The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Is Rotating Team Members Ever a Good Idea? Misperception: The rotation of team members mixes things up and keeps ideas fresh. Reality: The longer a team stays together, the better they perform. In contrast to typical beliefs, keeping a team intact for a long time will increase the team’s performance. Furthermore, the team will continue to improve the longer they stay together. The common thinking is that complacency will develop over time. In other words, we worry that team members, when together too long, will get stuck in their ways and not recognize that they need to pivot when changes in their context require it. If relationships and bonds become too tight, we fear that team members will become too tolerant of misbehavior within the team. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

How Do We Do an Agile Maturity Assessment? Many organizations are trying to figure out how to measure Agile Maturity. In this episode we discuss the top 2 ways to do such a measurement: 1) The Agile Principles Assessment 2) The AgileDad Agile 12 Step Assessment. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] https://www.agiledad.com/ - [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/ - [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/ - [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

8 Uncomfortable Truths About Life That Will Wake You Up “The people you attract (or don’t attract) reflect your vibes.” “No one cares about your opinion until you show results.” “It’s not lack of talent. It’s fear of making sacrifices.” “You truly appreciate life only after you almost die.” “You don’t know how important it is until you lose it.” “Most people don’t know you exist and don’t care about you.” “It doesn’t matter how much you learn, you will never feel ready.” “Every single person you love will die, or you die first.” How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

3 Ways To Improve Teamwork Centralize Work to a Common Task Management SystemThe first is basic and it is about centralizing work and the tasks associated with that work in a task management system open to all. Nothing drags down the ability to collaborate than having information spread out across many different tools and platforms. I found though that centralizing all of the work to be pursued by the group in a common location establishes a sort of home base. The team can go to this location as a source of truth for everything that team is doing together. So if you currently don’t have a centralized task management project management tool I highly recommend that this is the first order of business. There are tools out there such as Jira, Trello, Asana that could be helpful. It really depends on what aligns best with the needs of your team. However, a basic need across all teams is having a central go-to place for project information. Connect on a Regular CadenceThe second thing that I’ve noticed about high-functioning teams is the significant impact of meeting on a regular cadence. These meetings do not need to be long and extensive. Just having a touchpoint of 15 minutes to review agreed-upon work is helpful in identifying progress and potential issues that need to be addressed. Regular touchpoints. establishing a consistent cadence brings a rhythm to the inner workings of the team that help to establish efficiency. If you are familiar with agile scrum the cultivation of a cadence is a central tenant of the meeting ceremonies that the methodology deploys. Collaboratively Create GoalsThe final suggestion is to use the centralization of work into a common task management system and the regular meeting cadence to drive the co-creation of team goals. During discussions as ideas emerge on how to create value for whoever you consider to be your stakeholders you have the machinery in place to capture these ideas as work that your team can focus on in the future. When your team contributes ideas to the direction of the group there is increased investment in positive outcomes. When people know where to find information and you have regular discussions it’s easier for people to contribute ideas and thoughts to the discussion. This will lead to a sense of shared purpose, destiny, and ownership. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Enabling Conflict - An Essential ScrumMaster Skill? The scrum master as we know has a variety of responsibilities. Those towards the team, those towards the product owner and those towards the organisation as a whole. They are change agents and masters at systems thinking. I have once read a list of 42 tasks that a scrum master needs to do. Definitely not a part time role for a team member.I have always been fascinated by one of the tasks of the scrum master in particular. That of being a team coach. They have the daunting task of taking the teams through the various levels of team formation by coaching at an individual as well as at a team level. One of the important techniques that work during team coaching is facilitating conflicts for the team. It is especially useful if the team is new and inexperienced. The five dysfunctions of a team is an essential read for any scrum masters and team coaches. I always had the notion that a good team was one where there were no conflicts and the members were in perpetual harmony. I was really wrong. The perfect team is one in which the members trust each other so much so, that they openly challenge each other and hold each other accountable, which invariably will lead to constructive conflicts. One in which there is no place for ego and inattention to team result.I have tried this in my teams and I can tell you it really works. One of my best teams had the team motto “Question everything, assume nothing”. I was both surprised and delighted that they came up with that. I also heard one comment once, that in the team everyone behaves like a scrum master, the insinuation being that, everyone asks questions and challenges things. That is how it should be for a team.The team conflict is something which should be carefully moderated. To understand this one has to understand the concept of conflict continuum. If you map the intensity of conflict from the least to the highest on a line from left to right, on the left extreme we have the artificial harmony in teams which arises from the fear of crossing team members. Every one is OK with everything and each other lest they cross each other in any manner. On the right extreme we have personal attacks which is an extreme case of team conflict. Almost all teams would fall somewhere between the left extreme and the mid point. I once knew a team who was working together for about one and half years. I happened to sit in their meetings and I noticed that, it is usually only one person talking all the time. When I inquired about this, the reason given by one of the team members was that, the senior person always knew what everyone wanted to say. I had the notion of some sort of super human telepathic ability that this team had developed. Such anti-patterns and examples of artificial harmony are many in the real world.Scrum masters should enable the team to reach the mid point between the extremes which is the ideal point of conflict. The picture which comes to my mind is a tight rope walker (team) who uses a pole (scrum master) for balance. Once the team is comfortable and develop expertise they will eventually be able to walk without the pole. The conflict modes of a team can be generalized to five categories as can be seen from the graph below. Depending on the teams level of assertiveness and co-operation this can vary. If the assertiveness is more it becomes competitive. Likewise if the co-operation is more it will result in an accommodating mode. The right kind of conflict mode for a team is the highly assertive and highly co-operative kind which brings about a really collaborative conflict within the team. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Explore the top five pitfalls that prevent teams from maximizing business value. Misunderstanding Scrum can leave teams lost in their goals. Without a shared definition of value, confusion reigns. Saying NO to non-priorities is crucial for focus. Unaddressed low-value features linger, dragging down productivity. Finally, the importance of inspecting and adapting team dynamics can’t be overlooked; without it, teams risk becoming less effective over time.

