PMI®-Authorized PMI Agile Certified Practitioner

(PMI-ACP)® Exam Preparation Course

Workbook
Mindset

Experiment Embrace Promote a Build Foster Shorten Embrace

early
Mindset | 2024 the agile collaborative
1 transparency psychological
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 About this workbook
Study guide
This workbook is a study guide for the second lesson of the PMI-ACP® prep course. You can use
This margin will contain spaces and the
it to take notes and support your in-course learning, but it’s really designed to help you afterward.
occasional question to help you reflect
It will be a valuable resource as you review and prepare for the examination.
on what you’ve learned and apply it to
your situation.
. . . . . . . . . . Icons
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. . . . . . . . . . into a particular topic. This supplemental material won’t
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 Contents
About this workbook ............................................................................................................ 2
Why...........................................................................................................................................10
agile? ........................................................................................................................................10
Knowledge work projects .................................................................................................... 11
Industrial work versus knowledge work ...............................................................................12
Defined versus empirical processes ....................................................................................12
Characteristics of the agile mindset.....................................................................................13
Summarizing the core principles .........................................................................................14
Why use an agile approach?...............................................................................................14
Professional, team, and organizational agility ......................................................................15
Creating organizational change ..........................................................................................15
Agile triangle ......................................................................................................................16
Experiment early .......................................................................................................................17
Build an increment of the product to validate the solution and/or market need.........................18
Iterative life cycles ..............................................................................................................19
Incremental life cycles ........................................................................................................19
Embrace the agile mindset ........................................................................................................20
Embrace the four values and 12 principles .............................................................................21
The Agile Manifesto ............................................................................................................22
The principles behind the Agile Manifesto ...........................................................................23
Time to reflect .....................................................................................................................24
Relating agile practices to the Agile Manifesto ...................................................................25
Use agile frameworks.............................................................................................................28
Scrum.................................................................................................................................29
Scrum events and meetings................................................................................................32
Scrum artifacts ...................................................................................................................34
Extreme Programming (XP) ................................................................................................35

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 Lean product development .................................................................................................38
Kanban...............................................................................................................................40
Kanban practices ................................................................................................................41
Feature-driven development ...............................................................................................44
Dynamic system development method................................................................................46
Crystal ................................................................................................................................47
Adaptive software development ..........................................................................................48
ScrumBan ..........................................................................................................................49
Scrum@Scale ....................................................................................................................50
Scrum@Scale components ................................................................................................51
Beyond agile model ............................................................................................................52
Cultivate Connect ...............................................................................................................53
App development team .......................................................................................................54
Legal team .........................................................................................................................54
Lobbying support team .......................................................................................................54
The agile-minded professional ............................................................................................55
Apply principles of systems thinking to classify scenarios .......................................................58
Systems thinking ................................................................................................................59
VUCA .................................................................................................................................60
Stacey matrix......................................................................................................................61
Cynefin model ....................................................................................................................62
Other systems thinking models ...........................................................................................63
A note for systems thinking tools .........................................................................................65
Systems view skills .............................................................................................................66
Design thinking to improve your agile process ....................................................................68
Interpret the output of agile suitability tools .............................................................................71
Agile suitability filter tools ....................................................................................................72
Instructions for use .............................................................................................................73

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 Suitability filter questions: culture ........................................................................................74
Suitability filter questions: team...........................................................................................74
Suitability filter questions: project ........................................................................................75
Drug store example ............................................................................................................76
Military messaging system example ....................................................................................77
Cultivate Connect ...............................................................................................................78
Integrate agile hybrid models based on needs ........................................................................79
Why go hybrid? ..................................................................................................................80
Hybrid life cycles as transition strategy................................................................................81
Mixing agile approaches .....................................................................................................81
Case study: how blending adaptive practices delivered huge cost savings ........................82
Case study: managing scope change and complexity with hybrid........................................85
Promote a collaborative team environment ................................................................................88
Establish team vision and working agreements ......................................................................89
Charter the project and the team.........................................................................................90
The chartering process .......................................................................................................90
Working agreements...........................................................................................................91
Project charter example: Cultivate Connect.........................................................................92
Chartering ideas .................................................................................................................95
XP project metaphor ...........................................................................................................96
Metaphor examples ............................................................................................................96
Form and develop a high-performing team .............................................................................97
The team development model.............................................................................................98
Stages of team development ..............................................................................................98
Implications ........................................................................................................................99
Virtual teams ......................................................................................................................99
Time to reflect ...................................................................................................................100
Strategies to predict virtual team conflict before it occurs ..................................................101

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 Use retrospective findings ....................................................................................................106
Retrospectives..................................................................................................................107
Importance of retrospectives.............................................................................................108
Common retrospective problems ......................................................................................109
Using retrospectives to shape future work......................................................................... 110
Course retrospective......................................................................................................... 111
Practice: iteration retrospective (facilitate) ......................................................................... 112
Use collaborative practices to break down silos .................................................................... 118
Collaborative practices ..................................................................................................... 119
Daily coordination meetings .............................................................................................. 119
Sprint planning .................................................................................................................120
Demos..............................................................................................................................121
Problem-solving in retrospectives .....................................................................................122
How to build organizational agility into company culture: breaking down silos....................123
Commit to the team’s decisions even in disagreement ..........................................................125
Five dysfunctions of a team ..............................................................................................126
Inattention to results .........................................................................................................127
Avoidance of accountability...............................................................................................128
Lack of commitment .........................................................................................................129
Fear of conflict ..................................................................................................................130
Absence of trust ...............................................................................................................131
Time to reflect ...................................................................................................................132
Five levels of conflict.........................................................................................................133
How do you manage conflict? ...........................................................................................135
Evaluate the team’s understanding of agile to tailor the agile approach.................................137
The shu-ha-ri model .........................................................................................................138
Tailoring ............................................................................................................................139
Case study: Tailoring planning and communication in a multidiscipline project ...................145

