soft side of agile - agile alliance...soft side of agile - abstract the agile manifesto centers on...
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Soft Side of Agile
January 2012
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Soft Side of Agile - Abstract
The agile manifesto centers on keep moving forward to provide working software in an ever changing environment. This is done with individuals collaborating and constantly interacting to respond to change and validating done.
Communication and successful interactions with others are key contributors to success. All personality types working together. All diverse opinions collaborating quickly to get to working software.
The Virginia Satir communication model provides a good soft skill mantra to pair with agile. It takes people successfully communicating and collaborating to build that working software that we all so love.
We will discuss some Satir essentials and similar outlooks towards true team engagement:
– Understanding how you communicate
– Cooperation rather than competition
– Empowerment rather than subjugation
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Overview
• Empowering teams to their full potential
• Trust through engagement
• Soft skills that directly contribute to team success
What we will focus on:
• Roles
• Organizational structure
What we will not focus on:
• Examine why effective interactions are so critical to agile success
• List the 5 Freedoms of the Satir model
• Identify behaviors that can transform teams from good to great
At the end of this course you should be able to:
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Introducing Troy and Cohesion
About Cohesion
• Consulting company with over a decade
of experience
• Advisory & Delivery Services support
both agile and traditional project
approaches
• Focus on PM, BA, Microsoft
Technologies, .NET, Java, QA
• Proven agile framework which can be
tailored for your organization
• Offices in Cincinnati, Columbus, and
Charlotte
About Troy
• Owns development and delivery of
Cohesion's Agile Services
• More than 17 years of IT experience
spanning several industries and roles
• Over 4 years of experience focused on
agile/iterative project delivery where
"one size doesn't fit all
• Notable success involves introducing
agile at Fidelity Investments Midwest,
resulting in improved customer
satisfaction, cost avoidance, higher
employee satisfaction, and establishing
a true team culture
• Over 5 years experience applying Satir
to projects
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In one word … Team
Success or failure of an Agile team starts with the team dynamic. Starting with the wrong team or
no buy-in can doom the project before the first line of code is written
Agile teams are just that … a TEAM
• They sink or swim together
• No one person is more valuable then
the next
• The team is flat versus a traditional
hierarchical structure
Benefits of a True Agile Team:
• Strong commitment to one another and
the common goal
• Minimizes politics and maximizes
communication
• Teams become more efficient over time
• Cross training
Constraints Benefits
Agile is not a Silver Bullet…
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Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Communication over process NOT communication
without process
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Working software is more important than excessive
documentation NOT there is no need for
documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Customers working with developers to address a
business need NOT developers satisfying a
contractual obligation
Responding to change over following a plan
Adapting to change NOT failing to plan
Interactions means communication.
Communication & Soft skills from
tech people?
The Agile Manifesto was initially conceived by a group of leading-edge developers in 2001.
From a developer’s standpoint, it expresses what’s fundamentally important in good software
development.
Collaboration / people working
together requires communication
Change needs to be communicated
Working software is built in
collaboration
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Have you ever felt like a
cog in the machine?
Decisions made (good or bad) without
input or interaction
Code what you are told to code
Run these tests
Check this checklist
What if we applied agile with low emphasis on
interactions & communication?
Sounds like faster waterfall
Unintended Consequences
Lower Creativity
Less Ownership
Diminished Morale
Loss of Productivity
Those consequences don’t align with agile – more ownership provides improved creativity and
increased productivity. All of this positively affects morale.
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Someone cut you off
You are driving down the
expressway. Some maniac is
speeding, cuts you off, and ‘almost
caused an accident.’
Have you been to the Land of Assumptions?
How do you react?
He just got a call that his wife went into labor. He needs to get to the hospital now. How does
this context change your reaction?
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Code Migration Quality
The code was migrated to the test
environment. It appears that a lot isn’t
working.
Let’s listen to the conversation with
Tom the Tester and Dave the
Developer
Have you been to the Land of Quick Interpretation?
Agile says interaction should occur,
but this interaction may not be optimal
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Working Software
Requirement: Quantity is numeric within 1-35
Solution Provided: Quantity is a drop down
list of values 1-35. We thought it would be
a text field or spin control that only
accepted numeric values within the range
Have you been to the Land of Must Be Right?
Agile says interaction should occur,
but unsure if this was an effective use of time
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The Unsure or Quiet Person
Built a customized navigation bar for an
application. It had scalability issues and
other challenges after production launch.
In the production triage meeting, James
mentions a Google toolkit control that we
could use. Offline, I learned that he had
this idea during the original project but felt
like no one would consider it – ‘decision
was made.’
Have you been to the Land of Silence?
Need an environment that people feel
comfortable contributing ideas,
not just hands on keyboards
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5 Freedoms of Satir Model
5 Freedoms
The freedom to see and hear what is here, instead of what should be, was, or will be
The freedom to say what you feel and think, instead of what you should
The freedom to feel what you feel,
instead of what you ought to
The freedom to ask for what you want, instead of always
waiting for permission
The freedom to take risks on your own behalf, instead of choosing to be only “secure” and not rocking the boat
Nathan
Dave
Michele
Rajesh
James
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How do we turn a philosophy into behaviors?
Congruent behaviors are a core concept in the Satir model. The ability to be aware of and fully value the many dimensions of your self, others, and the contexts in which you work and relate.
From Philosophy to Behaviors
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Congruence
Behavior Individuals and
interactions
Working
software
Customer
collaboration
Responding
to change
Clear communication
3 C’s of communication
What is Done
X X
Cooperation rather than competition
My idea doesn’t have to win
Inquiry over advocacy
Quicker decision making
X X X X
3 Cs What is Done
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Congruence
Behavior Individuals and
interactions
Working
software
Customer
collaboration
Responding
to change
Empowerment rather than subjugation
Increased ownership
X X
Uniqueness rather than categorization
Work on things I’m good at
X X
Empowerment
Choose own assignment
Less silos
More creativity
Uniqueness
Do what I’m good at
Fit
Higher quality
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Congruence
Behavior Individuals and
interactions
Working
software
Customer
collaboration
Responding
to change
Use of authority to guide and
accomplish "what fits," rather than
forced compliance, tyranny or power
Carrot vs stick management
More leading, less managing
X X
Being personally and socially
responsible
Responsible for interactions
Responsible for intangibles like
maintainability
X X
To use problems as challenges and
opportunities for creative solutions
Keep moving forward thinking
X X X
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A group of techies emphasize that
communication & collaboration is
a strong contributor to success
Effective interactions are based in
understanding self, others, and
the contexts in which you work
and relate
Methodology / Framework /
Philosophy is good if it is
supported by the behaviors that
provide the desired results
Summary
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Communication over process NOT communication
without process
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Working software is more important than excessive
documentation NOT there is no need for
documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Customers working with developers to address a
business need NOT developers satisfying a
contractual obligation
Responding to change over following a plan
Adapting to change NOT failing to plan
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Troy Bitter
513.407.9996
Cohesion.com