Individuals and Interactions

"I have thought for quite some time that the team aspect of Agile has been glossed over in favor of the technical aspects. This book is a welcome change."

-- Sarah Edrie, Harvard Business School

"I feel the authors have the knowledge to provide even more valuable information. I wanted to keep reading!" -- Robert Bogetti, Baxter Healthcare Corporation

Great emphasis is typically placed on the "mechanics" of agile development--its processes and tools. It's easy to forget that the Agile Manifesto values individuals and interactions ahead of processes and tools. You can gain powerful benefits by refocusing on the people side of agile development.

This book will show you how. It's your practical user's guide to solving the problems agile teams encounter, packed with stories, best practices, exercises, and tips you can actually use. Step by step, you'll learn how to get teams to truly work as teams, not as disconnected individuals. Along the way, you'll find profoundly realistic advice on communication, motivation, collaboration, change, group dynamics, and much more.

Whether you are an agile project manager, ScrumMaster, product owner, developer, trainer, or consultant, this bookwill help you make your agile environment more productive, more effective, and more personally fulfilling.

Autorentext

Ken Howard works at Improving Enterprises, where he specializes in helping companies increase productivity through efficient practices and pragmatic organizational dynamics. Ken has been involved in most aspects of software development for more than 26 years with such languages as diverse as COBOL, Smalltalk, and Java. Over the years Ken has provided consulting, training, and mentoring to companies in 12 countries around the world, helping with adoption of software development best practices. He eagerly embraced the opportunity to share many of the things he has learned with a broader audience through the publication of this book.

Barry Rogers is President of Improving Enterprises, Dallas, Texas. He is an accomplished Certified ScrumMaster and Certified Scrum Practitioner. Barry supports clients in both a hands-on and mentorship/coaching capacity, helping teams adopt agile/Scrum and improve human dynamics. Barry is a Speaker and also facilitates leadership, agile, and project management training sessions.

Klappentext

"In my opinion, this is the handbook for Agile teams. I have been wishing for this book since we implemented Agile several years ago. In many Agile process books, the team aspect of Agile has been glossed over in favor of the technical aspects; this book is a welcome change."

--Sarah Edrie, Director of Quality Engineering, Harvard Business School

"Cloud Computing, Distributed Architecture, Test Driven Development...these are simple to master compared to building an agile, efficient, and top-performing team. The path from skilled developer/tester to successful manager, team leader, and beyond is now more easily attainable with the insights, knowledge, and guidance provided by Ken Howard and Barry Rogers in Individuals and Interactions: An Agile Guide."

--R.L. Bogetti, www.RLBogetti.com, Lead System Designer, Baxter Healthcare

"This book provides fantastic insight on how individuals act and relate as a team. Ken and Barry give great examples and exercises to help the reader understand behaviors of each individual and use this knowledge to perform better as a team."

--Lisa Shoop, Director Product Development, Sabre-Holdings

"Individuals and Interactions is a masterfully crafted must-read for anyone who is serious about understanding and applying the human-centered values of Agile development. It is like Patrick Lencioni meets the Poppendiecks to write 'Agile through the Looking-Glass.' Here the 'Looking-Glass' is the powerful DISC framework, and we see it used to enable different kind of TDD (Team-Driven Development) through the use of stories, examples, models, and guidance."

--Brad Appleton, Agile coach/consultant in a Fortune 100 telecom company; coauthor of Software Configuration Management Patterns

"This book is essential reading for any engineering team that's serious about Agile development. Its chapters on team dynamics and development lay the foundation for learning all of the factors that enable a team to transform itself into an Agile success story."

--Bernard Farrell, Consultant Software Engineer at EMC Corporation

Great emphasis is typically placed on the "mechanics" of agile development--its processes and tools. It's easy to forget that the Agile Manifesto values individuals and interactions ahead of processes and tools. You can gain powerful benefits by refocusing on the people side of agile development.

This book will show you how. It's your practical user's guide to solving the problems agile teams encounter, packed with stories, best practices, exercises, and tips you can actually use. Step by step, you'll learn how to get teams to truly work as teams, not as disconnected individuals. Along the way, you'll find profoundly realistic advice on communication, motivation, collaboration, change, group dynamics, and much more.

Whether you are an agile project manager, ScrumMaster, product owner, developer, trainer, or consultant, this book will help you make your agile environment more productive, more effective, and more personally fulfilling.

Inhalt

Preface xv

Introduction 1

A Brief History of Organizational Behavior 2

Stage 1: People Are Machines (Late 1800s-Mid 1900s) 2

Stage 2: People Are Emotional Beings (1940s-1970s) 3

Stage 3: Organization Is a Machine (1980s-2000s) 4

Stage 4: Empowered Teams Transform the Organization (Current Trend) 6

Birds of a Feather... 6

PART I: INDIVIDUALS AND INTERACTIONS

Chapter 1 Autonomous Securities, LLC 11

Chapter 2 Behavior and Individuals 13

Communication Framework 14

DISC History 15

DISC Definition 15

So Why Is This Important? 17

Understanding and Accepting Others 17

Communicate in Your Own Language 19

The Language of DISC 20

Strategies for Communicating 21

How Do You Take a DISC Assessment? 22

Closing 23

Chapter 3 Team Dynamics 25

An Apoplectic Dilemma 25

A Different Approach to Teams 26

Capitalizing on Strengths 28

The Anarchical Team 30

The Evolution of a Maturing Team 30

Conflict 33

Now What? 40

Closing 42

Chapter 4 Communication 43

Lingo 45

Empathy 46

Eye Contact 48

Ambiguity 49

Body Language 50

Cultural Awareness 53

Reflecting Body Language 54

Small Talk 54

Collaborative Conversations 57

The Power of Shutting Up 64

Communication Latency 65

We the People... 68

Closing 69

Chapter 5 Collaboration 73

Working as a Team 73

Vox Populi 74

Group Survival 77

Problem-Solving Versus Decision Making 78

Individuals and Decisions 79

Groups and Decisions 79

Group Influence 80

Six Degrees of the Perfect Ice Cream Sundae 83

Diametrically Opposing Forces 85

Closing 88

Chapter 6 Behavior and Teams 89

Harmony/Conflict 89

Why Not Hire a Team with Members That Will All Naturally Get Along? 92

Be Prepared for Conflict 93

Stressed Out 94

Fill the Gaps 94

Organizational or Team Culture 95

Closing 95

Chapter 7 Change 97

A True Story 97

Why Is Change Difficult? 99

Change Squirm 102

Change Apprehension 103

Fear of Changes to Self-Actualization Needs 104

Fear of Changes to Esteem Needs 105

Fear of Changes to Love/Belonging Needs 105

Fear of Changes to Safety Needs 106

Fear of Changes to Physiological Needs 106

Change Coach 107

Change Catalyst 108

Tracing to the Roots 109

Grass Roots Resistance to Change 110

Exposing the Origins 111

Exercise 113

Closing 114

Chapter 8 Motivators 115

Individual Workplace Motivators 115

Theoretical 116

Utilita…