We must work as a team! Teamwork is critical! There’s no ‘I’ in team! These mantras are plentiful and many Agilists believe that success at the team level is the foundation to success at the organizational level. But what does it really mean to work as team and is there a common recipe to build and grow a successful agile team? Agile believes in principles before practices and in multi-disciplined, self-organizing teams. All teams need direction and guidance, but with an agile approach no one should be telling the team how to do their job. Teams need to be empowered to make choices rather than be told exactly what to do. But sometimes things can start to unravel and too much time and energy can be wasted arguing about the basics. You can forget about scaling agile if your team is unable to clearly demonstrate the value of agile at the team level. But, get the basics right at the team level and engaged, highly motivated, cross-functional teams of teams can follow.

1. Creating winning teams.
www.ivarjacobson.com
Presentation Title
Presenter Name
FOCUS ON THE ‘ESSENTIALS’
FOR TEAM SELF-IMPROVEMENT

2. Creating winning teams.
DOES IT FEEL
LIKE YOU SOMETIMES
HAVE TO CHOOSE
BETWEEN
TWO EXTREMES?

3. Creating winning teams.
Are you caught
between the
devil and the
deep blue sea?

4. Creating winning teams.
One Prescribed Process
Versus
No Shared Practices
(just “Agile Values”)

5. Creating winning teams.
Does either extreme work well in practice?
• Tell the team what to do AND how
to do it
• Expectations of predictable results
irrespective of team and
environment challenges
• Assumes all problems are the
same shape and size
• Demotivating, deskilling,
dehumanizing!
• Each team figures out from
scratch how to meet its challenges
• Needs a “critical mass” of team
members with agile experience
and agile values truly internalised
• And constant guidance from a
highly experienced Agile Coach
• No reuse of practical experience!
Prescriptive
Process
No Shared
Practices
L K

6. Creating winning teams.
SO WHAT ARE
THE SYPTOMS
OF A TEAM
STRUGGLING TO ALIGN
AROUND AGILE VALUES
AND PRINCIPLES?

7. Creating winning teams.
ENDLESS STORMING
Strong team voices with different, convictions about “the true
spirit of agile”
No concrete visible agreement on the way of working

8. Creating winning teams.
LACK OF
TRANSPARENCY
No one knows how the team is working
No one knows how the team is doing

9. Creating winning teams.
NASTY LATE
SURPRISES
Stakeholders not engaged in a timely
fashion (security, legal, …)
Too late it is discovered “what the PO
says, goes” isn’t actually true

10. Creating winning teams.
FINGER-POINTING
The team saying “the PO doesn’t really
understand their role”
The Coach saying “the PO is in the team –
has the rest of the team explained the role
and worked with the PO to cover it off?”

11. Creating winning teams.
WHAT IF
THERE WAS A
HAPPY MEDIUM?

12. Creating winning teams.
THERE IS!
AGILE ESSENTIALS PROVIDES:
Modular, Selectable Practice Options
Teams Selectively Try, Adopt, Adapt, Swap

13. Creating winning teams.
1. Not prescriptive, “all or nothing at all”
methodologies
e.g. “Do Scrum!” versus “No, do Kanban!”
2. Concise, practical, approachable, usable
3. Clear where practices are complementary
vs. alternatives
e.g. Swap “Continuous Flow” for “Timeboxing”,
without changing anything else
4. Not a silver bullet
Can’t be mistaken for all-encompassing process
Clearly requires a minimum level of expertise
The cards help coaches to help teams to adopt and
adapt good agile practices

14. Creating winning teams.
Agile Essentials Practices

15. Creating winning teams.
USE
AGILE ESSENTIALS CARDS
FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT
& IMPROVEMENT

