How to build a highly efficient team?
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How to build and be a part of an efficient team Kjell Ljøstad
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Transcript of How to build a highly efficient team?
How to build and be a part of an efficient team
Kjell Ljøstad
Who am I?
The Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools
Working software
over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation
Responding to change
over following a plan
The core values of agile
Scrum
• Focus• Courage• Openness• Commitment• Respect
Kanban
• Understanding• Agreement• Respect• Leadership• Flow• Customer Focus• Transparency• Balance• Collaboration
How
do you
build an
efficient team?
The findings of William Muir
-A study on productivity:
He selected just an average flock, and he let
it alone for six generations.
Then he created a flockof the most productive
chickens, and eachgeneration, only themost productive was
allowed to breed.
SIX GENERATIONS PASSED
WHAT DID HE FIND?
The first group were all plump and fullyfeathered and egg production hadincreased dramatically.
In the second group, all but three were dead. They'd pecked the rest to death.
The individually productive chickens had only achieved their success by
suppressing the productivity of the rest.
What does science say?
Simulating
anti-terror group.
• Harvard
• 51 teams of 4 people each
• Mission:
• Search through available information and findout who is planning to do what and where.
• In advance:
• Did tests to find out who had special talents at recognising faces or remembering writteninformation.
• Some teams had two experts and two non-experts.
• The rest had four non-experts.
What does science say?
The groups with two expertsthat shared information, and that let everybody activelytake part, did best.
The groups with two expertsthat did not shareinformation, and did not collaborate, did worst.
Even worse than the groupswith no experts!!
What does science say?
• University of Illinois
• 760 students
• Groups of 1-5 participants
• 10 tries to guess the right order of ten encoded envelopes.
• There HAD TO be consensus within the group before each guess.
What does science say?
• Result
• The worst group of at least three participants did better than the best individual.
Why do some teams deliver high performance
while other teams struggle?
From a broad variety ofprojects and industriesthey collected data with
electronic sensors ontheir social behavior.
The data showed thatthe most importantpredictor of a team’s
success was itscommunication
patterns.
MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory
The Comunication Patterns
What impacts the performace?
The team’s energy level
Can be measured by the amount
and type of exchanges;
The level of engagement
Defined by the energy
distribution amongst
members;
The willingness to explore new possibilities,
solutions and ideas.
The communications
betweenmembers and
with otherindividuals, within and outside the
organization.
Does size matter?
The effect per added memberis not linear as the size of a group increases.
For softwaredevelopment it seems that 6 is an optimal sizeof a group.
Oh, YES
Why isn´t bigger better?
A phenomenon thatoccurs in a group as its size increases.
• The individual effortgoes down.
• The need for coordination goes up.
The Ringelmann-
effect:
The Bystander Effect:
When more than one person cantake responsibility, the chance of
anyone taking responsibilitydecreases dramatically.
It is not my job
Someone else must be more qualified
I don´t want to make a fool of myself
I don´t want to get in trouble
Increased need for coordination
A study from Quantitative Software Management
(QSM)
A study from 2005:
More that 4000 projects in their database.
Included 564 projects from 2002 – 2005.
Looked at small teams (less than five) and big
teams (more than twenty)
On average in a project with
around 100.000 lines of code:
Big team: 8,92 calendar months
Small team: 9,12 calendar months
What about thecost?
$1.800.000 and 178 man months for the big teams.
$245.000 and 24,5 man months for the small
teams.
It seems that the best way to solve complex problems is
through a small and diverse group of people where everybody
contributes actively.
Relational Skills
What are Relational Skills?
relationsbetweenpeople.
establish, maintain
and develop
A set ofskills thathelps you
What is a relation?
Dangerous
Exhausting
Respect
Friendly
Friendship
Love
What is the foundation?
A positive view onhumanity
A quest to find thegood in other
people
To get the best outof every colleague
Cultivate thepositive
Tone down the badTo actively seek
information aboutthe other persons
life and history
What builds a relation?
RelationalInitiative
The abilityto show positive
emotions.
To understand the whole of
the otherperson.
To understand
whatmotivatesthe other
person
24-hour human
The Pillars of a Great Team
Trust
Willingnessto show
weakness
Passion and Honesty
Ability to engage
whole team in
dicussions
Commitment
Ability to extecutewhat is agreed
Accountability
Holdingeach other
accountable
Attention to results
The teams results
before ego
The Pillars of a Great Team
Trust
Willingnessto show
weakness
Passion and Honesty
Ability to engage
whole team in
dicussions
Commitment
Ability to extecutewhat is agreed
Accountability
Holdingeach other
accountable
Attention to results
The teams results
before ego
What is trust?
5 dimensionsIntegrity
• Consistentlydemonstratinghonesty and truthfulness
Competence
• Possessingtechnicalexpertise, knowledge and stronginterpersonal skills
Consistency
• Having strongcredibility, exercising goodjudgement in handling situations and operating with a degree ofpredictability
Loyalty
• Demonstrating a willingness to protect and positivelyrepresent teams and individuals
Openness
• Showing a genuine willingness to share ideas and information freely and openly
How do you create trust?
Get everyonein the team to
know eachother
Dare to be openabout your own
weaknesses, lack ofcompetence or
doubts.
Behaveaccording to
the fivedimensions
The Pillars of a Great Team
Trust
Willingnessto show
weakness
Passion and Honesty
Ability to engage
whole team in
dicussions
Commitment
Ability to extecutewhat is agreed
Accountability
Holdingeach other
accountable
Attention to results
The teams results
before ego
The Alternative: Collective stupidity
How do you create an engaged
dialogue?
3 forms of conversation:Dialog
• Equality, win-win, questions
Discussion
• Verbal fight, few questions.
Debate
• Verbal dog fight. Only claims.
How do we listen?
Intention listening
• Intention• Message• Wisdom
Correctionlistening
• Details• Formulations• Imperfection
How about a structured dialogue?
Eduard
de Bono
Information known or
needed.
Feelings, hunches and
intuition.
Judgment -- the devil's
advocate, why something
may not work. Brightness and
optimism
Possibilities,
alternatives and new
ideas.
Used to manage the
thinking process
The Pillars of a Great Team
Trust
Willingnessto show
weakness
Passion and Honesty
Ability to engage
whole team in
dicussions
Commitment
Ability to extecutewhat is agreed
Accountability
Holdingeach other
accountable
Attention to results
The teams results
before ego
Are we too nice?
We toleratecounterproductive
behavior
We let people make mistakes insteadof speaking up
It is OK with delays in theproject
Counterproductivebehavior createsirritation and discourages the wholegroup
This may lead to the best peoplechanging jobs
Who is responsible?
It is everyone'sresponsibility to
ensure thatwork is carried
out
It is everyone'sresponsibilityto fix things
that does not work
“Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal.”
- Patrick Lencioni
For feedback to have the right effect, you
need a positive relation
Summary
Assemble a group with
complementaryprofiles.
Take time to make the group
know eachother.
Workconsciously onhow the groupcommunicates,
listens and motivates each
other.
Make decisionsbased on
consensus and commitment.
Build a culturefor direct and
honestfeedback
How to take things forward?
On your own:
Draw your own relational map
Who are you dependingon to do your job?
Which relations do youneed to work on to
improve?
With your team
Sit down and spend some time telling each other about your 24-hour-human
QUESTIONS?
