Teams Struggle With Agile Projects

Reasons5

Pete Frey has 23+ years of experience in information technology. His career has taken him from network operations and application development to project management and methodologies (and a many places in between). Pete is a fan of agility and lean thinking and how psychology plays a leading, but often ignored, role in every development effort.

contact: pete.frey@grassyforksoftware.com

www.grassyforksoftware.com

if this is youragile team

and they make

you feel like this

here are five

things you

need to know

here are five

things you

need to know

right now!

#1 Motivation

87%of employees are disengagedworldwide

Gallup, State of the Global Workplace Report, 2013

is your team motivated?

“management wants agile”

“what’s the point”

“this is a waste of time”

“we tried before, it didn’t work”

“no one listens to us”

motivate your team

creative

valuableengaged

persistent

inspire motivation understand what motivates people challenge according to motivations engage people’s interests allow greater levels of autonomy encourage fun, friendly competition recognize genuinely and publicly

#2 Complacency

32%think IT should identify and nurture innovation2013 KPMG Technology Innovation Survey

is your team complacent?

“agile won’t work here”

“we have real work to do”

“we can’t because…”

“you don’t understand”

“too hard”

“it’s not that simple”

instill a sense of urgency

determineddriven to

win

ready for actioninnovative

responsive

encourage urgency exhibit a sense of urgency yourself encourage the team to act reward urgency showcase progress deal with skeptics and complacency don’t mistake urgency for emergency

#3 Strategy

does your agile team have a

strategy?

“where do we begin?”

“how do we get an agile project started?”

“who fills which roles?”

“we can’t change everything?”

“what if we fail?”

“what about status reporting?

“will this work with enterprise processes?

define an agile strategy

agreeable shared vision

common goalsstart faster, progress quicker

collaborative

stakeholders must agree on strategy too

Agile Plan

define strategy keep it simple include the right decision makers include team members establish vision and goals identify important milestones make high level plans get agreement

#4 Training

has your team been

trained for

success?

“how do you test?”

“what is a user story?”

“is there a release after each iteration?”

“what does the PM do?”“do we still need

BAs?”

“how do you estimate?”

“1,2,3,5,8,13 ?!?!?!?”

“epic?”

yes, individualsneed training

but teams need training too

performing

cohesive

effective

synchronized

competent

managers need training to lead agile teams too

Leading Agile Teams

offer training train individuals in areas of expertise train teams in team based activities basic training before strategy in-depth training after strategy train mangers to lead agile teams

#5 Support

does your team get the support they

need?

less than10%of budgets are allocated to emerging technologies

- KPMG, 2014

support your agile team

coaching

management

tool

s

processes

support your team put up or shut up supply coaches coach techniques and change obtain necessary tools lean perspective on processes lead, inspire, motivate

5 Reasons Recap

Motivation Complacency Strategy Training Support

http://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm

Resourceshttp://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/intrinsic-motivation.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/eindex/f/extrinsic-motivation.htm

http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/overjustification-effect.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/martinzwilling/2012/07/28/many-confuse-sense-of-urgency-with-sense-of-emergency/

http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/urgency

http://www.versionone.com/pdf/AgileCheckList.pdf

Delise, L., et al, (2010), The Effects of Team Training on Team Outcomes: A Meta-Analysishttp://cgorman6.asp.radford.edu/Delise%20et%20al%202010.pdf

Aguinis, H. & Kraiger, K., (2009), Benefits of Training and Development for Individuals and Teams, Organizations, and Society, Annual Review of Psychology, 10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163505http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ajv2/courses/12a_psyc630001/Aguinis%20%26%20Kraiger%20(2009)%20ARP.pdf

http://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2008/july/the-manager-s-role-in-agile

http://www.cio.com/article/741456/Why_You_May_Need_an_Agile_Coach_Whatever_One_Is_

http://www.coachfederation.org/need/landing.cfm?ItemNumber=978&navItemNumber=567

http://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2008/july/the-manager-s-role-in-agile

thank youQuestions? Comments?contact: pete.frey@grassyforksoftware.comor use Twitter, Facebook, Google+ links on this page

www.grassyforksoftware.com