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Techniques for Team and Group Facilitation
The document outlines various facilitation techniques for agile teams, including methods like warm-ups, brainstorming, mind mapping, and voting techniques to enhance collaboration and communication. It emphasizes the importance of agile values and principles while providing specific strategies for addressing dysfunctional behavior in groups. Additionally, it includes guidelines for facilitators on how to create supportive environments and effectively manage team dynamics.
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Techniques for Team and Group Facilitation
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- 2. www.luxoft.com Introduction Svetlana Mukhina ICAgile ICP,ICP-ATF, ICP-BVA, PSM I Agile and Career Coach at Luxoft Agile Practice Experience: 12+ years in IT, Project and department management, Computer Linguistics, Technical Writing, Quality Assurance Interests: Project management, Agile transformation, Career and performance coaching, Psychology Hobbies: Horse riding, music, poker, travelling
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- 4. www.luxoft.com Warm-ups How To Purpose: •Find out name, position, interesting facts • Warm-up atmosphere • Increase trust and collaboration level Do • Time-box it • Make it comfortable • Make it positive • Involve all participants • Start with it when awaiting for participants • Explain purpose Don’t • Prevent critics • Avoid kinesthetic exercises • Don’t leave the group • Decrease side conversations Examples • Tribes • Say your name and adjective • Constellation • My Thing • Journey Line • My Word Usage • New team forming • New Team member introduction • Retrospective • Town-Hall • Project or Release planning session • Stakeholders meeting with a team
- 5. www.luxoft.com Team Facilitator? - Knowthe right answer for all questions - Judge opinion of others - Evaluate group decisions - Control the conversation - Fight with bad opponents - Take a side of good fellows - Lead rescuing activities
- 6. www.luxoft.com Team Facilitator? - Invisible -Professional - Tactful - Respectful - Trustful - Understandable - Energizing - Encouraging - Open-minded
- 7. www.luxoft.com Agile Team FacilitatorBehaviors Treasure Agile Values Follow Agile Principles Master Facilitation Techniques
- 8. www.luxoft.com Agile Values Individuals and interactionsover processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
- 9. www.luxoft.com Agile Principles 1. Ourhighest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. 2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage. 3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale. 4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. 5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. 6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. 7. Working software is the primary measure of progress. 8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. 9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. 10. Simplicity – “the art of maximizing the amount of work not done” - is essential. 11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. 12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
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- 13. www.luxoft.com BrainSwarming Game Rules 1.Moderator chooses an insight puzzle and initiates the Brainswarming graph on the board. Moderator writes the goal at the top and the known resources at the bottom. 2. Moderator explains the insight puzzle to the group (e.g., Stuck Truck Problem). 3. Moderator explains (or reminds) the group how Brainswarming works. Here are the main points to cover. - No talking is necessary among the group while Brainswarming is going on. Simply write your contribution on a Post-It note (or on the board) and draw a line to what it should be connected to. - There are three types of contributions you could make. - First, you could break a resource into one of its parts. In this case, put your Post-It note just above the resource and draw a line to the resource. - Second, you could make a goal more specific. For example, the top goal in Figure 2, free truck from underpass, is very general. Ask yourself, “How could I achieve this goal?” One way is to lower the truck, so this sub-goal should go below the goal free truck from underpass. In general, ask yourself the How question to make goals more specific and concrete. - Third, you could add an interaction such as put oil from the truck engine on the top of the truck so the truck will slide more easily. On the Brainswarming diagram, this interaction is indicated very simply by adding lines that connect oil, the truck top, and slide the truck. If the interaction is not clear to people, the contributor can write it in more detail on a different part of the blackboard so as to not clutter up the Brainswarming diagram.
