Reliable Teams

Self-organization and bottom-up intelligence are key to highly professional, highly motivated, highly efficient teams.

Short-term Goals (3–12 months)

  • Pilot team(s) operate(s) in a structured way (preferably Scrum).
  • Transparent ways of communicating and visualizing team(s)’ activities and progress are in place.
  • Leaders who promote modern software product development practices and technology excellence are recognized. Their mentoring accountabilities and responsibilities are clearly defined.
  • Necessary encouragement and support are provided.
  • Development process, practices and tools are reviewed with changes suggested to enable iterative-incremental delivery.
  • Preliminary version of company-wide quality standard is created. Quality and process metrics are defined and metrics dashboards are being used to optimize team(s) effectiveness.
  • Team(s)’ and key individuals’ potential and growth areas are identified. Development means (such as Community of Practice, training, mentoring and coaching) are provided. Learning reinforcement mechanisms (objectives, reviews, assessments) are in place.
  • (Degree of) cross-functionality and self-organization are defined in the context of company’s needs, abilities and aspirations. Boundaries are clearly defined and enacted.

Long-term Goals (2–6 years)

  • Necessary team(s) composition and staffing changes were introduced.
  • All teams operate in a structured way (preferably Scrum) and are self-organizing to the extent agreed. Cross-functionality spans beyond IT whenever appropriate.
  • Development process, practices and tools are constantly improved to further expedite iterative-incremental delivery.
  • Software teams are predictable. Technical debt is measured and reduced. Company-wide quality standard is maintained and sustained by the development community and fulfilled by all the teams.
  • Production ready software is delivered on cadence and delivery times are constantly shortened.
  • Foundations for continuous adaptation are in place and locked in.
  • Foundations for further advancement in self-organization built.
  • Learning culture is clearly present.

Means to achieve goals

  • Hands-on day-to-day work with the change teams (coaching, mentoring, providing expertise and feedback).
  • Suggesting and providing impromptu workshops and training.
  • Fostering Communities of Practice and cross-learning.
  • Technology (architecture, code, processes, standards, practices and tools) audits and advisory reports.

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Engagement Guidelines v1.0–RT–0.4 © 2006 – 2018 Tomek Włodarek. All rights reserved.