AgileDC 2018 Experience Report by Julie Wyman and Hunter Tammaro - Breaking Up is Hard to Do: How to Split a Team (Without Breaking It)

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Julie Wyman &
Hunter Tammaro
Breaking Up is Hard to Do:
How to Split a Team
(Without Breaking It)

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Let’s collect
some data…
What size is your
current team?
How big was your
largest team?

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We’re going to be Agile!
So smaller teams, right?
Act 1

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Setting the Stage
• IT department of ~20 devs,
BAs, testers, & PMs
• Well-established identity,
relationships & working styles
• Track record of success
• Same product, codebase &
environments

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“Let’s Be
Agile”

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2-Pizza
Rule

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The Scrum Guide
Optimal Development Team size is small
enough to remain nimble and large enough
to complete significant work within a Sprint.

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Not too small…
Fewer than three
Development Team members
decrease interaction and
results in smaller productivity
gains. Smaller Development
Teams may encounter skill
constraints during the Sprint…

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But not too big
either…
Having more than nine
members requires too
much coordination. Large
Development Teams generate
too much complexity for an
empirical process to be useful.

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Complexity of
communication
Image source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DLE7fI0VAAAUkLw.jpg

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Average Scrum
team size is
7.4 members
78% of Scrum
teams are
between five
and nine
members

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First steps…
1. Considerations: ease of
communication, decision-
making, framework, focus
2. First team as a pilot –
short validation cycle
3. Split (mostly) along
product lines
4. Cross-functional

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What happened to being
part of the same "team"?
Act 2

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Some more
background…
• 1 team mindset
• Shared responsibility
…these were specific to our
case…but there are likely
relevant specifics for your teams

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Unintended
consequences…
• Confusion over shared
responsibilities
• Less cross-team
collaboration
• “A team”

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Teams aren’t
silos
But not all
organizations
realize that!

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What challenges have you encountered
when team composition changed?
Pair discussion

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In between…
• Awkward phase
• Heard rumblings and
confusion
• Started to identify some
misconceptions

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Small teams working
within a 1 team identity
Act 3

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Finding our
balance…
• Overall team retrospective
provided a forum for open
discussion
• Provided team members an
opportunity to own their
response to the challenges

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Retrospective
results
Collaboration within teams
and outside the IT
organization was better…
5
14
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Worse Same Better
Partnership between IT & the
business
9
10
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Worse Same Better
Sense of teamwork within the
project teams

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Retrospective
results
… but the IT department
itself was drifting apart
• “Not enough
communication”
• “Team is more siloed”
• “Less overall teamwork”
8
6
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Worse Same Better
Sense of teamwork across the
IT department

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Team identified
solutions…
• Rotating “floater”
• Balance types of work
• Maintain department-wide
social events
• Create a shared release
board & rotation for support

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Team identified
solutions…
• Continue joint quarterly
retrospectives
• Locate team Kanban boards
close to each other
• Establish communities of
practice

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What have you tried to lessen any
negative effects of a team change?
Pair Discussion

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Parting thoughts
Finale

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The important
stuff…
• Team identity can exist on
multiple levels
• Anticipate impact to existing
culture, dynamics and identity
• Listen to your teams!
• Each team is different

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Questions?

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