This document discusses using an "Agile Animal Farm" metaphor to understand different personas and behaviors on Agile teams. It describes common archetypes like "Pigs" (dedicated team members), "Chickens" (part-time contributors), "Foxes" (who steal ideas and resources), "Seagulls" (who don't contribute but talk a lot), "Rats" (deceivers), "Cats" (lazy members), "Bulls" (command-and-control types), and the ideal "Shepherd Dog" (a benevolent coach). It provides examples of each and discusses using this framework through games to analyze team dynamics and improve Agile adoption.

1. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
UNDERSTANDING AGILE BEHAVIOUR
L O N D O N - D E C 2 0 1 5
FACILITATION
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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2. LEAN AGILE COACH
CO-CREATOR #PLAY14
CO-CREATOR AGILE4HR
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3. PIERRE@WECOMPANY.ME
@ELPEDROMAJOR
Pierre E. Neis
AGILE ANIMAL FARM 3

4. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
SOME REFERENCES
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5. LET’S START WITH A
METAPHOR
BASED ON MARIO MOREIRA’S
WORK
HTTP://CM FORAGILE. BLO GS POT. FR/2011/08/AGI LE-ANIMAL-FARM.HT ML
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6. THAT’S HOW I STARTED
WITH AGILE
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7. IMPACT OF THIS METAPHOR
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8. ONLY CHICKEN
GIVES THEIR EGGS
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9. PIGS HAVE TO PUTTHEIR FLESH ON
THE TABLE
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10. WE HAVE A GAME!
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11. PERSONAS &
BEHAVIOURS
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12. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
PIGS
▸ They are involved, engaged to the project. In Scrum, it’s the
purpose of the Scrum Team (Delivery Team, Scrum Master and
Product Owner).
▸ They are committed to the work. They are working in a pigpen
with other pigs who love their work.
▸ When Agility is well set, they are all willing to put they « flesh-on-
the-set » each day because they feel ownership of the work.
▸ They are assertive and accountable for the success of the
project and have a majority (if not all) of their performance goals
linked directly to the success of the project and their specific
Agile team.
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13. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « PIGS »
▸ These are
passionate
people,
engaged in
their work
ENGAGED
DENMARK
MALTA
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
UK
ICELAND
IRELAND
NORWAY
SWEDEN
SWITZERLAND
GERMANY
SLOVENIA
AUSTRIA
ITALY
LUXEMBOURG
BELGIUM
FINLAND
FRANCE
NETHERLANDS
0 20 40 60 80
ACCORDING TO THE GALLUP REPORT 2013
ON GLOBAL PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT
WORLD
BEST 30%
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14. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
CHICKEN
▸ They come and go on the project.
▸ While chickens are mostly helpful, because they are contributing
their eggs, they don’t always understand the full context
because they are not a dedicated team member.
▸ So occasionally they may accidentally contribute a rotten egg.
▸ They are not accountable for the success of the project,
although they may have a small portion of their performance
goals linked to the success of the project.
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15. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « CHICKEN »
▸ a customer is usually seen as a chicken bringing requirements, budget (time &
money), users, etc…
▸ user is also a chicken, he gives feedback.
▸ management is also a chicken bringing the environment, the structure, the
organisation where pigs can evolve and create value
▸ typically others: experts, PMO, trainers, providers…
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16. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
FOXES
▸ They like to stealthily move into and through the team seeing
who has certain skills and ideas.
▸ Then they like to steal not only resources (Agile team members)
for their own teams, but they also steal ideas.
▸ They are not necessarily negative, because they are often so
quiet in their manipulative work.
▸ They are dedicated to their own success.
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17. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « FOXES »
▸ a manager asking a pig to estimate a project outside of pigs engagement.
Here the manager is « stealing » resources and budget of the running project of
the pig aka « impediments ».
▸ all impediments are « Foxes »…
▸ Contract Managers, Cost Killers, Resource Managers, Interim Managers are
often Foxes because of focusing on details
▸ the « do-you-have-just-5-minutes » is the most usual
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18. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
SEAGULLS
▸ They like to fly around the project and not really contribute in any
manner.
▸ They enjoy “talking” (mostly hearing themselves speak) and
pretend they are adding value, but they are only annoying the
pigs (Agile team members).
▸ Often, they like to swoop in so it can look like they are involved
(and they’ll tell others this).
▸ They are often quite negative, squawk a lot in a “know it all”
manner, and often poop on people and their ideas.
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19. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « SEAGULLS »
▸ coaches and consultants are often seen as Seagulls
▸ experts are definitively Seagulls if they just tell and judge
▸ evangelists, Technology Consultants….
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20. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
RATS
▸ They are deceiver types who will use the trust of the team to
gain insight into topics so they can then “rat” on what is going
on to others.
▸ Often on Agile teams, they are really deceivers because they are
really anti-Agile or just plain negative people.
▸ They often know the decisions that are made based on certain
contexts that the team is in, but will twist the truth in order to
bring the project down.
▸ It is important to identify these deceivers as quickly as possible
and get them off the team.
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21. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « RATS »
▸ business people willing to get their stuff done before other business people
▸ In large organisation, some Product Owners are « rats » when they are provided
