Power in agile teams (LAST 2015)

1. Power in Agile Teams

3. Why power?

4. I was effective…
Passionate
Opinionated
Strong Willed
Was I effective..?
Bruised Egos
Conflict
Stress

5. So I started to explore.
And what I found was...

7. What will I be covering
1. Teams
2. Power in teams
3. Avoiding power pitfalls
4. Power used well

8. 1. Teams

9. What is a team?
GOAL
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

10. Who makes up a team
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

11. There are lots of relationships in a
team
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

12. There are lots of relationships in a
team.
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

13. There are lots of relationships in a
team.. Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

14. It gets even more complex!
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

15. Why teams?

16. Why teams?
Teams can
see more.

17. Why teams?
Team can
know more.

18. Why teams?
Teams can
do more.

19. Individuals
do the work
How do teams work?

20. Solutions
to Problems
Individuals

21. Teams
Decide
Solutions

22. IndividualsTeams SolutionsIdeas!
Suggested by
Individuals

23. Which ideas are implemented, which
are discarded and which are never
suggested...
That’s where power in teams comes
into play.

24. 2. Power in teams

25. Hard power.
Soft power.
Individual abdication of power.
Contextual abdication of power.

28. How people who wield power see
themselves:

29. How other people see them:

30. First let’s look at Hard Power

31. The team have been asked to find
the next cool refreshing beverage.
The Opportunity

32. This is our team.
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

33. They are forming a solution..
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

34. Courtney has a solution...
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

35. Alex does not agree.
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

36. How Does Courtney Get Her
Solution?

37. Acting as a boss - Legitimate Power
“With respect Alex,
this is the direction
we are taking.”

38. Giving Incentives - Reward Power
“Alex I know that you
like that idea, but if
we do my way maybe
we will have time to
do your pet project.”

39. Threatening punishment - Coercive
power
“Alex I don't want to
have this conversation
again - you know your
performance review is
coming up”

40. So who loses out?
Everyone involved (and more).

41. Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

42. Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

43. Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

44. The Idea! (worst of all)
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

47. Why does this happen?

48. A flaw in the Human
Operating System (OS) (1st)
Obedience

49. Soft Power

50. A cool tie in to Pixar's latest hit.
The opportunity:

51. They are evaluating an idea..
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

52. Robin has a solution...
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

53. How does Robin get her solution?

54. Specific Knowledge - Informational
Power
“I was told by
marketing that
this is what they
want.”

55. Trusted Expertise - Expert Power
“In my opinion we
should not do this ,
everyone knows
don’t fight
Conway's law.”

56. Being liked / respected - Referent
Power
“Lets do it this
way.”

57. It has the same downsides as Hard
Power
● The team is less invested.
● The relationships become strained.
● The idea is less.

60. So why does this happen?

61. A flaw in the Human OS (2nd)
Overconfidence

62. Abdication of Power (Individual)

63. Next great dental hygiene product.
The opportunity:

64. Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney
They are evaluating an idea..

65. Robin has a solution...
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

66. Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney
But it’s Jack we are interested in.

67. Why does Jack not get involved?

68. Does not like to be noticed.
“...”

69. Feels like she has nothing to add..
“I can’t say that..
...it’s stupid”

70. Likes to talk One-on-One
“I just wanted to have a
word about what we
discussed in the meeting.”

71. This is really hard to see..

73. So why does this happen?

74. A flaw in the Human OS (3rd)
Insecurity

75. Abdication of power (Contextual).

76. The next generation of AI. To help humans
accomplish tasks faster and smarter.
The opportunity:

77. They are evaluating an idea..
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

78. Courtney and Robin have a solution..
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

79. Once suggested all the other ideas
are discarded.
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

80. They are like Bob and Mary in perspective..
“I was thinking the
exact same thing.”

81. They don’t like conflict.
“Yeah … that
seems like a good
idea.”

82. They want the meeting to end!
<Been in this meeting
forever - lets just
agree>

85. So why does this happen ?

86. A flaw in the Human OS (4th)
Conformity

87. Lets pause for a moment..
1) The type of power/abdication of power
you use
2) The type of power/abdication of power
that most damages collaboration in your
team

88. Now with some context:
Let me explain what I learnt about
myself.

89. Expert Power was/is my drug of
choice.
I had no idea.

90. I thought it was a good thing...

91. But the effect remained the same:

92. 3. Avoiding power pitfalls.

