The document discusses what it takes to build high performing teams. It states that high performing teams are highly focused on their goals and achieve superior business results. Some key factors for building high performing teams include assembling the right people who have passion for their work and are intrinsically motivated, bringing the work to the team so they have ownership rather than working individually, discovering the deeper meaning and purpose in their work to stay motivated, creating an environment where they can focus in a state of "flow" without interruptions, and encouraging failure to allow for creativity and innovation.

1. WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD
HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS
Yasser Farra
May 25, 2017

2. ABOUT ME
• Doing Agile since 2007
• Being Agile – WIP
• CEO – Agile Accompli
• VP of Engineering – Alegion
• President – Agile AusEn

3. HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS
“High-performance teams (HPTs) is a concept
within organiza:on development referring to
teams, organiza:ons, or virtual groups that are
highly focused on their goals and that achieve
superior business results.”
- Wikipedia

4. Team

5. Focused
On
Goals

6. Achieves
Superior
Results

7. The Drill

8. THE DRILL – 10 MINUTES
• Split into groups
• Think of the best team with which
you’ve ever worked
• Write down key factors that made that
team so good, one per sEcky
– People, company, culture, environment,
process, work, intangibles, etc.
• Share and discuss within your team
• Dot vote and select top 3 factors

14. WHO ARE THOSE AMAZING PEOPLE?
• They have passion for their cra?
• They are impaAent and tolerant
• They are curious
• They have grit
• They are learners and teachers
• They collaborate
• They are intrinsically moAvated
• They are diverse

15. WHAT MAKES A GREAT (10X) DEVELOPER?
© Eric Ellioa

16. WHAT MAKES A GREAT (10X) DEVELOPER?
© Eric Ellioa

18. THE “PERFECT” TEAM FOR THE WORK

19. WHY BRING WORK TO THE TEAM?
• The “Right” team for the work
– “Me” -> “We”
– Playing it safe -> taking risks
– CauEon and fear -> candor and openness
– Social Capital

21. WHAT GETS YOU UP EVERY MORNING?
• IdenEfy the purpose
– Not goals (but goals must align to the purpose)
• Tap deeper
– Find the mission trigger
• Coach

23. THE ZONE
• “Flow”
– Intense focus and concentraEon
– Lose oneself, Eme stands sEll (or flies)
– CriEcal for creaEve work
– When best work is done

24. COST OF INTERRUPTIONS
• Errors double aeer an interrupEon of only 2.8-
seconds
• On average, aeer one interrupEon:
– 25 minutes needed to refocus
– 15 minutes needed to regain “flow”
– Total to regain flow = 40 minutes per interrupEon
• InterrupEons can have serious consequences in
some fields

25. HOW TO STAY IN THE ZONE?
• MeeEngs
• War Room
• “Sterile Cockpit”
• Bouncer
• WFH

27. WHY IS IT OK TO FAIL?
• What God looks like
• CreaEvity is a messy process
• Rails not rules
• Autonomy and ownership
• Kaizen

28. SUMMARY
• Assemble the Right People
• Bring the Work to the Team
• Discover the Meaning in Work
• Create the Zone
• Encourage Failure

29. RESOURCES
• Why It's Time to Forget the Pecking Order
• Genng to 10x (Results)
• The Sterile Cockpit
• Great Teams Are About PersonaliEes, Not Just Skills
• Do Schools Kill CreaEvity?
• The Unexpected Benefit of CelebraEng Failure

30. QUESTIONS?

31. CONTACT
Yasser Farra
yasser@agileaccompli.com
@yfarraatx
www.linkedin.com/in/yasserfarra/
www.agileaccompli.com/
www.alegion.com/
www.agileausEn.org