Agile and Beyond 2017 Presentation on Tuckman's Theory of Team Development. This theory was based on non-scientifically gathered surveys and has never been empirically proven despite dozens of scientific attempts. This talk covers why stable teams may have been a good thing and why we want to consider dynamic teams as we face new challenges.

1. @WeAreCTO2 / @DocOnDev
Tuckman
was
wrong

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Doc Norton, CEO
doc@wearecto2.com
@DocOnDev

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Stable Teams

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– Scrum PLoP Stable Teams Pattern
“Keep teams stable and avoid shuffling people around
between teams. Stable teams tend to get to know their
capacity, which makes it possible for the business to
have some predictability.”

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Why Stable Teams?

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Because Tuckman’s
Forming Storming Norming Performing

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Performance
Time
Forming Storming Norming Performing
Because Tuckman’s

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Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
PerformingBecause Tuckman’s

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That’s wrong?
What if...

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the problem wasn’t
because Tuckman’s?
What if...

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Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performingbecause Tuckman’s

12. @WeAreCTO2 / @DocOnDev
Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performingbecause Tuckman’s

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Because Tuckman’sPerformance
Time
Forming
Storming

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Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
PerformingBecause Tuckman’s

15. @WeAreCTO2 / @DocOnDev
Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Storming
Storming Storming
Norming
Norming
Norming
Because Tuckman’s

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Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Storming
Storming Storming
Norming
Norming
Norming
Because Tuckman’s

17. @WeAreCTO2 / @DocOnDev
Performance
Time
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing?
Storming
Storming Storming
Norming
Norming
Norming
Because Tuckman’s

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ActivityOccurrence
Time
Tuckman’s (for real, yo)
Forming
Storming
Performing
Norming

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the problem wasn’t
because Tuckman’s.

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the problem was
because resources?
What if...

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because resources

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because resources

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because resources

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because resources

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because resources
HoursSpent
Active Project Count
1 2 3 4 5
32
24
16
8
8
8
8
8
8
8
16
24
32
Active Work
Other Tasks
Context Switching

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8Hoursofworkcompletedin…
0
25
50
75
100
Active Project Count
1 2 3 4 5
10 13.3
20
40
because resources

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because resources

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TaskTime
Allocation
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
because resources

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8Hoursofworkcompletedin…
0
25
50
75
100
Allocation
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
because resources
One Project

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8Hoursofworkcompletedin…
0
25
50
75
100
Allocation
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
because resources
Two Projects

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8Hoursofworkcompletedin…
0
25
50
75
100
Allocation
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
because resources
Three Projects

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8Hoursofworkcompletedin…
0
25
50
75
100
Allocation
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
because resources
Four Projects

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8Hoursofworkcompletedin…
0
25
50
75
100
Allocation
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
because resources
Five Projects

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stable teams
Solved
because resources

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bUT...

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and

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“…different areas of code are going to need different
skill-sets at different times, and for that reason we need
[people] to go and work on those particular areas at
different times… None of this is basically static. It’s very
fluid. And if you have the ability to reteam, then you
are able to go do this sort of thing consistently.”
– Michael Feathers

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“None of this is basically static. It’s very
fluid. And if you have the ability to
reteam, then you are able to go do this
sort of thing consistently.”
– Michael Feathers

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reteam

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Cabals at Valve

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Spotify

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reteam starters

43. #Agile2016 / #CultureACED / @DocOnDev
four factors
l e a d t o b e t t e r t e a m
performance & collective
satisfaction… AUTONOMY
CONNECTION
EXCELLENCE
DIVERSITY

44. #Agile2016 / #CultureACED / @DocOnDev
AUTONOMY
CONNECTION
EXCELLENCE
DIVERSITY
four factors
lead to better
team performance
& c o l l e c t i v e
satisfaction…

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reteam patterns

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socialization

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Mitosis

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Volunteer Fire Dept.

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trading places

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–Nayan Hajratwala
“Reteaming is inevitable.
You might as well get good at it.”

51. Only try to realize the truth.
There is no team.

52. @WeAreCTO2 / @DocOnDev
Doc Norton, CEO
doc@wearecto2.com
@DocOnDev
thank you!

53. @WeAreCTO2 / @DocOnDev
• Stable Teams Pattern - https://sites.google.com/a/
scrumplop.org/published-patterns/product-
organization-pattern-language/development-team/
stable-teams
• Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development - https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Tuckman%27s_stages_of_group_development
• Using the Stages of Team Development - http://
hrweb.mit.edu/learning-development/learning-topics/
teams/articles/stages-development
• Stages of Small-Group Development Revisited - http://
www.staff.science.uu.nl/~daeme101/
Stages%20of%20Small-
Group%20Development%20Revisted.pdf
• Theories and Models of Group Development - https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_development
• DAU Model of Team Development - http://
www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a493549.pdf
• Dynamic Reteaming: How We Thrive by Rebuilding
Teams - https://www.agilealliance.org/wp-content/
uploads/2016/07/H.Helfand.Dynamic-Reteaming-
How-We-Thrive-by-Rebuilding-Teams.pdf
• Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking by
Gerald Weinberg - http://amzn.to/2d7SIZ9
• Valve Handbook - http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/
1074301/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf
• Spotify Culture Video - https://labs.spotify.com/
2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/
• Squads / Chapters / Guilds - http://nomad8.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/02/Squads-Chapters-Guilds-in-
one-page.graffle.pdf