- Experiment: Diagnose Your Team Together
- Increase Cross-Functionality with a Skill Matrix
- Share an Impediment Newsletter Throughout the Organization
- Make the Cost of Low Autonomy Transparent with Permission Tokens
- Find Actions That Boost Both Integration and Autonomy
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Share an Impediment Newsletter throughout the Organization
The impediments that make it hard for Scrum Teams to work empirically often involve people across the organization. Helping these people understand the impediments and the problems they cause creates awareness that enables double-loop learning, which can lead to systemic improvements.
Effort/Impact Ratio
Effort |
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This experiment calls for nothing but courage and a dash of tact. |
Impact on survival |
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Although painful, this experiment is a great way to create urgency around the biggest problems. |
Steps
To try this experiment, do the following:
With your Scrum Team, ask everyone to silently write down impediments they see that are making it hard for them to build what stakeholders need or ship fast(er), or both. What skills are missing? Where is protocol getting in the way? Which people do they need, but don’t have access to? After a few minutes, invite people to pair up to share and build on their individual ideas. Together, share all impediments and pick the three to five impediments that are most impactful (e.g., with dot-voting).
For the biggest impediments, ask “What is lost because of this? What would we and our stakeholders gain when this impediment is removed?” Capture the consequences for the various impediments.
For the biggest impediments, ask “Where do we need help? What would help look like?” Collect the requests for help for the various impediments.
Compile the biggest impediments, including their consequences and requests for help, in a format that you can easily distribute to everyone who has a stake in your work. It could be a mailing, a paper newsletter, a blog post on your intranet, or a poster that you put in a heavy-traffic corridor. Include the purpose of your team and how to contact you. You can also include the accomplishments of your team, of course.
Our Findings
Make sure to include (higher) management and consider informing them up front. Also, they will probably appreciate a shorter, more concise version of the newsletter.
Transparency can be painful. Be honest but tactful in your messaging, and don’t blame others or be negative. State what is happening and make clear requests for help.
If you are planning to do this experiment frequently, make sure to include the accomplishments of your team as well. What is going well? What has changed since the previous newsletter? And most important: from whom did you receive (unexpected) help?