- 14. www.luxoft.com BrainSwarming How To Purpose: •Generate lot’s of solutions in silent mode • Improve collaboration • Gamify information gathering process • Encourage up-bottom and bottom-up thinking • Team-building (aha- tasks) Do • Prepare environment (tables or walls with enough space near it) • Prepare stationary (flipcharts, markers, stickers) • Explain the purpose • Explain the rules • Clearly define problem • Time-box • Track the rules • Contact the author (Tony McCaffrey) to discuss results and find out more details of the technique Don’t • Stop verbal communication during exercise • Don’t insist on making this exercise, if the group can’t get its meaning, although you can suggest to try it and see the results • Don’t encourage competition inside the team Usage • Meetings on complicated and long- lasting issues • Problem solving session, where domain experts are not available • A-Ha tasks, where it’s necessary to think out- of-the-box
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- 16. www.luxoft.com MainMapping How To Purpose: •Information visualization and structuring • New way of thinking • Unlock creativity Do • Start with center topic • Use images/symbols • Select key words • The lines should be connected • Use multiple colors and lines thickness • Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy Don’t • When you don’t want to focus on ideas/concepts connections • It can’t incorporate large chunks of text • It is not the fastest way to structure information • In case of map personalization it can be difficult for others to understand what it is about • If you are a linear thinker • When you don’t have enough space for drawing Usage • Preparation for presentations, work- shops, trainings • Group meetings for problem solving • Retrospective event • Project scope roadmap • Project structure diagram (teams, projects, deliverables, stakeholders, milestones) • Note taking • Summarization • Brainstorming and collaboration • Collecting information
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- 18. www.luxoft.com Mindwriting/Brainwriting How To Purpose: •Collect silently initial thoughts and ideas on a topic • Eliminate disadvantages of speaking Do • Give yourself a time limit • Keep your hand moving until the time is up • Pay no attention to grammar, spelling, punctuation, style • Can be used as a background for many other group facilitation techniques e.g. “6-3-5 brain writing” Don’t • Don’t use it, if you have already several good ideas to choose from • It is can be boring • Avoid if quality, but not quantity is required • Individual, not group technique • Writing takes time Usage • Ideas gathering from everybody on Retro • During any event when you need input from each participant • In large groups/teams discussions
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- 20. www.luxoft.com Home and Away(World Café)
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- 22. www.luxoft.com World Café HowTo Purpose: • Collaborative dialog • Connection of diverse perspective • Team-building Do • Clarify the Context • Create Hospitable Space • Focus on What Matters • Listen to Understand • Link and Connect Ideas • Encourage Contribution • Share Collective Discoveries • Draw, doodle, • Have Fun Don’t • Does not work well for small (10-15 people) groups • Requires at least 3 groups of 5 people each • Stop chaotic movement from table to table, the teams should act synchronously Usage • During multi-teams collaboration sessions (PBR, Planning, Retro) • As a team-building activity, discussion of a book, event, movie
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- 24. www.luxoft.com Six Thinking HatsHow To Purpose: • Encourage full-spectrum thinking • Help to switch thinking pattern • Separate ego from performance. • Brings emotions, innovations, optimism, scepticism, facts and order into discussion • Reduce confrontation • Examine hypothetical consequences • Practice respect and loyalty to different opinions Do • Use on individual, participant and group level • Mention that this is just a game, as some participants can have difficulties with changing communication and thinking style • Identify the complicated and complex issue. • Describe the characteristics of hats • Be available for questions • Summarize the results • Use T-shirts, colored cards or badges, or pens. Don’t • If you don’t have at least 6 participants in a group • If there is no candidates for white and blue hats • In case you can’t clearly explain the rules • Better not to use without ice-breaker in a new team • In unfamiliar culture (e.g., in China, "wearing a green hat" means that your spouse is cheating on you) Usage • Planning, discussion estimations • Retrospective, discussion results • Discussion over implementation approaches • Training of a new thinking style • Exploration of various perspectives
