The elephant in the room
motivation
Tips to ımprove motivation
throughout agile transformation
Lemİ Orhan ERGİN
Principal software engineer @ Sony

Lemi Orhan Ergin
Principal Software Engineer at Sony Europe
Has worked as developer, scrum master,
team leader and technical coordinator in
tens of projects since 2001
CSM in 2009 (Trained by James Coplien)
Played Scrum Master for more than 1 year
Participated 56 sprints in 4 years
Experienced in agile transformation
Expertise in building agile culture in software
development teams and organizations

Motivation is a common problem
in all organizations
(not only ın agile or non-agile organizations)

For
me
too!

I cannot improve myself!
Always doıng the same job, workıng on same stuff, nothing new
You cannot ımprove yourself ın daıly job
Hard to establish motivation, hard to focus on work
Fixing bugs for years, no innovation at all
Stuck on same technologies, same way of working
Not allowed to ınnovate
Unwilling to ımprove & ınnovate
Damn it! Tons of documentation to prepare before doıng the job
Every work is personal, no teamwork required
Warned in case of a failure, not rewarded on success

I feel unhappy!
I am unhappy and my manager does not know it
Even if ı tell my problems to my manager, nothing will change
There is a negative athmosphere in the office
No one is asking my ideas on anything, ı just do my job
People are arguing via emails and nothing is resolved
no one is listening me
People do not trust each other
Not feeling as part of the company
I am not a resource or a headcount

But agile THinks different

Agile cares people & cooperation
Build projects around motivated individuals
Give them the environment and support they need,
and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs
emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how
to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts
its behavior accordingly.
Principles behind the agile manifesto
http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

Agile is human centric
Teamwork
trust
self-organization
empowered teams
continuous improvement
retrospectives
fail fast
short feedback loops
sustainable pace
proxy to interRuptions
face-to-face communication

agile is the mindset

be ing
doing agile
makes the difference

ile
ag
ing
do
What you've done is not important,
instead how you've done is the key
be
ing
ag
ile

Agile transformation is cultural change
Cultural change is Tough & Not easy

Agile transformation
scares people
This is a new way of working
Status quo makes people feel safe

What are the symptoms
Of the motivation challenge?

Daily stand-up
meetings
are the windows
showing the level
of motivation

Motivated teams unMotivated teams
noisy bored
complex Impatient to end
chaotic Individuals reporting
humor Do not listen others
curious Waiting to be assigned
Information rich No questions
helpful Less details about issues
Desire to success Less desire to success
On time Usually late

It's quite common to resist agile
I don't like agile or scrum
scrum is the new waterfall
It's impossible to do scrum in our team
Agile is being focused on processes
I don't want to lose my title
Writing down every task has no meaning
Planning poker is a waste of time
Feeling not commited to the sprinT goal
I Work on the stories that I like
I am more productive when I work alone
I don't like Scrum at all

How can we break the resistance
And improve the motivation?

Answer is simple:
By building an agile culture
w ?
h o
u t
b

Train everyone
1

Have a good
Agile coach or
scrum master
being a
Russel s charismati
Crowe c
is not a as
must ;)

scrum master
Not a technical lead
Not a team lead
Not a manager
Not a project manager
Master of scrum
Well trained
Has the agile mindset

Scrum master is the key
Is a full time job
Knows scrum better than anyone else
Observes and guides the team
Builds trust in the team
Resolves impediments
Keeps the team disciplined
Creates environment safe to fail

2
Build a culture of
collaboration

collaboration is the key
Let the people share their knowledge
s
g Se
s sion Encourage teamwork and pair work
a
w nB Continuous improvement and kaizen
Bro
Efficient retrospectives

3 raise CRAFTSMEN

Mediocrity is a trap
Don't fall into it

The worst outcome is not failure — it’s mediocrity
Failure lets you move on, mediocrity stalls you and keeps you from
reaching your potential. Pursue something so important that even
if you fail, the world is better off with you having tried
Drew Houston (founder/CEO of Dropbox)

craftsmanship is the key
Have seniors as MODELS FOR JUNıORS
Improve crafts of people by practiCing
rojec
ts teach new technologies
Po CP
Push people to let them learn new stuff
s
d ojo'
kata's,

use Feedback loops 4

Feedback loop is the key
Efficient retrospectives
Scrum master works close to team members
Use all ways of Communication
Performance appraIsals lose importance

5 provide autonomy

Stop command & control
You cannot control everything
It's an illusion!

