people management

Articles

A ScrumMaster's Superpower of Observation in Virtual Teams

ScrumMasters rely on observational skills, but does that mean we only use vision? What happens when we are all remote? Can we leverage other senses to “observe” how teams are surviving (or thriving)? We may not be able to sit together with our team for a long time, and it may never be the same due to the long-term effects of the coronavirus. What skills might we adapt or create for virtual teams? And, how can we still reflect back on the observations so the team can decide how to improve?

Mark Kilby's picture Mark Kilby Savita Pahuja
Agile project management team collaborating Agile Project Management: 10 Tips from the Masters

In today’s fast-paced world, organizational agility is critical to business success. However, it’s common for there to be a clash between the traditional top-down business culture and the agile business philosophy. Agile project management is not just a set of processes and predetermined activities, but rather a genuine philosophy that forces organizations to embrace a brand-new mindset.

Isabell Gaylord's picture Isabell Gaylord
Agile team all putting their hands in for a high five How to Nail Agile Collaboration and Build Better Products

The rapid rate of technological change is forcing enterprises to reinvent themselves and provide more flexible approaches, so agile transformations are key. However, knowing that agile is important is one thing, but the ability to properly implement the main principles, tools, and techniques of agile is another. Let’s explore time-tested agile principles that will help your organization build innovative products that customers love.

Matthew Chen's picture Matthew Chen
Solved Rubik's cube Solving 6 Major Challenges of Implementing Agile

Implementing agile often means throwing out the rulebook when it comes to how teams work, how projects are organized, and even what the office floor plan looks like. This can be a difficult transition, but it's nothing to fear if you can anticipate the challenges and plan accordingly. Here are six of the greatest challenges teams face when implementing agile, along with some tips on how to avoid them.

Ashley Halsey's picture Ashley Halsey
Agile developers and testers collaborating Testing in Agile: How to Get Started

There is a lot of interest in organizations around a transformation to agility. However, the focus is usually on agile development, so it may not be clear how software testing is done in agile. If you're responsible for leading your testing teams, don't let them be left behind. Here’s how you can make testers part of the transformation, too—step by step, because this is agile, after all.

Balazs Schaffhauser's picture Balazs Schaffhauser
Agile team deciding how best to accomplish their work 6 Anti-Patterns Preventing Agile Teams from Self-Organizing

People have different cultural backgrounds, habits, beliefs, interests, capabilities, knowledge, skills, and temperaments. When put together on a team, they can’t always be governed by a rulebook to become self-organized. The dynamics among them have to be understood to recognize the anti-patterns first. Here are six anti-patterns that must be avoided and remediated to help teams move toward self-organization.

Ajeet Singh's picture Ajeet Singh
Distributed team pointing out their locations on a map Creating Time for Collaboration with Distributed Teams and Agile Approaches

Many of us have horrible experiences with distributed teams where we can find no possibility of collaboration, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Even if a team is distributed, those team members need collaborative opportunities and space. What’s important is the team’s time for collaboration, not time zones. Here are some ways you can visualize when your team works and create more quality collaboration time.

Mark Kilby's picture Mark Kilby Johanna Rothman
Barriers in front of a road It's Not Just Culture: When Teams Impede Agile Adoption

Cultural norms can hamper successful agile transformation. Many of these habits and customs are started and perpetuated by senior leadership, but that’s not always the only source of resistance. Often, ingrained behaviors and thinking can occur within the team, including business partners, that also can hinder agility. Five of these barriers are explored here, as well as mindset antidotes to help get the team on the road to agile success.

Joe Schofield's picture Joe Schofield
Team of cyclists Successful Agile Requires a New Kind of Leadership

In an agile world, team members are empowered to make important decisions within the context of the behavioral architecture, without having to ask permission from supervisors or managers. But these supervisors and managers are coming from a lifetime of learning how to succeed in a hierarchical world, so they will need to leave behind those ingrained lessons. In order for agile to be successful at scale, leaders will need to change.

Jeff Dalton's picture Jeff Dalton
Man holding a lit light bulb How to Get Value from Measuring Agile Team Health Metrics

One common metric in agile measures team health or team happiness, but creating a way to measure this that is valued by the team is not an easy task. It’s having clarity on the reason you’re measuring these metrics and who benefits from it that gives you real value. Here are some ways you can measure this elusive quality, as well as how to make sure you're gaining useful information.

Vic Bartash's picture Vic Bartash

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