Agile Software Development: Build and Evolve Agile Teams Flashcards

Question

Which decisions should remain centralized

Answer 1

Decisions that span a longer time frame Decisions that have an organization-wide impact Rare decisions that require deeper analysis

Answer 2

uses a decentralized decision making model, where teams are empowered to make tactical decisions themselves, and to monitor their own progress

Answer 3

Enterprise awareness. Enterprise awareness refers to the concept that DA teams realize that they work within your organization’s enterprise ecosystem, as do your other teams. There are often existing solutions (products and services) that should not be negatively impacted by the release of the solution they are working on. Better yet their solution will leverage existing functionality and data available in your operational infrastructure instead of reinventing the wheel. DA teams will work with other teams that are working in parallel to them, striving to leverage each other’s work. They will work towards your organization’s strategic vision. Enterprise awareness is the underpinning of effective governance. Release planning. Early in a project, or when a product team is first initiated, a DA team will invest some time in high-level release planning. They do this to identify and think through any dependencies on other teams and often to identify a reasonable cost and time estimate for the current release that they are working on. They will keep this high-level plan up-to-date as development progresses, sharing it with their stakeholders. Release planning enables the team to answer critical governance questions regarding forecasted schedule and cost. Team dashboard. The basic idea is that the tools used by your team should be instrumented to record important events when they occur. For example, your work management tool could record when a work item ticket is defined, when work begins on it, when the work is validated (if appropriate), and when it is marked done. Within a software team, whenever a build is run your build tool could record basic information such the date and time it was initiated, the time it took, the number of tests run, the number of successful tests, and so on. This sort of information, or more accurately intelligence, can be recorded in a data warehouse and later reported on using business intelligence (BI) tooling via dashboard technology at the team, program, or portfolio, or enterprise level. The real-time, accurate information radiated by a team dashboard enables the team to make better decisions and provides better transparency to stakeholders (including governance people). Information radiators. An information radiator is a visible display that shows something of interest to a team or their stakeholders. Examples include a whiteboard with an architecture sketch on it, a corkboard with index cards tacked to it, and a wall-mounted monitor showing the team’s dashboard. Information radiators enable better governance by increasing transparency. Active stakeholder participation. Active stakeholder participation is the practice of having on-site access to stakeholders, or at least their proxies (i.e. Product Owners). Active stakeholders have the authority and ability to provide information and make timely decisions regarding the prioritization and scope of requirements. This enables more effective governance through improving the team’s access to decision makers. Demos. On a regular basis, typically at the end of each iteration for teams following an agile life cycle or on an as-needed basis for lean teams, the team demonstrates the solution to key stakeholders. The team shows completed work and invites feedback. This enables effective governance by increasing transparency and providing better opportunities for stakeholders to steer the team. Coordination meetings. The team meets for a few minutes, typically at the beginning of each day, to coordinate their activities. The team lead facilitates the meeting and is responsible for keeping it short and focused. This practice is often called a scrum meeting or daily stand-up meeting, although neither of those terms accurately conveys the concept that the aim is to coordinate. This enables tactical governance within the team itself through increasing internal transparency and reducing the feedback cycle within the team. Light-weight, risk-based milestones. Effective milestone reviews are as simple and short as possible. For a small co-located team a milestone review could be as simple as a few people from the governing body, or their agents, to visit the team room and have the team spend an hour walking them through whatever is to be reviewed. For larger efforts this could be upwards to half a day and be held in meeting room. Teams in regulatory environments may need to invest a bit more effort, particularly around creation and baselining of artifacts to be reviewed and recording of action items from the review. With adoption of common agile practices such as demos and team dashboards, described earlier, there will be less need for status discussions in milestone reviews. The milestones suggested by the DA tool kit are risk-based, not document based. For example, the Proven Architecture milestone is best fulfilled through development of beginning-to-end functionality that implements high-risk requirements, not the creation and review of an architecture model. Retrospectives. A retrospective is a facilitated reflection meeting performed by the team, the goal of which is to identify potential areas of improvement. Retrospectives often last thirty to sixty minutes. Retrospectives help teams to be more self-aware and improvement focused, supporting your overall governance goal of continuous improvement.

