B ildi d L di S ftBuilding and Leading Software Project TeamsProject Teams

Presented by Lisa JambaPresented by Lisa JambaJuly 14, 2008

ObjectivesObjectives

Identifying work culturesIdentifying work culturesBuilding a strong, collaborative teamU d t di t bUnderstanding team membersBecoming an effective collaboration leaderIdentifying your leadership styles

Cultures of Working*Cultures of Working

Command-and-Control— A leader is in charge gand makes decisions for the team to ensure tight authority and responsibility.Competence— The team or project relies onCompetence— The team or project relies on the expert capabilities of the few to bring about success for the whole.C ll b ti D i iCollaboration— Decisions are consensus-driven, and the team works in partnership toward success.Cultivating— Establishing personal and professional improvement for each team member is paramountmember is paramount.*From Schneider The Reengineering Alternative: A Plan for Making Your Current Culture Work

Command-and-ControlCommand and Control

Rely on the ability of the leader to take control, establish y ya firm grasp on the problem domain, derive a solution through her individual expertise and knowledge, and then direct the team in delivering that solution gPlan-driven software developmentProject manager (PM) defines the project plan, phases, tasks and deliverablestasks, and deliverables Success rests on the shoulders of the manager

Strength: highly repeatable Weakness: shreds morale and dilutes motivation creative

team membersteam members

CompetenceCompetence

Thrive in a world that values the "best and brightest." gBet their success on their ability to attract and retain those people considered to be the top in their field Prize and reward individual contributions over teamPrize and reward individual contributions over team accomplishments.

Strength: high achievementStrength: high achievementWeakness: risky (people leave), hard to handle large

increases in team size

CultivatingCultivating

Encouraging the growth of the employees g g g p yMotivating individual accomplishment and expression Promote experimentation, introspection, and personal interestsinterests Research-oriented software projects

Strength: Can lead to breakthroughs in emergingStrength: Can lead to breakthroughs in emerging technologies

Weakness (to some): Loose deadlines

CollaborationCollaboration

Collaboration: “usefully share ideas, information, d i i d l ti th t k h ld ddecisions, and solutions among the stakeholders and members of a project” (Tabaka)

Emphasis on how individuals share information, process it, and converge on the best thinking Decisions are either team-driven or manager-driven with team consultation“Artful making”*, success is a result of emergence over planning

Strength: Full-team participation, absorb changeWeakness: Hard to handle increases in team sizeWeakness: Hard to handle increases in team size

*R. Austin and L. Devin, Artful Making

Values in the Agile Alliance’s ManifestoValues in the Agile Alliance s Manifesto

Individuals and interactions over processes and ptools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a planResponding to change over following a plan

“A team is…a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to acomplementary skills who are committed to a

common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves

mutually accountable.”

Katzenbach and Smith, The Wisdom of Teams.

Collaborative teams in agile processesCollaborative teams in agile processes

The Team Performance CurveThe Team Performance CurveTrustsharingself-organizationgmutual accountability

Katzenbach and Smith, The Wisdom of Teams.

Typical Ways Working Groups Get S l t dSelected

Chance – assemble whoever is availableChance assemble whoever is available

I h it d t l d i t d dInherited – team already existed and was ‘inherited’ by the leadership

Acuity – assemble a team based on the yskills of the members

Who Succeeds at Collaboration?Who Succeeds at Collaboration?

Ideal Collaborative Team Members have/are:

Effective interaction and negotiation skills Respect the opinions of the other.p pProvide differing opinions in a non-attacking mode.Discourage command and control or bullying in interactions for the sake of moving forward (there are other ways to move f d!)forward!).Be able to reach consensus without any individual feeling that they had to compromise their true sense of what is right.

Cross functional individualsCross-functional individuals Highly adaptive Self-discipline

Storming—Jockeying for Norming—Have sense of “Groan Zone”

power and control begins, express disagreement, distrust, and prejudice, form alliances, divergent

consensus, ability to make decisions, trust one another about how to delegate work to sub-teams.

L d t l d l Group leader must be adept at conflict management in order to shepherd the team through this phase of discomfort

Leader exerts less and less influence and acts mainly as a facilitator. Conflicts are resolved quickly and without destruction. discomfort.

Performing—Can focus its full attention on the performance challenge; team culture is healthy and

Forming — Learning how each of them works, trying to figure out who will play what role in the teamself-managing.