16. Creating winning teams.
J K
Product Ownership Essentials
Own, evolve and communicate the vision, and guide
the evolution of the product to achieve the vision.
2015.01©
Product
Ownership
Stakeholder
Network
Evolve the
Product
Vision
Build
Stakeholder
Network
Demonstrate
the Product
Achieve
Acceptance
Product
Vision
PO
L
!!!
(!)
–
Product
Ownership
A single point of
ownership for a
product that provides
rapid, empowered decisions and
dispute arbitration regarding what
should be built into the product.
Having one person play this role
(the “Product Owner”) provides the
responsiveness needed for agile
delivery, but this person must be
able to represent all stakeholders
and will need support from others
in the team.
PO
2015.01©
2015.01©
Evolve the
Product Vision
Agree and communicate the goals
and return-on-investment case for
the product to drive and inform
ongoing decisions about the
product.
Product Vision: Value Release
Strategy Outlined
Explore Possibilities
Opportunity: Value Established
3
Dev.
3
Stakeholder Rep.
3
Analysis
PO
2015.01©
Product Vision
Communicates what is
ultimately wanted or
needed from the product
as well as how value will be
progressively realised.
Solution Envisaged
Value Release Strategy Outlined
ROI Projected
OpportunityDescribes:
Need Identified
PO
2015.01©
Build Stake-
holder Network
Actively engage the stakeholders
with a legitimate and material
interest in the endeavor, including
eliciting feedback and negotiating
compromises as required.
2
Analysis
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Understand Stakeholder Needs
Stakeholder Network:
Representatives Named or beyond
Stakeholders: Involved
PO
2015.01©
PO
Stakeholder
Network
Who the stakeholder
representatives are,
and how we will engage
with them throughout the
endeavor.
Stakeholder Types Described
StakeholdersDescribes:
Communication Plans
Documented
Representatives Named
2015.01©
Demonstrate
the Product
Show the evolving product to
stakeholders and elicit feedback as
frequently as possible to converge
on an optimal solution.
3
Testing
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Understand Stakeholder Needs
Opportunity: Viable
Stakeholders: In Agreement
Opportunity: Value Established
Stakeholders: Involved
Contributes to achieving:
PO
2015.01©
Achieve
Acceptance
The product is accepted for release.
Progressively accepting the product
enables frequent releases to be
made to maximise return-on-
investment.
Opportunity: Addressed
3
Testing
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Ensure Stakeholder Satisfaction
Stakeholders: Satisfied for
Deployment
Opportunity: Viable
Stakeholders: In Agreement
PO
Play a game of tic-tac toe
to identify and prioritize agile team practice improvements.