Answer 4

Blame Game: Circumstances in an Agile team where team members try to blame each other for issues and challenges rather than working together to collaboratively resolve what they are encountering

Answer 5

Everyone is excited. Curious. Maybe a bit nervous. There’s a new initiative to run at and you’re keen to get started. But there’s also confusion. You’re not sure who is doing what, or how to break this epic project into smaller components.

Answer 6

The team needs clarity and connection more than anything else at this stage. Don’t dive into execution mode too quickly. Take the time to call out assumptions about the work and (more importantly) how you’ll work together. Solving problems face-to-face instead of over email or chat is a good investment right now because you’ll get a richer sense of who your teammates are as people. Icebreakers (5-15 min) – If you have a few minutes while people trickle into a meeting, then you’ve got time to start making the personal connections that help us do our best work together. Toss out just-for-fun questions like “What car did you learn to drive on?” Or, more purposeful questions like “What will the title of your autobiography be?” help teammates get to know each other and prime the brain for creative thinking. #TwoBirdsOneStone Elevator Pitch (30 min) – This exercise answers the “What exactly are we doing, and why?” question. Creating an elevator pitch together sets your team up with a consistent and simple explanation of your work and the unique value it delivers. It’s like MadLibs™ for the office. Goals, Signals, and Measures (90 min) – One of the best investments you can make at this stage is clarifying what you’re trying to achieve and how you’ll know you’re successful. This workshop involves brainstorming, discussion, and decision-making. It can be tough at times – I won’t lie – but the shared understanding you’ll build is worth powering through.

Answer 7

Storming kind of stinks, to be honest. There’s a lot of confusion and frustration. Everything seems to be twice as hard as you’d expect. Lots of conflict

Answer 8

The key to moving through this stage is to make things as simple as possible. Hopefully, your team’s purpose or desired outcome is understood by this point. Now it’s time to make sure everyone understands the incremental milestones on the way to your goal, and what their role is in helping the team get there. Clarity as to what success looks like at each milestone will give your team a much-needed confidence boost. DACI (30-90 min) – The DACI framework helps you make group decisions efficiently and effectively. The secret is to clarify each person’s role. (Who is the decider? Who is contributing recommendations? Etc.) Create a default DACI that can apply to most decisions, then adjust as needed or create a custom DACI when the stakes are high or the situation is complicated. Roles and Responsibilities (60 min) – The name says it all. You’ll clarify each person’s role, what they’re responsible for, and any other expectations team members have of each other. Chances are, you’ll uncover some false assumptions as well – especially if your team had been cruising along in the “norming” or “performing” stage until recently. End-to-end Demo (30 min) – A visual representation of the final product or experience makes it easy for stakeholders to provide early feedback. Your “demo” might start as a diagram on a napkin. That’s fine. As you repeat this exercise over time, it’ll become higher fidelity and help your team see they’re making progress.

Answer 9

Whereas storming is chaotic, norming feels reassuring. Your team is gaining momentum. An esprit de corps is emerging, and – dare I say? – a sense of pride.

Answer 10

The main thing is to keep that momentum high. Remove obstacles by coordinating tightly with adjacent and upstream teams. Validate your assumptions about what your customers need, then proactively decide what you’re not doing right now so you don’t get distracted. Backlog grooming for the win. Trade-off Sliders (30 min) – In this exercise, you’ll agree on what you should optimize for and where you can be flexible, so you can make those small, every-day decisions about your work autonomously. The trade-offs will be obvious. Cheap, perfect, and on time? Nope. You can have two of those, but not all three. Sparring (30-60 min) – Sparring is a way to get structured, constructive feedback from peers and stakeholders. Show them a work-in-progress, then ask them to critique it, challenge it, and suggest ways to make the next iteration better. Remember: to spar doesn’t mean to fight. It means to practice. Project Poster (3 60-min sessions) – Your poster is a living document that communicates the problem you’re tackling, why it’s worth solving, the research you’ve done, possible solutions, and any risks or assumptions. It’s a great way to keep the team and your stakeholders on the same page. I recommend building it out in three phases as you define the problem space, validate your assumptions, and get ready to execute.

Answer 11

Double down on building personal connections among teammates. When it’s time to celebrate meeting a milestone, consider indulging in a team dinner or day out doing something fun together. And, now that you’ve figured out established practices that help you collaborate effectively, share those with other teams.