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 Identify key factors to consider when determining the appropriate interteam coordination
approach..............................................................................................................................148
Scaling frameworks ..........................................................................................................149
Frameworks considerations ..............................................................................................149
Scrum of Scrums ..............................................................................................................150
Scaled Agile Framework ...................................................................................................151
SAFe® core values ...........................................................................................................153
SAFe® principles...............................................................................................................154
LeSS ................................................................................................................................157
Nexus ...............................................................................................................................158
Disciplined Agile® ..............................................................................................................159
Disciplined Agile® principles ..............................................................................................161
Time to reflect ...................................................................................................................162
Case study: when the business shifts, projects can follow suit.........................................163
Build transparency ...................................................................................................................165
Provide accessible status, progress, process, risks, impediments, and learning to all ...........166
Information radiators.........................................................................................................167
How do we reduce the risks of distributed teams: DA edition .............................................168
Establish a feedback loop for team and/or product owners ...................................................173
Feedback loop characteristics...........................................................................................174
Guidelines for estimating and planning .............................................................................176
Use communication strategies for colocated and distributed teams.......................................178
Colocated teams ..............................................................................................................179
Distributed teams..............................................................................................................181
Global, cultural, and team diversity ...................................................................................186
Digital tools for distributed teams ......................................................................................188
Time to reflect ...................................................................................................................191
Foster psychological safety......................................................................................................192

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 Promote a no-blame culture ................................................................................................193
Fear .................................................................................................................................194
Psychological safety .........................................................................................................195
Exclusion ..........................................................................................................................196
The blame game ..............................................................................................................197
Create a safe environment ...................................................................................................200
Stages of psychological safety ..........................................................................................201
Stage 1: Inclusion safety...................................................................................................203
Stage 2: Learner safety ....................................................................................................204
Skunk works .....................................................................................................................205
How to promote well-being on teams ................................................................................206
Solicit and provide constructive feedback. Act on it. ..............................................................208
Stage 3: Contributor safety ...............................................................................................209
Stage 4: Challenger safety................................................................................................209
Retrospectives as part of changing a team’s way of working ............................................. 211
Shorten feedback loops ...........................................................................................................212
Include customers from day one...........................................................................................213
Principles 1, 2, and 3 of agile development .......................................................................214
Frequent feedback............................................................................................................215
IKIWISI .............................................................................................................................216
Gulf of evaluation..............................................................................................................217
Personas, wireframes, and prototypes ..............................................................................218
Persona............................................................................................................................219
Deliver value as often as possible .......................................................................................221
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation ..............................................................222
Iterations, demos, and reviews .........................................................................................222
Working in iterations .........................................................................................................223
Use tools and techniques to shorten feedback......................................................................224

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 Design thinking .................................................................................................................225
Case study: creating an on-demand bus service ..............................................................227
Case study: Reimagining a landmark site .........................................................................231
Lean Startup methodology ................................................................................................234
Embrace change .....................................................................................................................236
Promote a growth mindset to respond to change ..................................................................237
Feedback .........................................................................................................................238
Start with an agile mindset ................................................................................................239
Servant leadership............................................................................................................240
Servant leadership characteristics ....................................................................................241
Key responsibilities of servant leads on agile projects .......................................................242
What is servant leadership? ..............................................................................................244
Respond to changing requirements and priorities ................................................................248
Principles 2, 3, and 4 of the Agile Manifesto ......................................................................249
Prioritization methods .......................................................................................................251
Prioritizing the backlog......................................................................................................252
Money for nothing, change for free ...................................................................................253
Backlog refinement ...........................................................................................................254
Encourage and model T-shaped skills ..................................................................................255
Specialists ........................................................................................................................256
T-shaped people ...............................................................................................................257

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 01 Why
agile?

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 Knowledge work projects
Human beings began as hunter-gatherers. Eventually, they moved out of that phase and moved
into the agricultural revolution when people decided to plant crops and herd animals. This led
to people wandering less and staying in one place.
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Then, humanity began to move into the development of machines and factories, known as the
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industrial revolution. People moved from the country into cities to work in factories. From here,
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some of the project management concepts that you are all familiar with started to develop: Gantt
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charts, decomposition, and localized labor. These approaches led to better tools for project
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management, such as network diagrams and work breakdown structure (WBS).
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Since the industrial revolution, humanity has moved into the current stage, the information
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revolution. Manufacturing is no longer the focus; people are more free to live where they want in
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the domain of information and collaboration. Knowledge ownership now has value, as does the
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ability to use that knowledge to build goods or services. Knowledge workers collaborate to solve
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problems and build new products and services. These people include researchers, medical
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professionals, educators, legal specialists, scientists, and software professionals.
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 Industrial work versus knowledge work
Characteristics of industrial work Characteristics of knowledge work
Work visible Work invisible
Work stable Work changes
. . . . . . . . . . Emphasis on running things Emphasis on changing things
. . . . . . . . . . More structure, fewer decisions Less structure, more decisions
. . . . . . . . . . Focus on the right answers Focus on the right questions
. . . . . . . . . . Defined task Understand the task
. . . . . . . . . . Command and control Autonomy
. . . . . . . . . . Strict standards Continuous innovation
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Quantity focus Quality focus
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Strict performance standards Continuous learning and teaching
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Cost of workers minimized Workers are assets, not costs
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. . . . . . . . . . Defined versus empirical processes
. . . . . . . . . . Another way of looking at knowledge work and industrial work is to examine the various kinds of
. . . . . . . . . . processes they use. Industrial work typically uses a defined process, while knowledge work relies
. . . . . . . . . . on empirical processes.
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. . . . . . . . . . In a defined process, we can define the steps in advance. For example, if we know the best way
. . . . . . . . . . to tie our shoelaces, we can follow the same process every time. Most industrial projects can be
. . . . . . . . . . planned and managed by using a defined approach.
. . . . . . . . . . Other processes are not as well defined. With new or uncertain processes, there are many
. . . . . . . . . . unknowns and uncertainties involved in the risks and solutions required for new environments or
. . . . . . . . . . materials.

