How Your Agile Team Could Compete In The Olympics - Mike Cohn

Aug 1, 2024

Mike Cohn, a recognized expert in agile methodologies, explores how agile teams can harness their skills to excel in Olympic competitions. He highlights speed events and emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement, likening it to athletic training. Cohn points out the value of small, frequent handoffs in relay events and champions cross-functional teams in sports like football and water polo. He also discusses the advantage of multi-skilled individuals for versatile competitions such as triathlons and decathlons, illustrating the parallels between agility in business and sports.

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Competing in the Olympics: Agile Teamwork Insights

00:00 • 5min

How Your Agile Team Could Compete In The Olympics - Mike Cohn

Let the games begin! Are you and your team ready for the Olympics? I hope so, since the games start tomorrow.
I want to share a few Olympic events at which I think agile teams would excel.
First are the speed events: swimming, sprint canoeing, the marathon, and the shorter running events. The emphasis agile teams place on going faster and seeking continuous improvement will serve them well in competing in these.
Some of these events, such as the swimming and running relays, require handoffs. Good agile teams become adept at small, frequent handoffs (such as from programmer to tester). This skill will serve an agile team well when participating in Olympic relays.
Good agile teams are cross functional. That is, individuals with different but complementary skills collaborate. Cross-functional agile teams would excel at the many sports that require different types of players such as football, hockey, cricket, volleyball, and water polo (my personal favorite).
These sports include experts who are highly skilled in one dimension. But these single-function aces need to be balanced with the skills of other team members.
While a cross-functional Olympic team can include specialist experts, the team will benefit from multi-skilled members. These pi- or m-shaped people are proficient at two, three, or more skills needed by the team. Sign these folks up for the triathlon, pentathlon, heptathlon, or decathlon!
The best agile teams collaborate and synchronize their work. We see this when testers create test plans while programmers are still coding rather than waiting for the programmers to finish. Agile teams who have mastered collaboration and synchronization could look for Olympic success in events such as rowing or artistic (synchronized) swimming.
A team’s Scrum Master would do well running the hurdles. Who better to clear obstacles?
And good agile teams excel in delivering the outcomes expected of them in the time frames desired. Teams who hit the bull’s eye should give archery a try.
Finally, I have to add that I’d like all agile teams to compete in the Olympic trampoline event. Shouldn’t work be a bit more fun? And what’s more fun than bouncing on a trampoline and winning a gold medal at agile,

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