer are visibility into what’s being produced, and “is it right” — and the ability to rapidly iterate, without lapsing into chaos or thrashing. It in a way also helps you focus and participate. Scrum does require a more involved approach from the customer side, but only for their own benefit. One risk for the customers is that there are a lot of companies who claim to be doing “Agile”, but are in fact just using it as a marketing label — so I’d recommend choosing carefully.

agilecollab : You conduct lots of trainings and CSM classes in Bangalore and Hyderabad but comparatively lesser in NCR or North. Why do you think north India lags behind in Scrum awareness?

Pete Deemer : I’m not sure why this is — especially since there are leading Agile companies and also others who are exploring Agile, in the Delhi area and from what I hear, in Chandigarh too. I think we’ll see more and more growth in the north in the coming year.

agilecollab : Finally, what are goodagile plans for new year?

Pete Deemer : The plans for the coming year are many. I am traveling all across India and Asia, helping people learn about Scrum. We hope to continue to spread the Agile and Scrum message, and help companies succeed with it!

agilecollab.com, wishes Pete all the best for this year and always.

Popularity: 19%

Posted on April 11th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Around the Globe, Interviews | No Comments »