Self organized

Teams

By Shirly Ronen – Harel

Why do you Need Self Organizing

Teams in an Agile Environment?

By Kiss Flow Project

What is a self-organizing team?

Why do you Need Self Organizing Teams in an Agile Environment? – Kiss Flow Project

What is a

self-organizing

team?

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark

Challenges faced by the

self-organizing teams

Team inertia

The teams are enthusiastic about the agile transformation in the beginning but when challenges surface, it’s a common tendency to fall back to old ways of working.

Different personality traits

There are loners, who are happy with the clacking sound of keywords and go on without social interaction of any kind. Extroverts, on the other hand, thrive on interactions.

Why do you Need Self Organizing Teams in an Agile Environment? – Kiss Flow Project

Challenges faced by

the self-organizing teams

Ineffective communication

The very idea of self-organizing teams depends on effective project communication. If there aren’t proper communication channels, then the whole idea collapses. This is particularly important for geographically-dispersed teams.

Absence of individual accountability

One of the most common arguments against self-organizing teams is the perceived drop in efficiency and a lack of individual accountability. Since all members of the team participate in time-consuming meetings, individual productivity can be affected.

Why do you Need Self Organizing Teams in an Agile Environment? – Kiss Flow Project

Key characteristics of a

self-organized team

Competency

Members need to have confidence in their own project management skills and the skills of their colleagues to accomplish tasks.

Respect and trust in the team

Team members need to have trust in the skills of their co-workers and believe that everyone can get the work done

Teamwork and collaboration

Self-organizing teams need to be highly collaborative and work as a close unit.

Continuous improvement and growth

Members need to seek opportunities growth and look for the different ways that they can improve their skills to increase productivity levels.

Ownership

All the members of a self-organizing team should have a strong sense of ownership and commitment towards their work

Why do you Need Self Organizing Teams in an Agile Environment? – Kiss Flow Project

Advantages to

self-organizing teams

Enhanced collaboration

Instead of waiting for a manager to assign work and then putting their heads down and getting the task done, each team member communicates and decides together how the work will be distributed and accomplished. This helps team members ensures everyone is aligned throughout the development process.

Team buy-in and ownership

When people are empowered to make decisions, they’re more likely to be invested in those decisions and motivated to do the work to reach their goals. This leads to greater engagement and productivity across the team.

Learning from peers and seniors

Increased collaboration provides greater opportunities for team members to listen to and learn from each other through the brainstorming, planning,

and problem-solving process. It can also lead to valuable

mentoring relationships.

Close team bonding

Instead of sending people off to complete their assignments independently, self-organizing teams work together closely to plan the work and meet their goals. The process is more collaborative and requires trust and respect across the board.

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark

The role of managers in a self-organizing team

Management is typically responsible for

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark | Credit: Pexels


How to help a

self-organizing team succeed

Throwing a group of people together and leaving them to self-organize isn’t going to magically produce great results. That’s why you need specific structures, tools, and resources in place to set your team up for success.

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark

How to Build a self-organized team in an agile environment

The first step towards creating a successful self-organizing team is,

Why do you Need Self Organizing Teams in an Agile Environment? – Kiss Flow Project | Credit: Pexels

Before establishing a self-organizing team

,all the members should go through the following phases

Training

Team members need to be trained in order to properly understand the principles of a self-organizing team.

Coaching

The responsibility of the coach is to help team members work and communicate together in a seamless way.

Mentoring

The main goal of mentoring is to help the entire team stay motivated and grow together.

Why do you Need Self Organizing Teams in an Agile Environment? – Kiss Flow Project

Self-organized teams are crucial for agile projects

Credit: Pexels

Agile self-organizing teams:

What they are and why they work

By LucidSpark

Challenges to self-organizing teams

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark | Credit: Pexels

1. Provide proper training

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark

2. Coach and mentor your Agile teams

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark | Credit: Pexels

3. Facilitate communication and collaboration

Create a team working agreement to mitigate conflict

Work together to draft a team agreement on how to handle conflict or communication issues that may arise throughout the project. Creating a team work pact helps set expectations for communication and team interactions, and keeps everyone on the same page should conflicts come up.

Visualize your roadmap

With so many moving pieces to juggle, it’s easy for communication to break down or assignments to get lost in the mix. Visualizing your plans makes it easier for teams to quickly see progress at-a-glance and communicate from a shared source of truth.

Agile self-organizing teams: What they are and why they work – Lucid Spark | Credit: Pexels

Three Common Misunderstandings Of Self-Organized Teams

By Steffan Surdek

What is self-organization?

Three Common Misunderstandings Of Self-Organized Teams – Steffan Surdek

The team has to decide everything

Credit: Pexels


The team made this decision, I cannot change it

Three Common Misunderstandings Of Self-Organized Teams – Steffan Surdek

We are a self-organized team, you cannot tell us what to do…

Three Common Misunderstandings Of Self-Organized Teams – Steffan Surdek | Credit: Pexels

References

THANKS!

By Shirly Ronen – Harel