Steve Neiderhauser

Qualities of Fast Teams

Found this research about teams, although I'm not sure who performed the research.

The fastest teams have these qualities.

Dedicated: Everyone is on one and only one team.

Small: Fastest teams average 4.6 people (4 or 5 people).

Stable: Teams stay together for years.

Co-located: Team sits within touching distance all day.

Cross-functional: Each team member trained in 3 or more skills; this contributes to swarming.

Swarming: Team works one user story until it's done.

Protected: Team is not interrupted during sprint.

The conclusion? Launching great scrum teams is a scientific and repeatable process.

Lean Change Management

I'm reading Jason Little's book, Lean Change Management. The book is filled with practical advice for changing organizations.

This diagram shows Jason's Lean Change Management cycle.

Insights: Before you plan any change, you must understand the current state of the organization.

Options: After you've gained enough insights to start planning, you need options. Options typically include one or more hypotheses and expected benefits.

Experiments: Introduce a change and see if it works out the way you believed it would.