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 When a team is faced with uncertainty, a process of trial and experimentation is required to
determine what works, expose issues, and incrementally build on small successes. The resulting
process is iterative and incremental, with frequent reviews and adaptation. The result is an
empirical process. This approach is required for projects where the execution stage is
characterized by uncertainty and risks—in other words, work that benefits from the agile
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approach.
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Characteristics of the agile mindset
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Increase return Deliver Expect
. . . . . . . . . . on investment reliable results uncertainty
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Unleash creativity Boost Improve effectiveness
and innovation performance and reliability
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 Summarizing the core principles
□ Welcome change □ Value-driven development
□ Work in small value-added □ Collaboration
increments □ Transparency
. . . . . . . . . . □ Use build and feedback loops □ Continuous improvement
. . . . . . . . . . □ Team empowerment
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. . . . . . . . . . Why use an agile approach?
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Source: Based on the work of Ahmed Sidky

(ahmedsidky.com).

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 Professional, team, and organizational agility
If just one member of an organization adopts an agile mindset, it helps them become more
effective but they’ll be continually frustrated that others in the organization don’t seem to realize
what is important or are focused on the wrong goals and metrics.

If one team in the organization adopts agile principles and practices, it can become more
effective but they will feel inhibited by other groups or systems in the organization.

If the entire organization adopts the agile way of thinking, everyone will be working together to
improve agility and the delivery of value. Everyone’s effectiveness can be enhanced.

Creating organizational change

Organizational agility is the ideal goal, but most organizations have not achieved it yet.
Organizations achieve this agility through the influence of individual team members. The process
of reaching agility is represented on this diagram:

Encourage
others

Do

Think

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 Agile triangle
Another key difference between the agile mindset and traditional project management is the agile
(inverted) triangle of constraints, in the following graphic. It was introduced in the first edition of
the dynamic system development method (DSDM) manual, published in 1994.
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. . . . . . . . . . Flipping the traditional triangle on the left means that agile teams allow the scope to vary within
. . . . . . . . . . the fixed parameters of cost and time. Although we start with a high-level vision of the product, we
. . . . . . . . . . can't define up front how much we’ll be able to accomplish; that will emerge as we approach the
. . . . . . . . . . target date.
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 02 Experiment
early

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 Build an increment of
the product to
validate the solution
and/or market need
Section 1 of 1

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 Iterative life cycles Analyze
Iterative life cycles improve the product or result
through successive prototypes or proofs of concept.
Each new prototype yields new stakeholder feedback Analyze design Prototype
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and team insights. Then, the team incorporates the
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new information by repeating one or more project
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activities in the next cycle. Build test Refine
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. . . . . . . . . . Deliver
. . . . . . . . . . Incremental life cycles
. . . . . . . . . . Almost everyone has worked on a project at some point in our careers. We also know that as part
. . . . . . . . . . of these projects, the customer, whether internal or external, wants the deliverable as quickly as
. . . . . . . . . . possible, either because of impatience or the need for the solution. So, we give them a little bit
. . . . . . . . . . here and a little bit there. This is called the incremental approach.
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Analyze Analyze Analyze
. . . . . . . . . . Design Design Design
. . . . . . . . . . Build Build Build
Test Test Test
. . . . . . . . . . Deliver Deliver Deliver
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Work is done is increments, the size of which depends on the will of the team. In agile, these may
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be referred to as sprints if using Scrum or iterations if using another agile approach, such as
. . . . . . . . . .
DSDM.

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 03 Embrace
the agile
mindset

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 Embrace the four
values and 12
principles

Section 1 of 5

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 The Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto was created during a meeting in Snowbird, Utah in February 2001 where 17
software developers met to discuss the various lightweight development methods and figure out
what they all had in common. Based on their experiences in software development, those present
decided what they valued.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools: This is because people,
not tools, work on projects. Focusing on the people involved from an early point in
the project helps set the project up for success.

Source: Beck, K., Beedle, M., van

Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, Working systems over comprehensive documentation: Documentation should be
W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J., “just enough, just in time, just because.” This means enough to cover your needs,
Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B.,
done at the last possible minute, because it is required or requested. Focusing instead
Martin, R. C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K.,
on the system or product increases the value we can deliver to the organization.
Sutherland, J., & Thomas, D. (2001).
Principles behind the Agile Manifesto.
Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation: Be flexible and
https://agilemanifesto.org
accommodating, not fixed and uncooperative. Have a more trusting and flexible
model in place to move the project’s emphasis more squarely to the productive work.

Responding to change over following a plan: Using backlogs and task boards—
tools that facilitate easy restructuring of ideas small and large—agile teams can plan
and change plans effectively, rapidly, and in a way that incorporates learning and
innovation.

