the story of sitting together by nirmal merchant and zainab alikhan
DESCRIPTION
As the practice of Agile matures, teams find great value in shortening feedback loops to inspect and adapt more often. However, constraints in the physical seating of teams drive the way in which they interact - team members in the same building communicate via email and meet only for “meetings”. XP advocates Sitting Together, but due to a lot of constraints organizations are unable or unwilling to adopt this. In this presentation we will share what these constraints are and how we were able to overcome them so that our teams could Sit Together.TRANSCRIPT
Zainab Alikhan Nirmal Merchant
▪ Global management consulting firm, App Dev department▪ Adopted Agile 5+ years ago▪ 300 technologists …and growing by the day▪ Our people are in New York, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Atlanta, Waltham, Austin, Dusseldorf, Cairo, Bangalore, Chennai…
▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE made it happen.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?
Today we’re going to talk about..
▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?
Today we’re going to talk about..
What is Sitting Together?
▪ XP (Extreme Programming) concept▪ The whole team sits together in the same physical space
Support the Agile Manifesto:▪ Individuals and interactions over processes and tools▪ Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
PRODUCTIVITY = ~2X!!!
The Art of Agile Development, James Shore
How Does Radical Collocation Help a Team Succeed? Teasley, Covey, Krishnan & Olson
▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?
Today we’re going to talk about..
▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?
Today we’re going to talk about..
▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?
Today we’re going to talk about..
What we looked like before
What we look like now
AloneTime
Alone
Time
Alone
Time
Alone
Time
Alone
Time
AloneTime
“Work gets done quicker…I save about an hour a day in a team room” -- Developer
“It’s about the people…sharing and growing is what makes it awesome” -- UX Designer
“Energy and creativity much higher…team rooms like a place where there is action” -- Management
“I walk into a team room & everyone needed to answer a question is there.. issues resolved much quicker” -- Architect
“It’s funny…privacy just seems less of an issue now. I can have most personal conversations in front of my team members, they know me better and I trust them.” -- Developer
What our department has to say..
Start small
Make it fun
Let the “users” design their space
Let the “users” design their space
▪What is “Sitting Together”▪Why should we Sit Together?▪Why we DON’T Sit Together.. the barriers▪How WE did it.. and how YOU can▪What about distributed teams?
Today we’re going to talk about..
Smart staffing, smart travel
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Leverage technology to enrich communication
▪…shortens the feedback loop▪…reduces the cost of asking questions▪…enables “osmotic communication”▪…creates focus▪…promotes innovation ▪…builds relationships and trust
Sitting Together…
▪…start small▪…make it fun▪…let “users” collaboratively design space▪…be conscious of adoption curve▪…create a multi-dimensional solution▪…lead by example
To do it…