3 Things most Leaders Get Wrong About Culture Culture Is Unique The first assumption leaders get wrong about culture is that their culture is unique. Most leaders describe how unique and special their culture is and then proceed to tell you about how great the people are, or how supportive of each other the teams are, or how great the benefits are. See where this is going? Most positive company cultures aren’t actually all that unique. While toxic company cultures could be toxic for a variety of reasons, healthy company cultures have a LOT in common. Culture Is About Artifacts The second assumption leaders get wrong about culture is that it’s about artifacts. Ask what many leaders are doing to build culture and they’ll describe things that can be easily seen. They’ll talk about the foosball table or the quarterly celebrations. They’ll point to the mural of core values that they commissioned a local graffiti artist to put in the lobby. But researchers on organizational culture point out that these “artifacts” just scratch the surface, and that underneath what you can see lie a set of espoused values and shared basic assumptions. Those values and basic assumptions matter a lot more when we’re building and shaping a culture. Culture Is About The Company The final assumption leaders get wrong about culture is that it’s about the company. Afterall, it’s most commonly referred to as company culture or organizational culture. And most culture experts and researchers examine culture at the organizational level. But if you think about most people’s experience of work, it’s shaped less by the culture of the entire organization and more by the culture of the team that they’re working on. We often hear the phrase “People don’t quit bad companies, they quit bad bosses.” In other words, the boss they have or the team they’re on influences their feelings about the company much more than a statement of core values or benefits and perks. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

5 Principles That Transform Gifts Into Relationship Boosters 1. Make the Receiver Feel Seen — Truly Seen 2. Make It Mutual 3. Bring Out the Best in Them 4. Money, Time, or Energy: Choose Your Resources Wisely 5. Give It a Meaning How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

Are ScrumMasters Shared or Dedicated? The Short Answer is YES! Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss when and how the ScrumMaster should be dedicated and when it is more important that they are shared. Both apply, it is a matter of understanding when and how. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

3 Tips to Help You Understand Objective Story Points 1) NEVER associate points and time - Understand the container concept 2) Break things down so that each story is indeed consumable 3) Make certain you have the right people in the room when breaking down and refining stories How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