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 The principles behind the Agile Manifesto
In addition to those four values, the Agile Manifesto has 12 principles, and while they were written
by and for software develpers, they can apply to any industry.
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of
valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness
change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Source: Beck, K., Beedle, M., van 3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, preference to the shorter time scale.
W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J.,
4. Businesspeople and developers should work together daily throughout the project.
Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B.,
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they
Martin, R. C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K.,
Sutherland, J., & Thomas, D. (2001). require and trust them to finish the job.
Principles behind the agile manifesto. 6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a
Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
development team is face-to-face conversation.
https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users
should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then fine-tunes
and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

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 Time to reflect
Think about your recent projects and consider one good experience, and
one bad experience you’ve had. For the bad experience, try to figure out
how to make it a good experience. Be ready to share your answers with
the rest of the learners.

You’ll have 10 minutes to complete this thought exercise, and we’ll take about 5 minutes to
review.

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 Relating agile practices
to the Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto values and principles help manage the process of
producing quality software. A software product manager who oversees
a successful product plays a leadership role in meeting with clients.
This product manager articulates the vision to the company
stakeholders and ensures client satisfaction with the product by
uncovering untold requirements and driving experimentation and rapid iterations. In addition, an
agile approach helps minimize potential risks to the product of failing fast by identifying product
implementation errors at each step of the way rather than waiting until the software coding is
finished and tested.

The life cycle model used in traditional project management, such as waterfall or predictive
planning, does not work for software, knowledge-worker projects, or projects with volatile
requirements. Using lean principles, discovering and exploring requirements and identifying fast
Subramaniam, N. (N.D.) Relating agile
failures ensures that an organization will not invest in features that don't add value to the client. It
practices to the agile manifesto.
is important to refine the value chain and discover and explore requirements continuously. With
PMIStandards+®. PMI.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/SharedPosts/ many transversal technologies disrupting the software space, it is crucial to prove the value at the
Show/AGI74/924f15f9-6701-4862-a505- beginning of the project since we don't know what exactly adds value and what will work the best.
d793d2a76a20

New technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are game changers. At
Nestle, we carry out digital innovation initiatives to prove the value before we scale and
industrialize the product. It is because we don't know exactly how expensive or successful a
large-scale program will be when we have never done it before. However, the sooner we start
working, the sooner we will find the answers. The agile test and learn approach helps us figure
out new digital paths to value, derisk future investments, and provide the best customer-centric
experience.

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 Many different software practices have been established based on the Agile Manifesto values
and principles. These practices are guidelines and rules that help make the development process
more effective. These practices are organized into XP, Scrum, lean and Kanban methodologies.
Inherent in the Agile Manifesto is the concept of self-organizing and colocated teams for effective
communications, and the leveraging of Scrum ceremonies and retrospectives that allow the team
to reflect regularly.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools emphasize people, soft and active listening
Subramaniam, N. (N.D.) Relating agile
practices to the agile manifesto. skills, and amplify that the Scrum team and clients will be more productive and effective in a
®
PMIStandards+ . PMI. collaborative relationship. The product manager should facilitate communication between the
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/SharedPosts/ clients and the Scrum team. So, a product manager should know the business case and
Show/AGI74/924f15f9-6701-4862-a505-
unarticulated client requirements.
d793d2a76a20

Working software over comprehensive documentation amplifies the concept that working
software implies a sense of completeness. In agile, a feature is complete when the product meets
the definition of done. The Scrum team regularly demonstrates a new product prototype to the
client. While delivering a high-impact product is more important, essential (just-in-time)
documentation over elaborate documentation can prove beneficial throughout the project.
Working software is much more valuable than a detailed document that outlines what the
software should do and ensures that the development team is completing features.

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation means that we are in a time and materials world
without promises of a detailed design at the project’s onset. The software product manager
should foster a positive relationship with the client and focus on what they want—not what is on
the statement of work or contract. Software is a dynamic and open-ended product that cannot be

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 defined once and built on that definition. Therefore, it is vital to make sure that the client's vision is
what is being developed.

Responding to change over following a plan emphasizes that the development team does not
follow predictive (waterfall) type planning. However, it is important to note that agile projects
involve more planning as the team develops plans for each release and iteration. Therefore,
planning is inherent in all phases, including developing and refining the product backlog with an
updated, prioritized list of features, sprint backlog, preparing for iterations, and finally, a potentially
shippable product increment. In addition, the product evolves as new requirements are identified;
therefore, it is important to develop the software in response to these continuous changes.

Subramaniam, N. (N.D.) Relating agile

practices to the agile manifesto.
PMIStandards+®. PMI.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/SharedPosts/
Show/AGI74/924f15f9-6701-4862-a505-
d793d2a76a20

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 Use agile
frameworks

Section 2 of 5

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 Scrum
Scrum principles
. . . . . . . . . . Transparency: Make our work and how we do it open for all to see. An example of this would be

. . . . . . . . . . welcoming anyone who is interested in observing to attend a daily Scrum.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Inspection: Stop at the end of each sprint to review the completed work with stakeholders to

. . . . . . . . . . receive feedback. We do the same with the Scrum team during a retrospective.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Adaptation: Adjust our product backlog as we understand more about how to maximize the value

. . . . . . . . . . we provide our customer, and change how we engage with one another based on what we learn