The team can self-navigate its work within a larger vision or strategy.

team.

Such teams need strong facilitative leadership and guidance to keep them on track

http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm

them on track.

The Forming Phase – Figuring out RolesThe Forming Phase Figuring out Roles

William Moulton Marston's DISC model of team roles in which four basic roles model the way individuals tend to participate in a team:

D-”drive” primarily motivated by dominance, always headed to a goal

I "i fl “ lik " h t if " f th j t ti i ti dI- "influence“ like "what ifs" of the project, optimistic and expressive about alternatives and new visions.

S-"steadfast“ stable, sympathetic, building relationships y gC-"conscientious“ driven by detail and analysis, keeping

the team on the straight and narrow with regard to process, testing, and standardsprocess, testing, and standards

The Forming Phase – Who’s WhoThe Forming Phase Who s Who

Paper and online versions79 adjectives>30 yearsValidity studies

Dot near outer edge – probably committed to style

Dot near border – tends to have a secondary style

Sh di li ht hShading – lighter areas show where person will have to stretch beyond natural tendencies (cause stress)

Older version – line graph

Newer version – DISC circlehttp://www.discprofile.com/

Plotting the Group on DISCPlotting the Group on DISC

What does this DISC tell you about dynamics in the group?y y g p

“WORKING” – Assessing Skills, Habits, d St land Style

Assess workplace competencies (50 items)Taking responsibilityWorking in teamsPersistingPersistingsense of qualityWanting to continue learningAdapting to changeS l i blSolving problemsKnowing how to learnThinking in terms of systems

Which of these would you consider most important to an agile team? (read some behaviors)

http://www.hhpublishing.com/_assessments/WORKING/index.html

WORKING Team ProfileM1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6

RESP 55 25 90 25 60 55

WORKING Team Profile

RESP 55 25 90 25 60 55TEAM 60 60 5 30 75 85PERS 55 10 75 65 90 65QUAL 80 40 85 75 95 95LRNG 85 55 55 55 95 80CHNG 60 95 80 60 99 70PROB 85 25 95 35 99 65INFO 40 70 45 85 95 85INFO 40 70 45 85 95 85SYST 70 25 85 55 99 95

What insight about the members does this profile give you?

What types of interactions do you think happened in the year-long project?

Helping a Team Move ForwardHelping a Team Move Forward Foster collaboration in newly formed teams:

Watch the team for any clues that an underlying current of distrust may be flowing

Build time into meetings for team members to openly diverge.

In discomfort, do not fall back on command-and-control as a means to move forward; trust in the wisdom of the team.;

Aggressively believe in the team's ability to find consensus by continually bringing their suggestions and solutions back to them and asking them to formulate a useful consensus.

Conduct tactical (local-within a team) and strategic (across teams) assessments *

*Highly recommend reading M. Loughry, M. Ohland, D. Moore, “Development of a Theory-Based Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness, Educational and Psychological Measurement 2007: 67 (505). http://epm.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/67/3/505

How Teams FalterHow Teams Falter

Software development organizations sometimes…p g

matrix team members (borrow across multiple ( porganizations)

or multiplex team members (assign to multiple projects at the same time)

How does this cripple the ability to become high performing?high performing?

How do these events change a team?How do these events change a team?

Remove a memberRemove a member

Add bAdd a member

Change the team's goal/purpose

"Th fi h l t t"The fish always starts stinking at the head."stinking at the head.

This quote and variations of it have been credited to the Swiss TurkishThis quote and variations of it have been credited to the Swiss, Turkish, Russians, and many other groups. ☺

Effective LeadersEffective Leaders

Qualities of effective collaboration “coaches” in Qsoftware projects:

Mine the team’s wisdomLi t d tt tiListens and pays attentionWork to remove impediments and hindrances so the team can concentrate on the taskInstill trustPersonal humility Professional willProfessional will facilitative management – own the process not the decisions

The Servant LeaderThe Servant Leader

Agile team success (see handout)Agile team success (see handout)

L d i t ( iLeader incorporates (service + facilitation) into leadership style

foster collaborative empowered teamsfoster collaborative, empowered teams

Robert K. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Legitimate Nature of Power & Greatness

Ken Schwaber in Agile Project Management with Scrum

Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change

Leadership Styles - 1Leadership Styles 1

DictatorshipDictatorship no questions askedknowledge is powerknowledge is powerno mistakes

When does this style work best?