93. How do we fight against the flaws in our
Human OS?
● Obedience
● Overconfidence
● Insecurity
● Conformity

94. The first step is a realisation
We, as humans, have a drive to work
communally.
We, as humans, are not always very good at
it.

95. “Teamwork is an individual skill”

96. Ultimately..
How do we leverage our individual power to
improve the ideas that flow through our
team?

97. There are 4 things we can work at:
● Our teams culture.
● How we discuss ideas.
● How we make difficult decisions.
● Our own behaviour.

98. Team culture

99. Generate a culture of ideas.

100. Generate a culture of ideas.

101. Treat the implementation of new
ideas as experiments.

102. Treat the implementation of new
ideas as experiments.

103. Respect the diversity of your team.

104. Respect the diversity of your team.

105. How we discuss ideas:

106. Facilitate your meetings.

107. Facilitate your meetings.

108. Agree about how your team makes
decisions.

109. Agree about how your team makes
decisions.

110. Fight the mythical fixed pie
assumption.

111. Fight the mythical fixed pie
assumption.

112. Suspended judgement.

113. Suspended judgement.

114. How we make difficult decisions:

115. Nominate someone as devil's
advocate.

116. Nominate someone as devil's
advocate.

117. Have more than one option.

118. Have more than one option.

119. Understand the groan zone.

120. Understand the groan zone.

121. Your behaviour...

122. Be humble.

123. Be present.

124. Be aware.

125. Lets pause for another moment..
1) What’s the most important power
mitigation behaviour for your team to use.

126. 4. Power used well:

127. What does a healthy meeting look
like?

128. A fun, unpowered toy.
The opportunity:

129. The meeting:
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

130. They are evaluating an idea..
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

131. The facilitator:
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

132. The inexperienced:
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

133. The expert:
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

134. Ideas are evaluated...
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

135. The Groan Zone
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

136. Consensus
Jack Alex Bob
Mary Sue Robin
Courtney

137. This leads...

140. To a great idea!

141. Why make the effort ?
What we do is all about the ideas.
In the land of agile having good
ideas is vital.

142. To have a truly collaborative
consensus driven environment.
We all have times when we will be
driven by flaws in the human OS.
We must struggle against our
impulses, our drives and our nature.

143. Expert Power
Informational Power
Referent Power
Redirecting Soft Power

144. How goes my journey?

145. I have discovered change is hard.

146. I have discovered change is hard.

147. In summary:
● If you talk too much - talk less, talk last.
● If you tell people what to do - ask more
questions.
● If you never speak, the team needs you
to speak up.

148. You are now aware:
● How you use power (or how you don’t)
● How power is used/abused in your team
● Techniques you think may help your
team collaborate
Now comes the hard bit ...change!

149. That's it!
Any questions ?

150. References
Facilitator’s guide to participatory
decision-making - Sam Kaner
Teamwork is an Individual skill -
Christopher M Avery
How to measure anything- Eddington
50 ways to improve your user stories -
Goran edvik and david evans
Group Dynamics for Teams - Daniel Levi
Thanks to
Dius agile coaching SIG
The good folks at BCGDV
Dominique and Erinn
Agile Newcastle
And as always My Girl

151. Other Info
Link to slides
http://www.slideshare.net/caoiltedunne/power-in-agile-
teams
Twitter : @CaoilteDunne
Email : caoilte.dunne@dius.com.au