. . . . . . . . . . in our sprint retrospective.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Scrum process
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Scrum sprints
Timeboxed: Sprints, also referred to as iterations, are a timeboxed period
during which the team builds a potentially releasable or usable product. The
. . . . . . . . . . most common length of time is 2 weeks, but it can be anywhere up to a month.
. . . . . . . . . . During a sprint, no changes that impact the sprint goal are made; however,
. . . . . . . . . . clarifications to the sprint scope may be made.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Can be cancelled: If the sprint goal becomes obsolete for some reason,
. . . . . . . . . . because of either a change in business direction or technology conditions, the
. . . . . . . . . . product owner can cancel the sprint. When this happens, incomplete items are
. . . . . . . . . . returned to the product backlog.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Sequence of events: Sprints start with a sprint planning meeting. During the
. . . . . . . . . . sprint, developers hold daily Scrum meetings to coordinate and plan work for
. . . . . . . . . . that day to make as much progress toward delivering their sprint goal as
. . . . . . . . . . possible. At the end of a sprint, a sprint review meeting is held to obtain
. . . . . . . . . . feedback from stakeholders on work declared “usable” by the product owner; a
. . . . . . . . . . sprint retrospective is held for the Scrum team to meet privately to inspect and
. . . . . . . . . . adapt how they’re working with one another.
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Scrum team roles
Developers: This group of professionals is responsible for building the product
increment during a sprint. These teams are self-managing: They can decide
. . . . . . . . . . what work they’ll do and how they’ll do it. They’re also cross-functional: Each
. . . . . . . . . . member can fulfill one or more of the roles required to complete the
. . . . . . . . . . work. Developers don’t have to work with software. They can play any part in
. . . . . . . . . . the creation of the deliverable.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Product owner: They are responsible for maximizing the value of the work
. . . . . . . . . . produced by the developers by ordering the product backlog, to ensure the
. . . . . . . . . . most valuable items are prioritized first. The product owner makes sure the
. . . . . . . . . . backlog items are well formed and actionable and that the team understands
. . . . . . . . . . the project vision and goals so they can build the items.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Scrum master: They ensure that the team understands the framework of
. . . . . . . . . . Scrum and makes sure they also use Scrum effectively. The scrum master may
. . . . . . . . . . remove impediments for the developers and product owner, facilitate meetings
. . . . . . . . . . as required, and coach team members. They are also responsible for delivering
. . . . . . . . . . a high-performing Scrum team that can make and meet commitments in each
. . . . . . . . . . sprint. The scrum master may also help the product owner understand and
practice their role on the Scrum team.

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Scrum events and meetings
Backlog refinement: This meeting can also be referred to as backlog
prioritization and is where the project stakeholders gather, discuss, and update
. . . . . . . . . . the items in the backlog.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Sprint planning meeting: The Scrum team comes together to decide why
. . . . . . . . . . they’re running the sprint, or what outcome they’re trying to achieve. They also
. . . . . . . . . . determine what will be created and they plan how they’ll do the work.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Daily scrum: This meeting allows the developers to assemble and coordinate
. . . . . . . . . . and plan their work for that day. This meeting should not exceed 15 minutes.
. . . . . . . . . . Some teams find it helpful to ask the following three questions:
. . . . . . . . . . 1. What have I done since the last time we met to help us meet our
. . . . . . . . . . commitment for the sprint?
. . . . . . . . . . 2. What will I do before the next time we meet to help us meet our
. . . . . . . . . . commitment for the sprint?
. . . . . . . . . . 3. What impediments are blocking me from helping us meet our
. . . . . . . . . . commitment for the sprint?
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Sprint: This fixed-length, timeboxed container is where ideas are turned into
value. It’s also the container in which all of the other Scrum events take place.

Sprint review: This review meeting is held at the end of a sprint so the
stakeholders can meet with the Scrum team to review and provide feedback on
the increments of work that have been produced during the sprint. The team
Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.
demonstrates to the stakeholders the work accepted by the prodcut owner as

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. . . . . . . . . . “done” during a sprint; the stakeholders then offer feedback that may lead to

. . . . . . . . . . new product backlog items. Other general status topics like budget,

. . . . . . . . . . organizational impediments, and so on, can also be reviewed here.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Sprint retrospective: Retrospectives occur between sprint reviews and sprint

. . . . . . . . . . planning meetings. The whole Scrum team attends this meeting. The group

. . . . . . . . . . uses it to gather lessons learned and look for ways to improve how they work

. . . . . . . . . . together. Information gleaned from these meetings is used in planning the next

. . . . . . . . . . sprint.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Scrum artifacts
Increment of work: When a product backlog item meets the definition of done,
“the increment is born.” The increment is then considered usable or shippable
. . . . . . . . . . once the definition of done has been met and the product owner has accepted
. . . . . . . . . . the work completed during the sprint. Teams may produce multiple increments
. . . . . . . . . . during a sprint.
. . . . . . . . . .
Product backlog: This ordered list of items may be worked on by the team.
. . . . . . . . . .
The product backlog includes a product goal that is a measurable step toward
. . . . . . . . . .
achieving the product vision. The items in the product backlog emerge to serve
. . . . . . . . . .
the product goal. Items in the backlog might include features, traditional
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements, user stories, tasks, enhancements, technical debt, or fixes. The
. . . . . . . . . .
product owner orders the product backlog so the most valuable work is handled
. . . . . . . . . .
first. As items rise in priority, the details are refined. Anyone can contribute to
. . . . . . . . . .
the product backlog by submitting product backlog items to the product owner.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Sprint backlog: This subset of deliverable items pulled from the product
. . . . . . . . . . backlog are all part of the sprint. Using this backlog, the team develops a plan
. . . . . . . . . . to achieve the sprint goal. The sprint goal explains the business outcome the
. . . . . . . . . . sprint should deliver. The backlog is a highly visible accounting of the work
. . . . . . . . . . being undertaken by the team in the sprint. Changing the product backlog items
in the sprint backlog once the sprint has begun requires negotiation between
the product owner and the developers, but changing the list of tasks required to
produce those product backlog Items is entirely up to the team because they
own the “how” to accomplish the work.

