Agile Interactions

It Takes Two to Tango
Four to Square Dance

Common Agile Buzzwords?
Product Backlog
Scrum
XP
TDD
User Stories
Task Board

Agile Values
Product Backlog
Scrum

Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
Responding to Change Over Following a Plan
Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

XP
User Stories
Task Board

You have survived a plane crash
in a South Indian desert…
Prioritize these remnants based on their importance to your survival.
Flash Light (4 battery size)
Jack Knife
Air Map of the Area
Plastic Rain Coat (large size)
Magnetic Compass
Compress Kit with gauze
.45 Gauge Caliber Pistol (loaded)
Parachute (red & white)
Salt Tablets (1000)
Water (1 bottle per person)
Book titled
“Edible Animals of the Desert”
Sunglasses (a pair each)
Liquor (2 quarts of Vodka)
Overcoat per Person
Cosmetic Mirror
Then, repeat the exercise in a group. Create a ranked list for the group.

Score your Rankings
Expert Ranking Provided by Facilitator
Indiv.Score
Group Score
Lowest score is best.

Results from 270 Participants
Sample results:

Facilitated by Laurence Erlbaum Associates in 2002.
270 total participants.
Organized into six teams.
Every group score was better than all individual scores within the group.

Groups vs. Individuals
The Wisdom of Crowds, Surowiecki, 2005.

Yin Yang
Taoist Philosophy
“Opposing forces are
seemingly interconnected,
giving rise to each other.”
Yin yang are opposing
Yin yang are rooted together
Yin yang transform each other
Yin yang are balanced
Wikipedia.com

Yin Yang and Software Projects
Analysis
Business
Development
Analysis
Quality Assurance
Development
Project Management
Business Management
Natural tendency: Avoid conflict; Hide, ignore it.
Better Approach: Confront conflict and cultivate its yield.

Build a 3 foot bridge between two desks
Work as a team.
Use only these materials.
Make sure it can hold the weight of a textbook.
The bridge that holds the most textbooks wins.
You have 20 minutes.
1..2..3..GO!!!

Countless Possible Solutions

Self Organizing Teams
All projects require fulfillment
of certain roles.
Individuals are often assigned to
one or more of these roles.
When roles are not assigned, a self selection process occurs.
It’s natural for a group
to optimize over time.

Key Milestones in Organizational Behavior
Frederick Taylor
Principles of Scientific Management
Lewin
Organization Development
Blake/Mouton
Concern for People
vs Concern for Task
Business Process Management
Workflow
BPR
BPM
Maslow
Hierarchy of Needs
Gilbert
Human Performanc
Improvement
1880 1921 1928 1932 1946 1949 1954 1960 1964 1978 1990 1995 2000
Ben Graham
Applied Gilbreth’s work to offices and paperwork handling
Peters
Excellence
Senge
The Fifth Discipline
Learning Organization
McGregor
Theory X / Theory Y
Hawthorne
Human behavior and office productivity
X
Y
Franklin Gilbreth
Time Motion Studies in Factories
Organization
as a Machine
People
as Emotional Beings
People
as Machines

Common Organizational Dysfunctions
Despotism
Fear & Trembling
Fat, Dumb
and Happy
The Rat Race
Burn out the Best
The Caste System
Anointed & Untouchables
Silos
Anemia
Only the Dead Wood Survives
Ideology
Wars
Welfare State
Why Work Hard?
Retired
on the Job
Cowboy
Leadership
MalorganizationStructural Arthritis
Excerpted from The Power of Minds at Work: Organizational Intelligence in Action.© 2002 Karl Albrecht. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Communicating

Building a Dream Team
1992
2002

Getting Things Done
∑
P =
P
Lack of Knowledge
Inadequate Skill Level
Insufficient Experience
Mood
Ambition Level
Self-Motivators
Lack of Desire
Distractions at Home
Work Environment Distractions
Work Ethic
TEAM
TEAM MEMBER
Many factors can affect personal productivity.
It may be impossible to eliminate these distractions.
Healthy team dynamics can overpower some
personal distractions.

Improving– A Personal Decision
You may not want to give books like these as gifts, or “loan” them to co-workers.

Working Productively
Recall the night before leaving for a family vacation…
How could you maintain that intensity level
every day?

Productivity Spoilers
The Jerk
The Depressive
The Slacker
The Solution?
Dr. Will Felps, Rotterdam School of Management.

So that’s interesting and all, but…
What does all this mean to me?

Agile Values

Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools
Responding to Change Over Following a Plan
Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation
Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation

Blend

Tendency of a “D”
Dominance
Need to Accomplish
Decisive
Thrive on challenge
Takes authority
High self esteem
Deal Straightforward with people
May interrupt you in mid-sentence
May be perceived as arrogant, opinionated, rude
The stronger the “D” the more intense these behaviors.
.

Tendency of a “I”
Influence
Need to Trust and Talk
Trust, accept, like others
Enjoy talking
Animated: speak with whole face
Persuasive
Optimistic outlook/dreamers
May become emotional/ excitable
May be poor judge of character
The stronger the “I” the more intense these behaviors

Tendency of a “S”
Supportive
Need to Support Others
Good team players
Avoids attention: prefers working in background
Good listening skills
Deliberate; self sacrificing
May not be able to make smallest decisions
Can walk all over high S as long as they feel appreciated
The stronger the “S” the more intense these behaviors

Tendency of a “C”
Compliance
Need for Perfection/Quality
Aim for accuracy - capacity for and enjoy concentrating on details
Think systematically - problem solver
Serious, intense, thorough
Cautious decisions - need lot of time
Tend to set high standards for
1) themselves which are above norm
2) others - may become critical if do not meet their standards
The stronger the “C” the more intense these behaviors

A few more details …
Motivated by:
D Accomplishment
I Public Recognition
S Security
C Precision/Accuracy
Goals:
D Control over getting things done
I Relationships/Positive Social Interaction
S Working on group goals
C Getting job done to own standards
Fears:
D Loss of control
I Loss of social acceptance
S Loss of acceptance as a person
C Recognized for poor performance

Can you identify behavioral profiles?

What’s so important about all this?
Understanding/Accepting Others
People Have a Need to Communicate in Their Own Language
Language of the DISC

The Power of the Wheel
jd
JD
ss
sd
SS
DD
SD
dd
TT
tt
pp
AA
bb
PP
aa
BB
Harmony/Conflict
Gaps
Team Culture
Stress
SS = Sean ScrumMaster
JD = Joe Developer
DD = Doug Developer
SD = Stressed Developer
TT = Tom Tester
PP = Paul ProductOwner
BB = Bob BA
AA = Anne Analyst
red CAPS = Natural
blue lowercase = adaptive
The more the person moves to the outside of the wheel the more intense their behaviors

Workplace Motivators
DISC – How People Behave
Hidden Motivators – Why People Behave

Theoretical
Utilitarian/Economic
Aesthetic
Social
Individualistic/Political
Traditional/Regulatory

Agile Team Building Workshop
With your team, we…
Facilitate Exercises
Provide and Discuss DISC & Team Wheel
Build Personal and Team Action Plans

We look forward to hearing from you…
Barry Rogers
barry.rogers@improvingenterprises.com
972.369.6863
Ken Howard
ken@improvingenterprises.com
Blog: www.agilist.net
972.467.3001