form a different tiers than the pigs.
▸ Some Agile coaches using the power of their image for politics
▸ all kind of people unable to manage power for the group and sliding in
personal interest
▸ …
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22. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
CATS
▸ They are a lazy type on an Agile team that really do not pitch in
but instead like to sleep instead.
▸ They are almost purposefully not assertive, have been used to
just “getting by” on projects for years, and are not really
interested in feeling ownership of the work.
▸ They typically neither positive nor negative and simply like to
be left alone.
▸ The other team members will begin to notice this behaviour
and realise they are not really interested in becoming part of
the team.
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23. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « CATS »
▸ typically someone established in the organisation since a long time
▸ this is the purpose of « poor consulting », keeping the place as long it’s
possible and only focus on how much to charge and not the value to deliver
▸ laggards (ex. Crossing the Chasm model)
▸ …
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24. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
BULLS
▸ They are command-and-control types who think they can
continue to tell their folks what to do even though they are
dedicated to their Agile teams.
▸ Sometimes referred to as bullies, they charge right into the team
and attempt to direct them to their own work and often deviate
the team from building product functionality.
▸ Typically, they are not interested in the Agile mindset because
they see it as a challenge to their authority (technical or
managerial) or don’t really understand or care about the
business benefits of Agile, but instead want to maintain their
own status.
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25. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « BULLS »
▸ this is the standard of « Mediterranean » management style
▸ listen to « Daddy »
▸ don’t think, action, apply the process
▸ some Agile coaches and trainers are acting badly that way
▸ a lot of people are waiting for this kind of behaviour because their DNA has been programmed for this
since centuries
▸ Masters & servants/slaves
▸ they are people to think and people to execute
▸ etc…
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26. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
SHEPHERD DOG
▸ And finally no farm is complete without the Shepherd Dog.
▸ However, on an Agile farm, it cannot be just any Shepherd Dog
but instead a benevolent Shepherd Dog who is good to his
animals and ensure the animals have what they need to grow
and prosper.
▸ The Agile Animal Shepherd Dog encourages, inspires, and
allows for team autonomy and self organisation.
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27. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
EXAMPLE OF « SHEPHERD DOG »
▸ this is the purpose of an agile coach
▸ a lot of people can play the « Shepherd Dog » in an organisation but this has
never be fake!
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28. LET’S TRY A GAME!
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29. DEBRIEFING & CLOSING
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30. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
RULES OF THE GAME - ROUND 1
▸ let’s make 3 teams
▸ each team seats around a table
▸ come to each team member with
« animals » cards and ask to choose
an animal to play
▸ during 5 minutes, each team has to
draw a landscape with 5 flowers in
different colours.
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31. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
… WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 5 MINUTES ?
▸ According to the « animal » played, you will have a result or not.
▸ For Round 1, you had to identify who played what animal.
TEAMMATES
TRY TO DI SCOVER
CHECK
THE RESULTS
DISCUSS
FI NDINGS
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32. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
RULES OF THE GAME - ROUND 2
▸ Let’s keep the 3 teams
▸ Each team seats around a table
▸ Come to each team member with « animals »
cards and assign a « role » to each of them.
▸ Try to have Team 1(Bulls, Seagulls and
Chicken); Team 2 (Rats, Cats and Foxes);
Team 3 (Pigs and Shepherd Dog)
▸ During 5 minutes, each team has to draw a
landscape with 5 flowers in different colours.
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33. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
… WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 5 MINUTES ?
▸ from each team, team members tried to identify who
played what animal
▸ we analysed the outcome of the round
▸ we tried to figure patterns out from each team behaviour
▸ Team 3 produced a great landscape
▸ Team 2 produced…. nothing
▸ Team 1 produced … nothing
TEAMMATES
TRY TO DI SCOVER
CHECK
THE RESULTS
DISCUSS
FI NDINGS
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34. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
RULES OF THE GAME - ROUND 3
▸ Make 1 big team
▸ Come to each team member with
« animals » cards and assign a
« role » to each of them
▸ During 5 minutes, the big team has
to draw or make a landscape with 5
flowers in different colours
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35. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
… WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 5 MINUTES ?
▸ from each team, team members tried to identify who
played what animal
▸ we analysed the outcome of the round
▸ we tried to figure patterns out from each team behaviour
▸ all the behaviours have been amplified and stress
has emerged
▸ we discovered that all « animal behaviours » have
been amplified in a large team and it was
complicated to keep permanently a « pig »
position.
TEAMMATES
TRY TO DI SCOVER
CHECK
THE RESULTS
DISCUSS
FI NDINGS
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36. DEBRIEFING AND CLOSING
WE DISCOVERED THAT…
▸ Large group are regressing the engagement.
▸ Some people were « cats » just because they were not enough extravert.
▸ Large groups are amplifying the « bad » behaviours just because of the density
and it leads to wrong interpretation.
▸ This big team performed well but only a very small part of the team mates had
enough space to create « value ».
▸ It was a short demonstration on team performance: 30 people do not perform
better than 5.
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37. … FOR WHAT IS IT
GOOD FOR ?
37