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Extreme Programming (XP)
XP core values
. . . . . . . . . . Simplicity: XP endeavors to reduce the work’s complexity, extra features, and

. . . . . . . . . . waste. “Find the simplest thing that could possibly work” is the phrase XP teams

. . . . . . . . . . keep in mind when building a solution.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Communication: Using tools such as the daily coordination meeting, the focus

. . . . . . . . . . of communication is to ensure the team members know what is expected of

. . . . . . . . . . them, and what other people are working on.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Feedback: The team should obtain opinions on the suitability of work early in

. . . . . . . . . . the process. Doing so makes failing fast useful, especially if the opinions are

. . . . . . . . . . received early enough in the project.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Courage: Our work is entirely visible to others, which takes courage. In pair

. . . . . . . . . . programming, a concept we’ll learn later, team members share code and often

. . . . . . . . . . make changes to that code. Backed by automated builds and tests, developers

. . . . . . . . . . have the courage to do this task.

. . . . . . . . . .
Respect: This value is essential in XP projects. People should work together as
a team so everyone is accountable for the success or failure of a project. In pair
programming, team members should recognize that not everyone works in the
same manner and respect the differences.

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 XP roles
Coach: Coaches act as mentors to the team, guiding the process and
motivating the team. They also act as facilitators and conduits, helping the
. . . . . . . . . . team become more effective and reinforcing communication among members.
. . . . . . . . . . This role is like that of a scrum master in Scrum.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Customer: This business representative provides the requirements, priorities,
. . . . . . . . . . and business direction for a project. The customer defines the product to be
. . . . . . . . . . built, determines the priority of its features, and confirms that the product
. . . . . . . . . . works as intended. The role is like that of a product owner in Scrum.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Programmer: These team members build the product by writing and
. . . . . . . . . . implementing the code.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Tester: Testers provide quality assurance and help the customer write and
. . . . . . . . . . define acceptance tests for the work. Programmers can also do this work if
. . . . . . . . . . they have the necessary skills.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 XP feedback loop
Many different levels of feedback occur in this loop:

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

Mindset | 2024 37 ©2024 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Lean product development
Lean is not literally an agile framework but it is closely aligned. What we are talking about when
using the word lean in an agile sense is “lean product development,” which deals with producing
. . . . . . . . . .
new and better products. The high-level principles of lean product development include:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
• Using visual management tools
. . . . . . . . . .
• Identifying customer-defined value
. . . . . . . . . .
• Building in learning and continuous improvement
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Core principals of lean
. . . . . . . . . . Lean focuses on the following seven core concepts:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 The eight wastes of Lean

Defects: Defective documents or software requiring correction

. . . . . . . . . . Overproduction: Extra work that adds no value

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Waiting: Delays caused when waiting for reviews and approvals
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Nonutilized talent: Waste caused by underutilizing people’s skills, talent, and knowledge

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Transportation: Unnecessary handoffs that can lead to delays and slow down value

. . . . . . . . . . delivery

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Inventory excess: Work that represents effort with no return as of yet
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Motion waste: Multitasking between several projects when there are penalties for context

. . . . . . . . . . switching

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Extra processing: Poor knowledge capture that leads to people having to go through

. . . . . . . . . . rediscovery, rather than asking someone who already know how to do a task

. . . . . . . . . .
An easy way to remember the wastes of lean is the mnemonic “downtime,” with one letter for
each of the eight wastes, as shown.

Source: Poppendieck, M., & Poppendieck T.

(2003). Lean software development: An
agile toolkit. Addison-Sesley Professional.

Mindset | 2024 39 ©2024 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Kanban
Kanban is actually a strategy rather than a process or methodology. It can be applied to any
process by using a visual, pull based system. The goal of Kanban is to optimize the flow of value.
Optimization does not necessarily mean maximization. Rather, value optimization means striving
to find the right balance of effectiveness, efficiency, and predictability in how work gets done. So,
an effective workflow is one that delivers what customers want when they want it. It allocates
available economic resources as optimally as possible to deliver value. And a predictable
workflow means being able to accurately forecast value delivery within an acceptable degree of
uncertainty.

Central to the definition of Kanban is the concept of flow. Flow is the movement of potential value
through a system, that is “potential” because we do not know that something is truly valuable until
Source: Vacanti, D. & Coleman J. Eds.
it is delivered to the customer.
(2024) Kanban Guides.
htt /k b id /
As most workflows exist to optimize value, the strategy of Kanban is to optimize value by
optimizing flow which we do through a workflow. The definition of workflow is defined by the
Kanban System members and can be unique to their context.

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 Kanban practices
Kanban has some defining practices.

Defining and visualizing the workflow

The first of these is defining and visualizing the workflow. The team’s definition of workflow needs
to include a definition of the individual units of value that are moving through the workflow. These
units of value are referred to as work items (or items).

The team’s definition of workflow needs to include a definition for when work items are started
and finished within the workflow. Your workflow may have more than one started or finished
points depending on the work item.
Source: Vacanti, D. & Coleman J. Eds.
(2024) Kanban Guides. The team’s definition of workflow needs to include start to finish points. These are one or more
/ /
defined states that the work items flow through from start to finish. Any work items between a
started point and a finished point are considered work in progress—or WIP.