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- 26. www.luxoft.com Check-in How To Purpose: •Gather of information about participants feelings towards the meeting or situation in the given moment • Focus on/off, reloading, switching, pause Do • Understand why you are going to use check-in, what is your purpose • Prepare the necessary stationary beforehand • Make is quick Don’t • No sense to use it if you don’t want to know the participants “status” • Avoid its usage when you already know that morale is low, deal with the issue instead Examples • ESVP • Happiness Radar (Mad Sad Glad) • Dots (green, yellow, red) • One word/image Usage • Standup • At the mid of long meeting, e.g. Product Backlog Refinement • Unclear situation • Separator between two parts of a meeting (e.g. Scrum Planning) • Wake-up after lunch or coffee break
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- 29. www.luxoft.com Voting Techniques HowTo Purpose: • Gives each participant a possibility to influence the decision Do • Define procedure to follow when voting is done • Make sure all participants are fine with voting rules • Make sure all make the voting even if they say that will follow any decision Don’t • If information is not well gathered and explored • When a group needs for time for discussion Usage • Planning, to vote for Sprint Backlog candidates • Retro, to vote for improvement backlog candidates • Any meeting you need to come to a decision as a group
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- 31. www.luxoft.com Pro/Con List HowTo Purpose: • Compare advantages and disadvantages of idea, approach, method Do • If you need to define and group facts into two categories • Provide general/initial clarification of drawbacks and benefits • Filter information Don’t • With characteristics of significant difference and importance • In case you need to avoid simplification Usage • Discussions over technological stack • Choosing implementation approaches of a User Story, migration to a new platform, Data Base
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- 33. www.luxoft.com Affinity Line HowTo Purpose: • Provide initial estimation to a bulk of requirements, epic, features Do • Prepare list items (requirements, epics) understandable to participants • Explain rules and answer questions • Setup appropriate space, so everybody can take part Don’t • Avoid calling the results “Project Plan”, make sure the stakeholders understand that these is a high- level estimation and it can be changed when scope is better explored Usage • Relative estimation • High-level estimation • Scope dependencies identification • Project Roadmap creation
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- 36. www.luxoft.com KANO and PrioritizationMatrix How To Purpose: • Features Prioritization • Scope grouping • Visualize stokeholds satisfaction level Do • Prepare a list of requirements, User Stories, features • Make sure BA or PO is available to answer questions regarding features • Clearly decide what is going to be done with each group of items Don’t • If you can’t influence Iteration or Release scope • In case you don’t know the project scope at all, you should do some grooming at first Usage • PBR • Strategic planning • Product Re- branding • Startup • Stakeholders expectation management • Review session, to discuss project future scope for 2- 3 sprint ahead
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- 39. www.luxoft.com Choosing the Levelof Facilitation Intervention FORMING Unclear Goals Low level of commitment Vаgue communication flow Responsibility is mostly avoided Absence of prominent leaders Build a common purpose Identify expectations Encourage for leadership and motivation Inspire to take responsibility Support contribution and collaboration
- 40. www.luxoft.com Choosing the Levelof Facilitation Intervention STORMING High level of independence Communication gaps Misunderstanding Uncertainty Dysfunctional behavior Differences and struggles Reduce toxic communication Invite different opinions and approaches Recognize tolerance and loyalty Define ground rules Develop common goal Involve everyone in discussion
- 41. www.luxoft.com Choosing the Levelof Facilitation Intervention NORMING Confidence and clarity Relevance Defined communication flow, goals, rules, roles Built relations Understanding of interdependence Develop process of information sharing Build feedback loops Use sharing format frequently to track progress Discuss discipline distribution Support negotiation and consensus
- 42. www.luxoft.com Choosing the Levelof Facilitation Intervention PERFORMING Responsibility over tasks and relations Stable progress and results High level of proactivity Self-organization and self-facilitation Collaboration Retrospect and seek for improvements Celebrate success Test and question habitual patterns Evaluate results against purpose Remember about rules, processes and focus
- 43. www.luxoft.com Choosing the Levelof Facilitation Intervention ADJOURNING (postpone, suspend, transform) Lack of interest Irrelevant goals High level of predictability and competence Satisfaction Stability Increase complexity and unpredictability Restructure the process Discuss team dissolving/rotation Transform to network/community Remember success and results
- 44. www.luxoft.com Functional Behavior Patterns Involvement during meetings Giving constructive feedback Asking powerful questions Providing specific examples Active listening Sharing information Respecting the speaker Confirming understanding Being loyal to different opinions Encouraging collaboration
