Team ToB – Tower of Babel

The Cookbook that squeezes out the juice to successfully drives the conversion of senior management as a change agents for agile

By the Team Tower of Babel @ Scrum Coaching Retreat Geneva 2016

The team members are Craig, Harini, Leigh, Marc and Stefan

ToC

Lack of Trust

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

How to Demo

Working title (Ole’boys networks)

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

How to Demo

Cultural Shift

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

How to Demo

Lack of Engagement

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

How to Demo

Abuse of power

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

How to Demo

Control through bureaucracy

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

How to Demo

Toxic words and practices (antipatterns)

 

 

Lack of Trust

 

As an Agile Coach

 

I want to overcome the lack of trust for Agile

 

So that I can spread the Agile methodology across the Organisation

 

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

• I have built relationships with senior managers
• I speak the same language as the senior manager
• I am flexible in my approach to engaging with senior managers
• The senior managers are engaged in the process
• The senior manager is educated in Agile
• The senior manager talks about agility in the organisation
• There is a mentoring arrangement in place with the senior manager

 

How to Demo

 

 

 

Working title (Ole’boys networks)

 

As an Agile Coach

 

I want to work with the old boys network

 

So that the network works in my favour to support agility.

 

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

• I speak the same language as the senior manager
• I understand existing ceremonies and common ground
• I have joined the network
• The network is aware of agility and does not fear it
• The senior manager uses the network to promote agility

 

How to Demo

 

 

Cultural Shift

 

As an Agile Coach

 

I want to provoke a cultural shift in an organisation

 

So that agility flows across the organisation

 

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

• There are more people playing the game of Agile
• Barriers and inhibitions to agility are removed
• The rules of the game for agility are widely understood
• Risk taking and experimentation is encouraged and accepted by the organisation
• New bridges are being built across the organisation

 

How to Demo

 

 

Lack of Engagement

 

As an Agile Coach

 

I want to spread Agile engagement across all tiers of the organisation

 

so that Agile engagement is a reality for all senior management

 

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

• I understand the organisational “why” (@Simon Sinek)
• Effective feedback loops within and across the management tiers are being created
• Simple and effective escalation routes are understood
• Appropriate incentives are in place to support engagement

 

How to Demo

Abuse of power

 

As an Agile Coach

 

I want to …

 

So that …

 

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

• …

 

How to Demo

Control through bureaucracy

 

As an Agile Coach

 

I want to …

 

so that …

 

Acceptance Criteria / Happy when

• …

 

How to Demo

Toxic words and practices (antipatterns)

Team name and our Tower 😉

Our vision and our first backlog

Sprint 0 – The challenges of dealing with Senior Managers

This was our Scope and Research exercise where we agreed the Features and the Business Value.

Sprint 1 – Lack of Trust

Sprint 1 Retro the weather chart  – Marc facilitated the session

Sprint 2 – ‘OBN’ – Old Boys Network

Sprint 2 – Cultural Shift

Sprint 2 – Retro the rocket, Stefan was the faciliator

Sprint 3  – How to overcome a lack of engagement

End of Sprint 3 review

References

Suggested books:-

‘Legacy’ James Kerr – What the All Blacks can teach us about the business of life

Useful links:-