The team’s definition of workflow needs to include a definition of how WIP will be controlled from
started to finished. The team’s definition of workflow needs to include explicit policies about how
work items flow through each state from started to finished.

And finally, the team’s definition of workflow needs to include a service level expectation—or
SLE—which is a forecast of how long it should take a work item to flow from started to finished.
The SLE itself has two parts: a period of elapsed time and a probability associated with that
period; for example, “85% of work items will be finished in eight days or less.” The SLE should be
based on historical cycle time, and once calculated, should be visualized on the Kanban board.

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 Actively managing items in the workflow
The second is actively managing items in the workflow.

Active management of items in a workflow can take several forms, including but not limited to
controlling WIP. The number of space or capacity for work on a Kanban board that are called WIP
limits. A WIP limit can work items in a single column, several grouped columns or a whole board.
Controlling WIP what creates a pull system. It is called a pull system because Kanban system
members start work on an item (pulls or selects) only when there is a clear signal that there is
capacity to do so. When WIP drops below the limit in the DoW, that is a signal to select new work.

Active management of items in a workflow includes avoiding work items piling up in any part of
the workflow. A common practice is for Kanban system members to review the active
Source: Vacanti, D. & Coleman J. Eds. management of items regularly. Although some may choose a daily meeting, there is no
(2024) Kanban Guides.
requirement to formalize the review or meet at a regular cadence so long as active management
https:/kanbanguides.org/
takes place.

Active management of items in a workflow includes ensuring work items do not age
unnecessarily, using the SLE as a reference.

And active management of items in a workflow means unblocking blocked work.

Continuously improving the workflow

Our third and final defining practice is continuously improving the workflow. Most teams using
Kanban discuss their DoW from time to time and implement any changes needed. That said,
there is no requirement to wait for a regular cadence to make these changes. Kanban system
members can and should make just-in-time alterations as the context dictates. Kanban

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 improvements are made based off the Kanban system’s current health and performance as
measured by four flow measures:
• Work in progress—that is, the number of work items started but not finished.
• Throughput—that is, the number of work items finished per unit of time. Note the
measurement of throughput is the exact count of work items.
• Work item age—that is, the amount of elapsed time between when a work item started
and the current time.
• Cycle time—the amount of elapsed time between when a work item started and when a
work item finished.

Source: Vacanti, D. & Coleman J. Eds.

(2024) Kanban Guides.
https:/kanbanguides.org/

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 Feature-driven development
Feature-driven development (FDD) was developed to meet the specific requirements of large
software development projects. Features relate to a small business value capacity. It is noteable
. . . . . . . . . .
because it acknowledges the requirement for some upfront design and architecture.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Roles on an FDD team
. . . . . . . . . . • Project manager
. . . . . . . . . . • Chief architect
. . . . . . . . . . • Development manager
. . . . . . . . . . • Chief programmer
. . . . . . . . . . • Class owner
. . . . . . . . . . • Domain expert
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . FDD processes/activities
. . . . . . . . . . FDD is organized around five iterative processes or activities
. . . . . . . . . .
• Develop an overall model—the consideration of architecture and design for the overall
. . . . . . . . . .
system
. . . . . . . . . .
• Construct an initial feature list
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . And then repeatedly iterating through three feature related processes:
. . . . . . . . . .
• Plan by feature
• Design by feature
• Build by feature
Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 FDD practices

Domain object modeling: Teams explore and explain the domain of the
problem to be solved.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Developing by feature: Break down the work into smaller chunks of work
. . . . . . . . . . called features.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Individual class (code) ownership: Areas of code have a single owner for

. . . . . . . . . . consistency, performance, and conceptual integrity.

. . . . . . . . . . Feature teams: Small, dynamically formed teams vet and evaluate the design
. . . . . . . . . . options before a final design is chosen. These teams mitigate the risks
. . . . . . . . . . associated with individual ownership.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Inspections: Reviews help ensure quality design and code.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Configuration management: Activities include labeling code, tracking
. . . . . . . . . . changes, and managing the source code.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Regular builds: By doing this, the team makes sure the new code integrates
. . . . . . . . . . with the existing code, which reduces rework and allows for easier demo
. . . . . . . . . . creation.
. . . . . . . . . .
Visibility of progress/results: Track progress based on completed work.

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Dynamic system development method
The dynamic system development method (DSDM) was one of the earlier agile approaches. It
broadly covers the project life cycle.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
DSDM is centered on eight principles. While they were written before the Agile Manifesto, they
. . . . . . . . . .
closely align to it:
. . . . . . . . . .
• Focus on the business requirement
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . • Deliver on time

. . . . . . . . . . • Collaborate

. . . . . . . . . . • Never compromise quality

. . . . . . . . . . • Build incrementally from firm foundations

• Develop iteratively
• Communicate continuously and clearly
• Demonstrate control
Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Crystal
The name Crystal refers to a family of agile approaches. Each is customized by criticality and
team size, factors that allow Crystal to cover a wide range of projects. There are seven Crystal
methods—the names of the games, if you will:

Crystal clear Teams of less than six people working on small projects

The crystal family of agile practices is not to Crystal yellow Teams of 7–20 people working on small- or medium-sized projects
be confused with The Crystal Method, the
American electronic music act formed by
Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early Crystal orange Teams of 20–40 people working on medium-sized projects
1990s. “Name of the Game” is one of their
songs.
Crystal red Teams of 40–80 people working on medium- or large-sized projects

Crystal maroon Teams of 80–200 people working on large projects

Crystal diamond Teams of over 200 people working on large, high-criticality projects

Crystal sapphire Teams of over 200 people working on large, high-criticality projects

