How Does This Apply To Agile Methods?
Agile development methods like Scrum and XP turn the dial on collaboration. All planning and even project management as a responsibility is shared and collaborative. Organizations that apply traditional, command-and-control management style designate a project leader or manager. That manager has the responsibility to plan, estimate and schedule the work breakdown. Obviously they consult their team members, but the decision-making is ultimately left to their personal judgement. Emphasis is on divide-and-conquer rather than team collaboration.
By contrast, Agile teams engage the entire team in collaboration to derive their plans, estimates and schedules. When using Scrum, the scrum team participates in iteration planning, task/story estimation, etc. The Project Manager who makes decisions and directs with authority is no more. A Scrum Master now facilitates a collaborative, self-managed team. The process is designed to benefit from the wisdom of the crowd. But does your team have the collaboration skills to make that process a smooth and productive one?
Does your Scrum Master, who may well know the rules of Scrum, possess insight into team dynamics, or just the rules of Scrum? Does your team know how to deal with conflict and avoid common dysfunction, or only the steps of the process? Will teamwork be productive or awkward? Will the decisions be quick and constructive or slow and painstaking?
Collaboration Fundamentals to Increase Team Velocity
Today many project managers and software developers are are seeking certification as a Scrum Master (CSM). Beyond the rules of Scrum, CSM training provides only a few basic patterns to help guide decision making - e.g. the decision pattern. But this is just the beginning. Scrum provides good rules of engagement for software development, but how can you optimize the collaboration skills that are so necessary for this kind of methodology? These skills are more important than ever if you and your team are adopting agile development.
Knowledge Team Leadership teaches you the essential skills and behavior that make productive collaboration a natural and inevitable result.
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