Importance of Agile Team

• Focus on Value - Agile is driven by the goal of delivering maximum business value that is aligned with the organization’s vision.

  A self-organizing team has the autonomy to make some decentralized decisions.

• Self-Organized Teams - Agile Teams have the autonomy to make some de-centralized decisions, which allows for shared ownership of the work.

  Team Buy-in: Agile teams collectively take ownership of the work, demonstrating their commitment and agreement to the tasks or projects.

  This increases the motivation to both seek as well as accept greater responsibility.

• Constructive Conflict Resolution - Conflicts in Agile Teams are constructively resolved because the team is driven by a shared vision.

  • The focus on agile team goals keeps the team members focused on the agile team and not just their specific tasks.

  • This provides room for resolving conflicts in a transparent yet respectful manner with a mature mindset.

• Innovation Hub - Agile Teams, with diverse and cross-functional skill sets, are an innovation hub that spurs solutions.

• Cultivate Mastery - Time is put aside in Agile Teams for learning and growth. This allows Agile Team members to sharpen their skills.

Teamwork is the secret sauce, The we mindset

Creating an Agile Team

Agile teams need time to get awesome + Patient guidance from agile experts

Tuckman Model: Journey to bring great Agile Team

• Forming - Agile Team comes together and the Facilitator helps the team form by explaining the ground rules, product vision, and expected outcomes.

• Storming - This is where a team’s velocity is impacted because there tends to be some confusion and ambiguity around the work to be done, roles, and other product-related questions.

  Successful Agile Team tries to move away quickly as possible from this stage

• Norming - Agile Team members develop a sense of trust and camaraderie. There’s a healthy rapport and each team member starts to look for the collective objectives of the team’s long-term success.

• Performing - Once an Agile Team has successfully worked together over a few iterations they should be in a state where they have gelled together and developed a strong cross-functional work style.

• Adjourning - If the business leaders realize that a product is not delivering value or is no longer needed in the market, the existing Agile Team members can be re-allocated to other more valuable work in the organization.

3 Core Agile Roles

A Product Owner(PO):

• Maximize the value of the product delivery: Is responsible for working with both The Agile Team as well as the business.

• The Product Owner is primarily responsible for prioritizing and managing the Product Backlog, or the prioritized work item list.

  • Ensure product backlog has all necessary details for the agile team to be able to estimate and work on it.

    Includes Acceptance Criteria

  • Prioritizing the product backlog items from maximum business value delivery,

  • and sharing the product backlog with key stakeholders and others to ensure everyone feels the agile team's current and future planned work is visible and transparent to all.

Management, along with the facilitator and PO, empowers the agile team to organize and manage their own work once the PO has prioritized the business needs. This symbiotic relationship between the facilitator, PO, and agile team optimizes the agile team's overall confidence and ability to deliver valuable product features in each iteration.

Agile Teams

• are self-directed and self-organized.

• The Agile Team members are the ones who accomplish the actual work of completing and delivering a potentially shippable version of the product at the end of each Iteration.

Facilitator

• The facilitator is responsible for ensuring the Agile Team moves along at an acceptable pace towards the business objectives.

• The facilitator plays an important role in helping the Agile Team towards removing any blockages or impediments that may be slowing the Agile Team.

• The facilitators also usually an Agile coach who promotes agile practices and values.

• As Servant Leader

• Facilitators are servant leaders who adopt this leadership viewpoint in which the leader positions himself or herself to serve and support.

• This is in contrast to traditional leadership, where the leaders purpose is to direct the team to meet the organizational goals.

• When we talk about servant leadership, we include:

  • active listening

  • respect

  • positive attitude

  • neutralized personal biases, establish working agreement

  • trust the Agile Team's competencies

  • raise relevant questions

  • as well as share power and control.

Detail characteristics explanation in video

Non-Core Roles

While Non-Core Roles are not defined as mandatory in all Agile Frameworks, they can play a key role in the success of Agile Product Delivery.

• Stakeholders - Stakeholders can include Customers, Users, Sponsors, and others who have an interest in the product being worked on, but are not involved in the day-to-day development of the solution results.

• Vendors and Strategic Suppliers - Vendors and Strategic Partners provide products and services that are usually not within the core competencies of the organization or Agile Team.

• Center of Excellence (CoE) - Many organizations have a Center of Excellence focused on either Project or Product Delivery. A CoE often provides guidance on Governance and Reporting requirements to executives and regulators.

• Enterprise Architect - Reviews technical solutions to ensure they align with the overall organization's architecture.

• Domain Subject Matter Expert - Provides valuable support to the PO and Business Analyst on domain knowledge.

A successful Agile Team is typically both influenced and supported by several key Non-Core Roles.

Summary