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Using the Theory of Constraints to Coach Agile Teams Even as a large number of teams are adopting agile methods, some teams are finding this transition to be a big leap. Because each team is unique, they are not able to follow all of the practices "by the book." Each team must customize certain practices to best suit its needs and abilities. Naresh Jain shares his experiences guiding agile teams through this transition. He introduces a technique of coaching teams that employs Goldratt's Theory of Constraints to identify the bottlenecks and issues faced by the team during the agile adoption process. Naresh shows how more experienced agile teams can use the Theory of Constraints technique as a just-in-time practice to eliminate bottlenecks and deliver new knowledge and experience to the team.
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Naresh Jain, ThoughtWorks Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd.
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Flow, Pull, Innovate: How Agile Teams Mature and Scale Jean Tabaka offers straightforward advice on how agile teams can mature and learn to scale up to larger and larger projects. The three steps of her approach emphasize a path based on principles of Lean Thinking--Flow, Pull, and Innovate. Flow is about creating smooth delivery of value. Pull is the way teams pull ready items for delivery, and the business pulls ready, tested, and valuable features into productive use. Innovate is about how the organization drives improvements rather than merely responding to issues. For each of the three steps, Jean outlines practices for growth and identifies pitfalls to avoid and roadblocks to navigate around. You can apply the disciplines discussed in this class to a single co-located team, a team of teams, or an entire organization eager to take advantage of both agile and lean approaches. Join Jean and learn to achieve the greatest innovations with a much lower risk of failure.
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Jean Tabaka, Rally Software Development
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Pragmatic Learning: Improve Your Learning Skills (Part 2) Your approach to learning a new technology or acquiring a new skill is key to your personal success. So, how do you learn how to learn? What tricks can you use to learn faster and retain more of what you learn? Andy Hunt presents a brief recap of The Dreyfus Model for learning and explains how you can learn more deliberately by managing your “knowledge portfolio.” Andy explores practical learning techniques including mind maps, reading techniques, and situational feedback. During this class, he shows how these techniques fit in to the cognitive model discussed in “Refactoring Your Wetware (Part 1).” Andy describes methods ranging from the tried-and-true to the truly exotic that he uses to cope with the veritable torrent of new information that assaults each of us. Andy’s promise? "You'll learn one proven technique that can improve your daily productivity by 20%-30%."
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Andy Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmers
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Building Agile Workspaces An agile team needs a workspace that supports highly collaborative ways of working together. The team needs to be able to sit together and have visible "information radiators" of the latest status on planned work and code quality. Some teams also boost their spaces with "eXtreme Feedback Devices" such as lava lamps and audio signals linked to automated processes. It is vital to ensure that feedback mechanisms within the agile workspace are easy to interpret and low maintenance. Join Rachel Davies to explore different ways to set up your agile workspace for maximum fun and productivity. Discover different ways to present information to the team and some snags to watch out for. If you or your team is new to agile development, this class is for you.
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Rachel Davies, Rachel Davies
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Management Mindsets: What's So Different About Agile You've probably heard of Theory X, Theory Y, and Theory Z management styles. Even though we've run out of letters at the end of the alphabet, it's time for a new management theory for self-organizing agile teams. Esther Derby examines what parts of a manager's job stay the same and what parts diminish as the team manages its own work. She discusses the new roles for managers in agile organizations: team coach-creating an environment for success and helping the team improve their teamwork; team champion-helping the team interface with the rest of the organization; boundary manager-keeping distractions at bay and making sure the team has what it needs; risk manager-anticipating and mitigating risks; and organizational influencer-looking across the organization and removing impediments. Although your role as manager changes as you embrace agile practice, there's plenty to do. Plus, it's even more fun!
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Esther Derby, Esther Derby Associates Inc
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Introduction to User Stories Agility is often described in terms of iterative development. In fact, it's more of an iterative analysis process with the code being written and tested immediately after the requirements are discovered. The heart of this process is the user Story, a collection of requirement descriptions, value statements, cost estimates, architecture designs, and test cases-all rolled into one. While at first glance user Stories seem simple, they play a key role in all agile methods. What makes a good one? How do you write it? How do you make them the right size? Alan Shalloway answers all of these questions and more in this thought-provoking class. Unfortunately, it is not enough just to create a collection of stories. We need a way to organize them and to plan for their release. Alan concludes by discussing these important organizational issues.
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Alan Shalloway, Net Objectives
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Influencing Strategies for Agile Developers Cognitive scientists have identified several influence strategies that can be used to more effectively convince others to see things your way. Agile developers face a host of encounters with “disbelievers” and must find ways to work together. Often, the only tool at hand is a logical argument-bullets on a PowerPoint slide or a step-by-step explanation. Unfortunately, these are rarely successful because convincing others really means appealing to their subconscious motivators rather than speaking to their rational, analytic side. Linda Rising introduces powerful strategies you can use to influence others and suggests ways you can incorporate them into your approach to agile development.
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Linda Rising, Independent Consultant
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Artful Making for Agile Teams The phrase "working together" is based on a team collaboration metaphor. However, Stacia Broderick and Lee Devin have found that most teams don't actually collaborate-rather, they consist of modular parts that are steeped in competition and oriented to reward the "stars." Stacia and Lee use a metaphor drawn from theatre art, a form of group work that requires collaboration, encourages interdependency, eschews competition, and emphasizes the project rather than any particular member of the group. Going from simply "working together" to "innovating collaboratively" requires a quantum shift in our thinking about teamwork. This is not a "techniques" workshop--in the kind of work they advocate, there are no quick fixes. However, Stacia and Lee introduce a frame of mind that's necessary if a person or group wants to break out of the box of conventional teamwork.
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Stacia Broderick, Agile Evolution, Inc
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Do The Right Thing: Adapting Requirements Practices to Agile Projects Break out of the cookie-cutter mentality that some agile teams take toward requirements. Join Ellen Gottesdiener to explore what requirements models you should use to supplement (or replace) user stories for large projects. Ellen looks at the factors to consider when deciding on a requirements approach, including your project’s size and technology characteristics and your team’s domain expertise. Find out when to engage the product owner in requirements work and discover ways to leverage the role of business analyst in agile projects. Explore new ways to adapt your existing documentation for product and project needs while enhancing requirements to drive development on large agile projects. Gain an appreciation and understanding of ways to adapt requirements practices to fit various agile project situations so you can do the right things for your project.
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Ellen Gottesdiener, EBG Consulting, Inc.
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Decision Making in Agile Teams: The Key to High Performance Agile teams are encouraged to act collaboratively and make decisions as a team. And yet, some decisions must occur outside of the full team's consensus. For example, business or product owners ultimately must set their value and priority decisions even though they need to negotiate with the delivery team. Jean Tabaka explores the variety of decision modes and roles that are required for agile teams while they still maintain a high degree of trust and safety. Learn why agile teams rely so heavily on good decision-making. Discover consensus-driven decision making--what it is and when it can be applied. Find out about other decision modes available to effective agile teams and the roles involved in making great decisions. Jean shares some practical tips on how agile teams can keep their meetings decisions- and results-focused.
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Jean Tabaka, Rally Software Development
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