Better Software - December 2008 - (Page 23)

R ecently I attended a talk during which a leading agile consultant discussed implementing agile software development. The speaker waxed enthusiastically about selforganizing teams that would manage their own work and make most of the decisions about building software. The person sitting next to me squirmed uncomfortably. After a few minutes, he leaned over and whispered to me, “I’m a manager. With all this talk about self-organizing teams, what’s left for me to do?” Moving toward self-organizing teams—whether driven by adopting agile methods or not—doesn’t mean that all the managers are out the door. There’s still plenty of management work to do; it’s just different work. And, for many managers, it is also more satisfying work. In this article, I describe how selforganizing teams are different from manager-led teams and lay out how that changes the manager’s role. All well-functioning teams serve their clients, meeting or exceeding expectations. But cross-functional, selforganizing teams can enhance both creativity and commitment. An effective self-organizing team increases the capability of the individuals and the team as a performing unit. Managers of selforganizing teams don’t track day-to-day progress or set individual goals. They work to remove obstacles that prevent the team from achieving success. They work to optimize the team’s ability to achieve the organization’s goals. Most of us have an image in our minds of what “team” means. That image affects how we think about teams, how we structure teams, and what we expect of the people on teams. Manager-led teams are often like ski teams. Each person is selected for her individual skills and abilities as a skier. Each excels as an individual. All the members of a ski team are working for a common goal—winning the competition. Each contributes to success by making it down the hill as fast as she can, while passing through all the gates on the course. The coach’s job is to improve individual performance skills. A ski team trains together, but when the meet comes, each team member is on her own. They don’t win by working together; it’s the sum of the individual scores that wins the meet. Self-organizing teams are more like soccer teams. Each player has a position on the team based on her skills; however, the team must work together in order to win the game. In addition, each team member constantly adjusts her position and actions to create the best opportunity to score (or to prevent the opposition from scoring). If the team doesn’t constantly coordinate and adjust to the current circumstances, it doesn’t stand www.StickyMinds.com DECEMBER 2008 BETTER SOFTWARE 23 http://www.StickyMinds.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - December 2008

Better Software - December 2008 Contents Mark Your Calendar Contributors eLightenment Technically Speaking Code Craft Test Connection Management Chronicles What's a Manager to Do? Six Thinking Hats for Testers The Key to Good Interviewing 2008 Salary Survey Product Announcements 10 Things You Might Not Know About … The Last Word Ad Index

Better Software - December 2008

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