- 45. www.luxoft.com Dysfunctional Behavior Patterns Providingunrelated details Expressing strong negative reaction Ignoring other’s opinion Using lot’s of unknown terms Distracting participants Playing blaming game Excusing for all the time Criticizing without recommendations Complaining on everything Whispering with neighbors Making generalizations Talking loudly Sitting silently during all discussion Withholding information Expressing strong emotions Stealing ideas of participants Repeating same ideas Trolling participants
- 46. www.luxoft.com Stages of DysfunctionalBehavior From: The Secrets of Facilitation by Michael Wilkinson Physical attacking someone Leaving the room in disgust Verbal attack directed at participants Negative comments directed at participant Audible sights of displeasure Negative physical reaction to discussing Doing other work on session Side conversations Folding arms, facing door or window Silence, lack of participation Arriving late, leaving early SeverityofDisruption Degree Of Dysfunction As the degree of dysfunction increases, the severity of disruption caused by the dysfunction increases as well
- 47. www.luxoft.com Game on DysfunctionalBehavior Identification
- 48. www.luxoft.com The Diagnosis-Intervention Cycle Describe behaviorand test for different views Share interference and test for different views Help group to decide whether and how to change behavior and test for different views Observe Behavior Infer Meaning Decide whether, how and why to intervene DiagnosisSteps InterventionSteps
- 49. www.luxoft.com Intervention Strategies Situation Intervention Thegroup don’t understand what is expected from them Repeat the purpose once again Explain the purpose in other words and provide examples Domination of a participant Stop the person Encourage others to speak up Side conversations Ask to focus on the topic Ask to link it to the topic Use of mobiles, laptops Ignore Ask to stop using Before the meeting together with the group create ground rules Late arrival of meeting participants Delay a meeting start to 5-10-15 min Start on time Start only when all members arrive Person repeating him/herself Tell him/her they you got it Use paraphrasing technique Most of the group lost focus Ask them to be more attentive Make a brake Participant discovered a new topic Ask him to come on track Ask him to link a new topic to the main track
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Editor's Notes
- #13 While brainswarming, an approach pioneered by Tony McCaffrey, directly challenges the idea of brainstorming by asking - why do we need to talk in the first place? This idea is probably best explained using an example from the lives of insects. Ants solve problems by leaving signals in their environment that influences the behavior of the others. When searching for food, successful ants leave traces of pheromones along along their trails. A signal to the other ants that there’s a path to dinner. If we make a problem solving graph, then humans can quietly leave their signals, i.e. their ideas, for others to build upon. Statistics have shown that brainswarming produces 115 ideas in 15 minutes while the traditional brainstorming produces only 100 ideas in 60 minutes.
- #17 Tony Buzan, Author, educationalist and the creator of Mind Mapping (R) A mind map is a diagram used to visually outline information. A mind map is often created around a single word or text, placed in the center, to which associated ideas, words and concepts are added. Major categories radiate from a central node, and lesser categories are sub-branches of larger branches. Categories can represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items related to a central key word or idea. Guidelines for creating mind maps: Start in the center with an image of the topic, using at least 3 colors. Use images, symbols, codes, and dimensions throughout your mind map. Select key words and print using upper or lower case letters. Each word/image is best alone and sitting on its own line. The lines should be connected, starting from the central image. The central lines are thicker, organic and thinner as they radiate out from the center. Use multiple colors throughout the mind map, for visual stimulation and also to encode or group. Develop your own personal style of mind mapping. Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map. Keep the mind map clear by using radial hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.
- #18 Visualization
- #22 The knowledge café method has multiple origins with links to other related methods such as The World Cafe. Elizabeth Lank developed the concept creating a physical and mobile cafe area in the 1990s. It has been popularised by Charles Savage[1] and Entovation International [2] and in recent years by David Gurteen, a UK-based consultant specialising in knowledge management. Eunika Mercier-Laurent uses a similar principle for her Innovation cafés.[3]
- #26 optimist vs pessimist / pro vs con
- #32 A list of arguments for and against some particular contention or position. These take several forms, including lists of advantages & disadvantages, lists of criticisms & defenses, and etc.