Agile talks a lot about self-organized teams, where developers and testers work together to deliver software. But what can you do to make teams succeed? This talk explores why people would like to work in teams, what managers can do to enable a team structure and culture, and how to (not) manage agile teams.

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Ben Linders Consulting
Teams, what’s in it for me?
How to (not) manage teams
Agile Portugal 2019
Porto, Portugal, May 31, 2019
Ben Linders

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Ben Linders Consulting
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / Speaker
Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous improvement
Freelance Editor for InfoQ.com
BenLinders.com
Books: Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives What Drives Quality
Agile Self-assessment Game Continuous Improvement
Games: Agile Self-assessment Retrospective Bingo Retrospective Smells
Impediment Board Game Quality Cards Impediment Cards

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Ben Linders Consulting
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/management

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Ben Linders Consulting

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Ben Linders Consulting
Agile Team
people working together to deliver value to the
users of products or services and stakeholders
• Self-organized
• Deliver value
• Collaborative
• Learn and adjust

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Ben Linders Consulting
Teamworking
Purpose
Safety Autonomy

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Why people hate working in teams
• unfair workload
• find it hard to work together
• depend too much on colleagues
• too much unclearness
• not getting credits you deserve
• work with people you dislike
• unclear roles or expectations
• unsure how what you contributes
• slowed down by colleagues

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Ben Linders Consulting
Why people hate working together
• unfair workload
• find it hard to work together
• depend too much on colleagues
• too much unclearness
• not getting credits you deserve
• work with people you dislike
• unclear roles or expectations
• unsure how what you contributes
• slowed down by colleagues

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Ben Linders Consulting
There´s no escaping

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Let’s face it
You can't do it alone, you will have
to work together with other people
Better get better in working together

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Ben Linders Consulting
Why work in a team – WIFM?
 Get more done together
 Getting credit
 Give and get help
 Learn from each other
 Camaraderie, belonging
 Increased work satisfaction
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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Ben Linders Consulting
Benefits of Agile Teams
 No micromanagement
 Sustainable pace
 Limit outside interference
 Less unclearness
 Improved communication
 Better results
Making Agile Work for You

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Organizing for Teamwork
 Establish Stable Teams
 Embrace Diversity
 Short-cycled Improvement
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

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Ben Linders Consulting
Creating a Teamwork Culture
 Guide Self-organization
 Stimulate Collaboration
 Foster Modern Leadership
 Be an Example Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

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What if it doesn’t work?
• Reflect & discuss
• Speak up
• Team working skills
• Get team coaching
Agile Retrospectives

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Ben Linders Consulting
Advice to managers
Dont call people resources!

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How to not manage agile teams
• Don't call people resources
• Don’t micromanage
• Don’t put pressure on teams
• Don’t be a jerk
When in doubt: don’t do it and see what happens

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Ben Linders Consulting
How to do manage agile teams
• Listen
• Value collaboration
• Trust people
• Give them what they need
• Reward team results
• Drive out fear

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Ben Linders Consulting
One last thing
Managers are people too!
Stop using the term “management”, “business”, or “them”.
Call them by their name, respect them in the same way as
you want to be respected.
Managers come to work to do their job the best they can,
just like you.

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Ben Linders Consulting
Thank you!Thank you!
Ben Linders
Trainer / Coach / Adviser / Author / Speaker
Agile, Lean, Quality & Continuous Improvement
info@BenLinders.cominfo@BenLinders.com
@BenLinders
www.linkedin.com/in/benlinderswww.linkedin.com/in/benlinders
www.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvieswww.facebook.com/BenLindersAdvies
www.benlinders.comwww.benlinders.com

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Ben Linders Consulting
Background Information

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Ben Linders Consulting
Assessing your Agility
Over 70 tools:
• Self-Assessment checklists
• Readyness checks
• Maturity assessments
• Agile health checks
• Measurements
• And much more!
Agile Self-Assessments

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Ben Linders Consulting
Services for Agile Self-assessments
Services for assessing your agility and increase delivered value:
• In-house workshop for playing the Agile Self-assessment Game
• Public workshops to experience the Agile Self-assessment Game
• Agile assessment for your team, department, or organization
• Facilitation for playing the game at your event (conference, meetup,
hackathon, game lab, etc)
• Tailoring the Agile Self-assessment Game to your specific needs
• Licenses for playing the game
• …
Contact: benlinders@gmail.com +31 6 2901 3863

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Ben Linders Consulting
Continuous Improvement
 Become aware of importance of continuous
improvement,
 Explore how it’s engrained in agile software
development
 Suggestions that you can use in your daily
work to improve continuously
Increase your organization's agility!
Leanpub.com/continuousimprovement
“Continuous Improvement is the act of continuously doing
whatever helps to become better and thus more valuable”