AbOrigineMundi

As an agile coach, you probably have a keen eye for group dynamics. There is no meeting where the importance of group dynamics is as evident as in the daily standup meeting (your team does that, right? Meet each day to discuss what to do and what hinders progress?)

 

As a coach, your role is probably a “chicken” role (remember? Pigs and chickens can attend, but only pigs can talk?) So you have to be silent, but that does not mean you’re not active. In fact, this is your best opportunity to listen actively. That is, to try to understand the true meaning of what is being discussed so that you can coach the scrum master and the team so that they become even more effective and efficiënt.

 

Team Interaction Picture

One little tool I have found useful when coaching a team is something I call the Team Interaction Picture (TIP). It’s easy to draw, yet you can learn a lot from it.

Here’s an example. (it’s fictitious but representative of the actual TIPs I make when observing a daily standup meeting–and every single element is based on real TIPs).

 

 

Rainy day

It’s 2009 November 23d (a gray Monday morning) and the team has gathered around the task board in the corner of the landscape office. The place is not ideal: somewhat too small, and there is a pole and a chair which hinder access to the board and invite team members to sit down/hang around. Luckily, the team has discussed this before and nobody will use the chair.

TIP technique: draw the task board as a narrow rectangle, the team members as circles (indicate their name and if needed, their role). For absent team members, draw a striped line outside the team. Also draw any other large objects (like the pole and the chair) present.

Usually, the meeting starts at 9h30 but now they’re six minutes late because Sandy is not there yet (you know she has to bring her daughter to school).

 

Sandy arrives

Finally, Sandy arrives. She has had a phone call from Nancy, who is ill and won’t return before Wednesday. Sandy joins the team (they’ve already gathered around the board!) and starts with giving an update on the impediment list.

TIP technique: write date and hour of start next to the TIP diagram. Indicate the order of events with numbers and indicate the end of the standup meeting under the event list. Use the same number to indicate in what order each attendee takes the word.

 

 

Eight constructive minutes

When Sandy tells the team an old and important impediment will be solved today, Dave interrupts and says that he hopes this will be the case, since he remembers Sandy promised this the week before, and the week before that… Then there is a short discussion between Sandy and Dave, which they conclude not to continue here.

TIP technique: when person A adresses person B, draw an arrow from A to B. If B responds, draw the arrowhead next to person A. For each next discussion between A and B, draw a small perpendicular line on the arrow from A to B.

The meeting continues in a constructive way and after eight minutes, everyone is up-to-date and knows what to do for today.

 

Coaching the scrum master

After the meeting, I’ll have a brief word with Sandy. I ask her opinion and we compare. Here’s how I use the TIP:

• General conclusion: a constructive meeting that respected the 15 minutes timebox (even if it started late, no problem here because even then the meeting ended before 9h45).
• Is it possible to remove the chair so that there is more space and better access to the board? Maybe, but Sandy will talk about the idea in tomorrows standup.
• Starting with the update on the impediment list (especially if there is good news) is a good practice. It helps to prove to the team that the scrum master is there to help them, not to command&control.
• Team dynamics are determined for a large part by the interaction of Dave and Sandy. Sarah occasionally tries to interrupt, but Sandy does not answer.
• Jeff, a junior team member, never takes the word unless he gets the talking stick. Even then he does not really talk, he just indicates on the task board what user story he will work on and that’s it.

Especially the last two topics might be sensitive, since they can indicate there’s an underlying problem. It’s dangerous to draw conclusions from one eight-minute meeting, so I would compare my TIP with the TIPs of two or three other meetings.

But in any case, I have a good graphical representation of what happened during this standup meeting. The team might even be able to use my TIPs during the evaluation meeting so that they can see how they interact.

For readers who use this TIP: please share your experiences by replying to this post. Thanks!