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Getting agile teams ready for takeoff


By Jeff Feinman
June 25, 2009 — 
There are as many issues involved in safely guiding an airplane to its destination as there are in software product development.
 
Michael James travels throughout the United States and Europe talking with agile teams about common themes between agile development and flying planes. Some of those themes are situational awareness, or knowing exactly what’s going on at any given time or iteration; and assertiveness, or being assertive when making decisions.

When a pilot takes a seat in the flight deck of an airplane, he or she must be extremely alert. The pilot must ensure that the navigation display is showing the correct route, and that the mode control panel is showing the right speed and altitude. And more than anything, the pilot must have an open line of communication with the rest of his or her team.

Flying a plane safely across a continent or across the globe requires utmost communication and teamwork between air traffic controllers, ground control and pilots.

Since radar, flight data processing systems and other technologies used by controllers are very strong nowadays, many problems arise out of communication issues, not technology.

“Aviation is interesting because it’s a place where we measure teamwork so precisely,” said James, a certified Scrum trainer with agile training company Danube Technologies. “When an air traffic controller and pilot team gets into a non-routine situation, that’s when you see what the team really has.”

One difference between the two is that in software it can be harder to measure success and failure, because teams are building something that’s never been built before, so there is not much of a basis of comparison, James noted. Operating an aircraft safely, however, for the most part is a repeatable form of work. Crew interaction and data recordings can show what went wrong and what went well.

Play it again, band!
In James’ seminars, agile discussion doesn’t just center on ties to aviation. The trainer also tries to help teams get in rhythm by explaining concepts based in jazz and improvisational theatre.

Much like a jazz group jamming away, a Scrum team must maneuver along driven by instinct and communication, rather than appointing an individual to set the tone. “Leadership changes from moment to moment based on a situation,” James said. “So in a jazz ensemble or improv acting group, when they’re in a group flow, the team will get into a certain situation where everyone knows a particular person is going to set the direction.”

James noted that jazz and improvisational acting are applicable to how groups operate in small ensembles, which is “basically what a Scrum team is.” In Scrum, there is not necessarily an externally appointed leader. Anyone can point the direction, and team members must learn to adapt to fluctuating circumstances and actions. This idea is laid out in the Scrum Alliance’s “inspect and adapt” principle, which encourages teams to constantly analyze what they are doing right and wrong throughout an iteration.

“Scrum is applicable for new product development,” James said. “There’s no road map. You take a couple of steps in a direction and sense how that is. You take a measurement and then make a decision based on that.”

One of James’ improvisational acting exercises has multiple people construct a verbal story where everyone contributes a line in succession.

By doing this rapidly, the team partakes in an exercise where members cannot predict the outcome on their own and must guide the story based on what was said by the person right before them.

“This helps formulate a response to what the group is doing, rather than having someone try to act on what they might have thought up on their own previously,” James said.

One main issue that James talked about is that software development teams are often formed based only on technical skill sets and not personalities. A team with too few extroverts will underperform because it will miss someone that acts as the “social glue” and helps communicate information. At the same time, a team that has too many extroverts will also underperform because they’re only socializing and not focusing on goals as much.

“We’re ignoring that the team is made of human beings, not resources,” James said. “Not only is it offensive, but it’s going to reduce our effectiveness in getting the most out of these people if we see them as horses pulling a wagon, instead of realizing we’re dealing with complex human beings.”


Related Search Term(s): agile


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Comments

06/26/2009 01:32:45 PM EST

Thanks for running this article! One thing I did not state clearly in the interview is that Scrum does have a Product Owner role who is responsible for indicating business priorities and direction, while adjusting it every iteration. While executing each iterations, there is no externally appointed "team lead" regarding technical implementation. As the article suggests, in a collaborative Scrum team (jazz ensemble, improv acting group, etc.), leadership moves fluidly from person to person based on emerging discovery. Thanks again for the great article. Michael James http://danube.com/blog/michaeljames

United StatesMichael James


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