17. Creating winning teams.
OR
USE THE CARDS FOR
SANITY CHECKING YOUR
WORK

18. Creating winning teams.
Explore
Possibilities
Ensure Stakeholder
Satisfaction
Shape
the System
Implement the
System
Test
the System
Deploy
the System
Use the System
Operate
the System
Understand
Stakeholder Needs
Prepare to do
the Work
Coordinate
Activity
Support the Team Stop the WorkTrack Progress
Understand the
Requirements
CustomerSolutionEndeavour
Creating winning teams.
2015.01©
Evolve the
Product Vision
Agree and communicate the goals
and return-on-investment case for
the product to drive and inform
ongoing decisions about the
product.
Product Vision: Value Release
Strategy Outlined
Explore Possibilities
Opportunity: Value Established
3
Dev.
3
Stakeholder Rep.
3
Analysis
PO
2015.01©
Build Stake-
holder Network
Actively engage the stakeholders
with a legitimate and material
interest in the endeavor, including
eliciting feedback and negotiating
compromises as required.
2
Analysis
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Understand Stakeholder Needs
Stakeholder Network:
Representatives Named or beyond
Stakeholders: Involved
PO
2015.01©
Demonstrate
the Product
Show the evolving product to
stakeholders and elicit feedback as
frequently as possible to converge
on an optimal solution.
3
Testing
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Understand Stakeholder Needs
Opportunity: Viable
Stakeholders: In Agreement
Opportunity: Value Established
Stakeholders: Involved
Contributes to achieving:
PO
2015.01©
Achieve
Acceptance
The product is accepted for release.
Progressively accepting the product
enables frequent releases to be
made to maximise return-on-
investment.
Opportunity: Addressed
3
Testing
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Ensure Stakeholder Satisfaction
Stakeholders: Satisfied for
Deployment
Opportunity: Viable
Stakeholders: In Agreement
PO
-
PO
represents
this space
!!! Need
better agile
architecture
practices
2015.01©
PB
Refine Product
Backlog
Get and keep the Product Backlog
visible, up-to-date and in good
working order, with high priority
items agreed and well understood.
2 2 2
Dev. Test.
3
AnalysisS’holder Rep.
Product Backlog
Product Backlog: Items Prioritized
Product Backlog Item: Identified
Understand the Requirements
2015.01©
PB
Prepare a Product
Backlog Item
Ensure that the Product Backlog
Item is ready for development and
that it is clear how it will be tested.
3
Testing
3
Stakeholder Rep.
Understand the Requirements
Product Backlog: Items Prioritized
Product Backlog Item: Identified
Product Backlog Item: Ready for
Development
Test Case: Test Ideas Captured
2015.01©
PB
Agree Definition
of Done
Definition of Done: Completion
Conditions Listed or beyond
2 3 3
Dev. Test.
2
AnalysisS’holder Rep.
Understand the Requirements
Agree the quality criteria that will
be used to determine whether any
change to the product is fully and
correctly implemented.
2015.01©
AD
Evolve a
Releasable Product
Increase the value of a product by
one small increment while ensuring
that it remains usable, maintainable
and of production quality.
2 3 3
Dev. Test.
2
AnalysisS’holder Rep.
Software System: Usable or beyond
Implement the System
Product Backlog Item: Ready for
Development
All Software Changes: Target
Quality Achieved
Test the System
Product Backlog Item: Done
2015.01©
AT
Team Kick-Start
The team works together to clarify
its mission, agree a strategy for
achieving it, and decide how they
will work together as a team.
Prepare to do the Work
Team: Formed
Team
Team Membership: Capacity
Established or beyond
2
Management
3
Leadership
Way of Working: Principles Established
Team Way of Working: Outlined
-
Covered by
PM
Framework
2015.01©
Share Knowhow
The team uses techniques, such as
pair-working and knowledge-
sharing, to propagate skills across
the team, and to hand over work to
others when the need for this arises.
.
Support the Team
Team: Performing
Way of Working: Working Well
Team
Way of Working
2
Management
2
Leadership
AT
2015.01©
Schedule the
Timeboxes
Put the dates in the diary when each
timebox will start and end, typically
through to the end of the project or
through to the next major release or
equivalent high-level milestone.
2
Management
Prepare to do the Work
Work: Prepared
Work: Initiated
Timebox: Scheduled
Contributes to achieving:
TB
2015.01©
TB
Review a
Timebox
Review the outcomes of a timebox,
in terms of objectives achieved, and
assess progress made, so that plans
can be adapted as needed.
Track Progress
Timebox: Reviewed
Progress Update: Progress
Analyzed or beyond
2
Management
3
Leadership
Progress Board: Progress of
Objectives Visible
Timebox Plan: Viable Plan Outlined
2015.01©
DS
Hold a Daily
Stand-Up
The team meets every day, same
time and place, to assess progress,
coordinate activity, and raise and
action impediments. The meeting is
timeboxed, typically to 15 minutes.
Coordinate Activity
Impediment: Owned or beyond
Impediment
Work: Under Control
2
Management
2
Leadership
Contributes to achieving:
2015.01©
AR
Hold a
Retrospective
The whole team meets regularly to
reflect on its way of working.
Improvements are identified and
prioritized, and actions agreed. At
the next retrospective, the results
are evaluated.
2
Management
2
Leadership
Support the Team
Improvement: Action
Agreed or beyond
Improvement
2015.01©
AT
Collaborate,
Communicate,
Coordinate
The team applies and evolves a way
of working that maximizes levels of
performance, communication and
collaboration, and works to secure
the facilities they need to do this.
Coordinate Activity
Team: Collaborating or beyond
Way of Working: In Place or beyond
Team Way of Working: Outlined
or beyond
Team: Formed
Way of Working: Principles Established
3
Management
3
Leadership
2015.01©
TB
Plan a
Timebox
The team is guided on the current
priority objectives, and collaborates
to plan the work and negotiate a
viable and acceptable work plan.
2
Management
Coordinate Activity
3
Leadership
Timebox: Scheduled
Timebox: Planned
Timebox Plan: Viable Plan
Outlined or beyond
Work: Started
Progress Board: Work
Objectives Visible or beyond
DevOps
practices

19. Creating winning teams.
LEARN MORE – GET STARTED
New free-to-browse practice library coming soon.
Sign up for early access!
Watch the video tutorial to learn more about
Agile Essentials. Watch!
Read the White Paper! Read
www.ivarjacobson.com