38. USING POSTERS IN RETROSPECTIVE
FOR FUN TO UNDERSTAND HOW WE
WERE TOGETHER AND WITH OTHERS
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39. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
WE HAVE ALLTHESE ANIMALS INSIDE US…
DON’T FIGHTAGAINST…
DISCOVER WHEN AND IN WHAT CONDITIONS YOU USED TO BE THIS
ANIMAL…
THEN IMPROVE YOURSELF ACCORDINGLY
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40. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
USING CARDS IN RETROSPECTIVE
▸ sometimes being « nice and gentle » is making people more angry
because they do not have the possibility to express their emotions.
▸ here you can make a « private » team retrospective with closed
doors. Give all team members a set of Animal-Farm—Cards and each
team member can now give a card to his/her team mate or coach to
express the feeling (animal) and the circumstance.
▸ Ex. Pierre, I give you the « bull » because 2 days ago you pushed me
to attend the daily meeting and I had an email to answer…
▸ Ex. Team, I give us the « bull » because at last Grooming session we
treated our Infrastructure Provider very badly.
▸ etc…
▸ Attention: no report, no notes, no comments on this.
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41. 41

42. 42

43. … HOW TO BUILD A
PIGPEN ?
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44. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: « HOW TO BUILT A PIGPEN »
▸ I mentioned during the session how I use this game in organisational
development.
▸ How to built a pigpen is a very strong and complicated purpose but isn’t the
ambition of agile?
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45. CROSSING THE CHASM 45
pigs & the rest pigs &
chicken
only pigs we didn’t see
the fox coming
only rats, the
pigs have left
TECHIES VISIONARIES PRAGMATISTS CONSERVATIVES SKEPTICS
start
THE
CHASM
BOWLING ALLEY
TORNADO MAIN STREET
SOURCE: THE INNOVATIVE MANAGER
FOR THE FUN, I
« HACKED »THE
CROSSING THE
CHASM CHART
DECLINEOFAGILE
PERSEVERE

46. QUESTIONS?
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47. AGILE ANIMAL FARM
COACH | TRAINER
▸ Pierre E. Neis
▸ Senior Lean Agile Coach Product Development & Operational
Excellence: Finance, Government, E-commerce, Global Structures,
Offshore.
▸ Specialist in Organisational Development and Agile Deployment
▸ Scrum Coach & Trainer, Lean Kanban Coach
▸ References: SAP UK, AXA Global, Kingfisher Global, GDF Suez, atHome Group,
Touring Assurances, Euroclear, ERDF, Capgemini, Cloudwatt, CNRS, LaPoste
Innovation, rueducommerce.com , Invivo, LesFurets.com, CICR,
▸ Offices: Luxembourg, Paris, London, Brussels, Geneva, Beirut
▸ Mob. +352 661 727 867
▸ pierre@wecompany.me
▸ @elpedromajor
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thanks !