The Secret Sauce of Self-Organization was presented in Agile Chandigarh

1. Sekhar Burra
Enterprise Agile Transformation Coach
Reviewer and Contributor of the book titled- “The Human Side of Agile”, authored by Gil Broza.
PGCBM from XLRI, Jamshedpur
Editorial Board Member of transition2agile.com
Speaker @ various agile conferences across India.
Volunteer/Member of the organizing committee for ISEC.

2. Who Would Work Well on an Agile Team?
• Dedication to one’s profession
• Self-disciplined and passionate
• A questioning mind
• Ability to handle ambiguity and unknowns
• Focused on execution
• Responsible
• Ability to Take/try new Initiative
• Adaptability
• Collaborative
• Take quick feedback on partial work
• Learning from others
• Being part of a team

3. They quickly adapt to change

4. They evolve fast to performing stage

5. They are bonded together with strong Team Principles
Ground Rules
• Show respect. Don’t interrupt; let people finish what they’re saying. It’s OK to disagree with each other.
No personal attacks, attack issues, we debate the merit of ideas, not people.
• Contribution. Everyone has equal voice and valuable contribution.
• Meeting. Be on time, end on time, have an agenda
• Be transparent. No hidden agendas. Get to the point, don’t beat around the bush. We will give feedback,
we will receive feedback, and we will act on feedback.
Working Agreements
• We make commitments as a team. We will be held accountable to our commitments. – we work as a
team to make a commitment and deliver on it.
• We only work on well-defined stories – we will dedicate time to backlog grooming. Acceptance criteria
and point estimates should be determined before sprint planning. Things that aren’t well defined need
investigation (aka spikes).
• Incomplete stories are not good – it is better to help get an existing story to “done” than to start another
story that can’t be finished in the current sprint.
• We check in code frequently – frequently means when the code can be checked in without affecting the
continuous build. This keeps the whole codebase “healthy” through constant integration and reduces the
chance of “merge/conflict hell”.
• Broken builds are very bad – we see that any of our check ins causes this scenario incase if the build is
broken, fixing it is the highest priority. Disabling failing tests is a workaround not a fix. We collectively own
the code so although you should aim to fix things you’ve broken, it’s OK to fix something broken by
another.

6. They build great trust among themselves

7. They sit together in open work spaces

8. They effectively manage behaviors that derail their teamwork

9. They understand the value of Iterations
Certainly not AGILE

10. They clearly understand the Dysfunctions of their Team

11. They have levers to negotiate

12. They behave like a High Performance Tree

13. Leaders prefer incremental changes

14. Leaders engage team in powerful conversations
• Respect an interaction with the other person.
• Communicate at the same wave length.
• Collect precise information.
• Accept the other person’s truth.
• Minimize distractions.
• Supplement your words with simple acknowledgements.
• Offer occasional recap.
• Avoid extreme language.
• Keep it positive.
• Make all meetings matter.
• Retrospectives are the greatest tool for continuous improvement

15. Help Others to open ideas coming from
you
• Accept others for who they are
• Be congruent
• Ask respectively for what you want,
and show why you care about it
• Demonstrate vulnerability
• Lead by example-and follow by
example
Prevent push-back with your mode of
delivery
• Establish and maintain rapport
• Take the time to engage in real
conversation.
• Get one agreement at a time
• Ask, don’t tell
• “I have an idea”
• Ask permission to suggest
• Choose your words carefully
• Frame your message positively
Design the content of your message
• Don’t read minds; ask questions
instead
• Examine your underlying beliefs
• Address their WIIFM (“What’s In
It For Me?”)
• Remove objections proactively
• Explain yourself (use “because”)
Leader of this team is very good at defusing Resistance

16. Leaders make the changes stick for ever
• State the outcome positively
• Ensure safety during the change
• Provide replacements for any behaviors or beliefs that you
take away
• Change the physical environment
• Make it their idea
• Offer frequent feedback, demand accountability and help the
team adjust

17. Agile Leader qualities of a self-organizing team
• Attention to detail
• Big picture thinking
• Forward thinking
• Effective communication
• Attention to the process
• Sensitivity to the risks
• Problem solving leadership
• Dependability
• People Orientation
• Social Sense

18. Self-Organizing teams focus on delivering faster business value

20. Thank you!
And remember…