Downsides?

Leadership Styles - 2Leadership Styles 2

The "Almost" DemocracyThe Almost Democracy Team participation by keeping them awareEncourage debategVeto power – leader has power to ultimately make the decision (the “almost” part)

When does this style work best?

Downsides?

Leadership Styles - 3Leadership Styles 3

The PartnershipThe PartnershipEquality – just another team memberGroup vision – everyone participates in p y p pdecision-makingShared responsibility – all members responsible

When does this style work best?

Downsides?

Leadership Styles - 4Leadership Styles 4

TransformationalTransformationalCharisma – communicates clear vision to groupConfidence – good business sense, instill trustRespect and loyalty take time to let team know they areRespect and loyalty – take time to let team know they are importantExpressive praise – tell individuals and team when job well doneInspiration – help people do something they weren’t sure theyInspiration – help people do something they weren t sure they could

When does this style work best?When does this style work best?

Downsides?

Knowing Your StyleKnowing Your Style

2 Dispositional -wired and acquired preferences

3 Values -programmed and developeddeveloped

4 Persona - self you want to present to pothers

5 Skin - outward b h i thbehavior others can observe D. Zigarmi et al. The Leader Within Learning Enough

About Yourself to Lead Others

Another Model of StyleAnother Model of StyleSupporting - leader listens praises

Coaching- employee input but leaderleader listens, praises,

facilitates, shares information, accepting

-perceived as reasonable, caring, but may choose this because th d ’t k h t

employee input but leader holds final decisions, open to suggestions but maintain control

-less instinctive, time consuming

Directing

they don’t know how to direct certain people

Directing- leader defines the roles of

the follower and specifies what, how, when, where, and with whom tasks are to be

Delegating- from giving an employee

a generally defined what, but not how, to giving an employee the power to act in the done, control

-perceived to have severe delivery, lack of sensitivity

power to act in the leader's place.

-tests employees ability to work, lack of time, perceived as ‘dumping’ work

D. Zigarmi et al. The Leader Within Learning Enough About Yourself to Lead Others

GRID Theoryy

www.gridinternational.com

Facilitating Collaboration - 1Facilitating Collaboration 1

Prepare for Meetings! Have a clear purpose.Prepare for Meetings! Have a clear purpose.Status MeetingStrategic Action PlanningProcess Change WorkshopProject Startup MeetingP j t R t tiProject Retrospective

Facilitating Collaboration - 1Facilitating Collaboration 1

Use Organizing ToolsUse Organizing ToolsPick a medium (flip chart, sticky wall, butcher paper, whiteboards, projections)p p , , p j )Information must be clearly legible from any part of the meeting venuegInformation must be available from the beginning of the workshop to the end of the workshop

Examples of Organizing ToolsExamples of Organizing Tools

Agenda – map of activities, purposeg p p pGround Rules – belong to the team, not disciplinary, help them stay on track

E.g. respect the speaker, one conversation at a time, cell phones onE.g. respect the speaker, one conversation at a time, cell phones on stun, start and end on time

Parking Lot - track important items that may not be useful to discuss in the agendauseful to discuss in the agendaAction Plan - who does what after the meetingDecisions Board - document decisions!Communication Plan – what and how meeting info should be communicated to whomConsensus - posted definition of consensus for the team p

ReferencesReferences

Sources for information contained in this presentation include:J T b k C ll b ti E l i d F ilit ti Skill f S ftJ. Tabaka, Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders, Addison Wesley Professional, 2006.Taking a Closer Look at Measuring Team Effectiveness, www.hr.comR. Greenleaf, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Legitimate Nature of Power & Greatness K. Schwaber, Agile Project Management with ScrumK B k E t P i E l i d E b ChK. Beck, Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace ChangeE. O’Leary, Ten Minute Guide to Leadership, 2nd Ed., Macmillan USA, 2000.D Zigarmi et al The Leader Within Learning Enough About YourselfD. Zigarmi et al. The Leader Within Learning Enough About Yourself to Lead Others, Prentice Hall, 2005.

Suggested ReadingsSuggested Readings

Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, Phil Jackson It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff'sGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don't, Jim Collins