Agile teams form the building blocks for agility. Having strong agile teams allows an organization to overcome systemic issues and adapt the product development process to the needs of the business. Agile teams that are not self-organizing and continually learning can quickly become subsumed by the challenges around them. So what does it mean for a team to be agile? We look at the fundamental characteristics of high performing teams, and how to influence the team environment and selection in order to initiate a team for success.

1. Great Agile Teams
Or where do they come from?
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

2. an agile team has different,
often conflicting objectives,
depending on your point of view
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

3. “A team effort is a lot of
people doing what I say.”
Michael Winner
British Writer and Film
Director
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

4. "What we need to do is
learn to work in the
system, by which I mean
that everybody is there not
for individual competitive
profit or recognition, but for
contribution to the system
as a whole on a win-win
basis."
W. Edward Deming
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

5. steps to forming a
fantastic team
characteristics of
an agile team
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

6. characteristics of a
scrum team
cross-functional
7±2 people
co-located
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

7. cross-functional teams
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
the team includes all the skills
necessary to deliver the end product
(from concept to cash)
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

8. every team will have its specialists
working together to deliver an end
product
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

9. sometimes you can’t because of:
scaling - too many people or too
big of a product
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

10. sometimes you can’t because of:
scaling - too many people or too
big of a product
different technologies, products,
backlogs
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

11. sometimes you can’t because of:
scaling - too many people or too
big of a product
different technologies, products,
backlogs
limited availability of specialists,
e.g. architect
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

12. sometimes you can’t because of:
scaling - too many people or too
big a product
different technologies, products,
backlogs
limited availability of specialists,
e.g. architect
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
then you need to
1. manage dependencies
2. create knowledge
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

13. specialists exist on the team,
but every team member pitches in to help
when necessary
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

14. a result of self-organization, not
cross-functionality
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

15. optimum (agile) team size
is 7±2 people
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
The Ringelmann effect refers to a
combination of social loafing and
coordination losses
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

16. the Ringelmann effect
The more people
Ringelmann added to a
group, the greater the
decline in personal effort.
Three people pulled at
only 2.5x the average
individual effort, and eight
people pulled at 4x the
average individual effort.
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

17. social loafing
(and coordination losses)
increase with team size
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

18. the perfect size is...
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

19. co-located vs. virtual
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
many aspects of distributed
teams are still unclear
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

20. global market in labor
means distributed or virtual teams
are here to stay in many
businesses today
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

21. many agile practices work just great
with distributed teams
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

22. agile practices support
distributed teams
“Teams in which leaders
periodically gathered
information about others
and revealed information
about themselves
performed better than
teams in which members
did not do this.”
Suzanne Weisband
Associate Professor
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

23. significant risk factors
for virtual teams
• Insufficient knowledge transfer
• Lack of project team cohesion
• Cultural or language
differences
• Inadequate technical
resources, i.e. hardware,
processing availability
• Resource inexperience with
company and its processes
• Loss of key resource(s) that
impact the project
• Hidden agendas impact the
project
Project Risk Differences Between
Virtual and Co-Located Teams, Reed & Night
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

24. common misperceptions: harmony helps
Harmony helps
disagreements can be good
for a team
Six Common Misperceptions about Teamwork
by J. Richard Hackman
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

25. Dear ScrumMaster,
Remember:
- don’t let it get personal
- or get out of hand
Yours
The Team
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

26. common misperceptions: its good to mix it up
Its good to mix it up
the longer a team stays
together, the better they do
Six Common Misperceptions about Teamwork
by J. Richard Hackman
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

27. again a fact of corporate life...
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

28. but get experience of excellence before
breaking up teams
and try to keep a critical mass together
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

29. common misperceptions: it depends on the leader
It all depends on the
leader
Six Common Misperceptions about Teamwork
by J. Richard Hackman
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
the most powerful thing a
leader can do is to create
conditions for selforganization, and launch the
team well
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

30. leadership challenge
“…most of the highperformance teams were
not manager-led teams.
They were teams where the
management had
deliberately stepped back,
or was inattentive or where
for one reason or another
was totally absent, thus
enabling the team to selforganize.”
Steve Denning
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

31. common misperceptions: teamwork is magical
Teamwork is magical
It takes careful thought and
preparation to stack the deck
for success
Six Common Misperceptions about Teamwork
by J. Richard Hackman
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.

32. •
•
•
•
Great Agile Teams
Cross-functional and self-organized
Size is important
(beware the Ringelmann Effect)
Collocated or known to one another
Beware of:
• striving for harmony
• continually mixing teams up
• team managers, not leaders
• laissez faire team formation
thank you
dave.sharrock@agile42.com
Certified Scrum Coach (CSC)
Certified Scrum Trainer (CST)
agile42 | We advise, train and coach companies building software
Slides: slideshare.net/davesharrock
follow me on: @davesharrock
www.agile42.com |
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2007 - 2009.