Agile Suggestions (S1E#6) -Embedding Quality within Product, Practice and Process

"A vision without execution is hallucination", said Thomas Edison. And, execution without vision is just ridiculous.  Are you willing to rethink your teams' way of working and make sure they effectively deliver? So how do you go about that? 

Putting people in a room doesn't make it a team
Let's face it... we hire skilled professionals that somewhat relate to a company's culture and expect them to be  instantly a kick-ass team as soon as we've grouped them. It's already a natural, yet complex thing that 2 people are able to talk with each other, so you can imagine that 6 (-3 or +3) is even going to be a harder nut to crack. Before a team emerges from that group, let's first create a group from those fine individuals by providing the bare essentials and doing the basics really well:

1. Clarity about the solution the team provides. #product

2. Properly match the professional (technical) skills to actually produce the solution. #practice

3. A step-by-step approach guaranteeing the delivery of the requested en needed value in a predictable manner.  #process

Product

We don't want long essays and kilograms of written requirements before ever starting to provide a solution. But we also don't want to know nothing before we start. The team understands well what value the solution provides and is 100%  aligned on what enables value for end-users or customers. 

Practice

You don't have to tell a seasoned carpenter how to use a hammer and chisel. The question however is how that expertise can be used to build the solution that is needed. Given that possibly multiple expertises are needed to bring a solution to life, the team needs a thorough understanding of their best practices and their fit for purpose. 

Process 

Teams design their working process to eventually provide the predictability around the delivery of value. Following the steps, guarantees the constant flow of value. That process is part of the team's DNA and is based on the agreements teammates make with each other. The process provide guardrails without this being inflexible of nature.