It's impossible to manage "people"
it's only possible to manage individuals

ask
The opinions of individuals

Be part of the team
Get them see you servant rather than controller

Autonomy is the key
Shift layers of management responsibility to team
Let the team be Self organized
Change the traditional Management mindset
Regular 1 to 1 meetings with managers

6 Have a clear
purpose

Scrum is not just about
rıtuAls

Scrum is not just
standing up and burning down

purpose is the key
Explain the reasons of agile practices
What is the purpose of scrum
tell the values of what they're building
Define a clear sprint goal
Define the vision of the product

7
Have
Fun!

Having fun is the key
Team specific rituals for fun
Do not dedicate to work, Have hobbies and crafts
Socialize in the organization
Have funny punishments
bu ilds
the ndups
reak y sta
w ho b dail
ones ate to
to the r be l
o

scrum
The SCRUM 8

Scrum is a simple framework
Don't blame Scrum
in
erns ns
patt zatio
s few rgani
a o
ple
as sim

If you have issues
Inspect & adapt
m
g scru m
ptin scru
o ada and
is n -but
there scrum
doing
e is
ther

retrospecting is the key
Scrum reveals hidden problems. That's not bad!
Failing is normal, be prepare to inspect & adapt
Too much dedication to tasks exhaust people
have lantern day or extra sprint to cool down
Don't use tools too much. Face to face is better

What is the best measurement for success ?
Photo of houston after the return of apollo 13

happiness
Happiness metric
Scrumming the scrum
Retrospective pattern
Pop the happy bubble
Happiness index
Photographed by “Karsten Thormaehlen”
from book "Mit Hundert Hat Man Noch Traume"
http://www.visualnews.com/2012/01/11/happy-at-one-hundred-portraits-of-centenarians/

Happiness Impact
you
team
organization
happy employees lead to happy customers and better business

1 Train everyone
2 Build a culture of collaboration
3 Raise craftsmEn
4 Use feecback loops
5 Provide autonomy
6 Have a clear purpose
7 Have fun!
8 sCrum the scrum

unMotivated teams
When an employee resists,
an effective leader looks at the employee
not as a problem to be solved
but as a person to be understood.
Nigel Nicolson

references
“How to motivate your team during Scrum?” by Dimitri Honlet
http://www.slideshare.net/dimitrihonlet/motivate-team-scrumdef2
“What’s the best measurement for success? Happiness” by Richard Branson
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121109141247-204068115-what-s-the-best-measurement-for-success-happiness
“Happiness Metric - The Wave of the Future” by Jeff Sutherland
http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2010/11/happiness-metric-wave-of-future.html
“World's Simplest Management Secret” by Geoffrey James
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/worlds-simplest-management-secret.html

ımages
All used images in the document
Slide 01 - http://victoriafalls24.com/blog/2011/07/28/p20-million-towards-co-existing-with-elephants/
Slide 05 - http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/cats/images/14749933/title/flat-cat-xd-wallpaper
Slide 06 - http://yasir82.deviantart.com/art/Alone-in-the-Crowd-147238216
Slide 13 - http://sportsblog.projo.com/2009/04/joe-frazier-sug.html
Slide 14 - http://www.wall4ever.com/animals/scared-cat-709.html
Slide 16 - http://www.arts-wallpapers.com/artwallpapersbiz/Black%20Wallpapers/imagepages/image45.htm
Slide 18 - http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-anger-disorder.html
Slide 21 - http://galactinus.net/vilva/retro/eos350d_distagon28.html
Slide 22 - http://pinterest.com/thefineartdiner/russell-crowe/
Slide 23 - http://dragonriderone.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/videos-milestone-the-japanese-jedi-knight-and-my-1000th-tweet/
Slide 27 - http://istanbuldesignbiennial.iksv.org/ncr-06-re-evaluating-the-future-of-small-production-sites-in-istanbuldesignbiennial
Slide 28 - http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/marchofthepenguins/
Slide 29 - http://www.pulsarmedia.eu/r_old_cars_997_old_cargo_truck_55546.html
Slide 31 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanandjess/3439743790/
Slide 33 - http://uniqueanimalsblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/birds-flying-wallpapers-for-desktop.html
Slide 39 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skyttis_athletics_tracks.jpg
slide 45 - http://dandanfotoman.deviantart.com/art/Mirror-reflection-2169774
slide 49 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13
slide 50 - http://www.visualnews.com/2012/01/11/happy-at-one-hundred-portraits-of-centenarians/
slide 53 - http://www.stanford.edu/group/fam/cgi-bin/family/family.php?famid=F5497

Emaıl:
lemiorhan@gmaıl.com
Twitter:
HTTP://www.twitter.com/lemıorhan
Lemİ orhan ergİn
Lemiorhan.ergin@eu.sony.com
Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lemiorhan
Blog:
http://www.flyingtomoon.com