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Adaptive software development
Adaptive software development (ASD) is a process that grew out of the work of Jim Highsmith
and Sam Bayer on rapid application development. It embodies the principle that continuously
. . . . . . . . . . adapting the process to the work at hand is the normal situation. ASD replaces the traditional,
. . . . . . . . . . predictive life cycle with a repeating series of speculate, collaborate, and learn cycles. This
. . . . . . . . . . dynamic cycle provides for continuous learning and adapting to the emergent state of the project.
. . . . . . . . . . The characteristics of an ASD life cycle include being mission focused, feature based, iterative,
. . . . . . . . . . timeboxed, risk driven, and change tolerant.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . ASD uses three life cycles:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Speculate: The project is initiated and cycle planning is conducted. Cycle planning uses project
. . . . . . . . . . initiation information—the customer’s mission statement, project constraints, and basic
. . . . . . . . . . requirements—to define the set of release cycles required for the project.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Collaborate: These efforts balance the work based on predictable parts of the environment and
. . . . . . . . . . adapt to the uncertain surrounding mix of changes caused by various factors such as technology,
. . . . . . . . . . requirements, stakeholders, and software vendors.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Learn: The short iterations of design, build, and testing result in information gained. During these
. . . . . . . . . . iterations, knowledge is gathered by making small mistakes based on false assumptions and
correcting those mistakes, leading to greater experience and an eventual mastery of the problem
domain.

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 ScrumBan
ScrumBan sounds like a made up word, but in fact it is a combination of the names of two agile
practices: Scrum and Kanban.

. . . . . . . . . . ScrumBan is an agile approach originally designed to transition from Scrum to Kanban. As

. . . . . . . . . . additional agile frameworks and practices emerged, it became an evolving hybrid framework,
. . . . . . . . . . where teams use Scrum as a framework and Kanban for process improvement.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . In ScrumBan, the work is organized into small "sprints" and team members leverage kanban
. . . . . . . . . . boards to visualize and monitor the work. The stories are placed on the kanban board, and the
. . . . . . . . . . team manages its work by using work in process (WIP) limits. Daily meetings are held to maintain
. . . . . . . . . . collaboration among the team and remove impediments.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . A planning trigger is set in place for the team to know when to plan next, typically when the WIP
. . . . . . . . . . level is lower than a predetermined limit. There are no predefined roles in ScrumBan; team
. . . . . . . . . . members retain their current roles.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Scrum@Scale
Scrum, as originally outlined in The Scrum Guide, is a framework for developing, delivering, and
sustaining complex products by a single team. Since its inception, Scrum’s usage has extended
Source: Sutherland, J., & Schwaber, K.
(2010) The scrum guide. Scrumguides.org. to the creation of products, processes, services, and systems that require the efforts of multiple
teams.

Scrum@Scale was created to efficiently coordinate this new ecosystem of teams. It achieves this
goal by setting up a minimum viable bureaucracy via a scale-free architecture. Scrum@Scale is
based on the fundamental principles of Scrum, complex adaptive systems theory, game theory,
and object-oriented technology. Combined with the results of fieldwork with dozens of companies
from startups to those in the Fortune 100, this guide was developed with the input of many
experienced Scrum practitioners with the goal of empowering the reader to implement
Scrum@Scale on their own.

Scrum@Scale helps an organization focus multiple networks of Scrum teams on prioritized goals.
It aims to achieve this by setting up a structure that naturally extends the way a single Scrum
team functions across a network and whose managerial function exists within a minimum viable
bureaucracy—which isn’t to be confused with a minimum viable product (MVP).

A minimum viable bureaucracy is defined as an organization with the lowest number of governing
bodies and processes required to carry out the function(s) of an organization without impeding
the delivery of customer value. It helps to achieve business agility by reducing the time to decide;
Source: Project Management Institute this has been noted as a primary driver of success. To begin implementing Scrum@Scale, it’s
(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.
essential to be familiar with the Agile Manifesto and The Scrum Guide (2020). Failing to
understand the nature of agility will prevent it from being achieved. If an organization can’t Scrum,
it can’t scale.

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 Scrum@Scale components
Values-driven culture: Scrum@Scale aims to build a healthy organizational culture through the
pillars of empirical process control (transparency, inspection, and adaptation) and the Scrum
values. These pillars are actualized by the Scrum values of openness, courage, focus, respect,
. . . . . . . . . .
and commitment. Openness supports transparency in all work and processes. Without openness,
. . . . . . . . . .
there’s no ability to inspect work or processes honestly and adapt them for the better. Courage
. . . . . . . . . .
refers to taking the bold leaps required to deliver value more quickly in innovative ways. Focus
. . . . . . . . . .
and commitment refer to the way we handle our work obligations, putting customer value delivery
. . . . . . . . . .
as the highest priority. Lastly, all of this should occur in an environment based on respect for the
. . . . . . . . . .
individuals doing the work, without whom nothing can be created. Scrum@Scale helps
. . . . . . . . . .
organizations thrive by supporting a positive team-learning environment for working at a
. . . . . . . . . .
sustainable pace while putting customer value at the forefront.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Getting started: Installing an agile operating system: When implementing networks of teams, it’s
. . . . . . . . . .
critical to develop a scalable reference model, or small set of teams, before further scaling that
. . . . . . . . . .
coordinate to deliver every sprint. As these teams successfully implement Scrum, the rest of the
. . . . . . . . . .
organization has a functioning, healthy example of Scrum to replicate. It serves as a prototype for
. . . . . . . . . .
scaling Scrum across the next network of teams. Any deficiencies in a Scrum implementation will
. . . . . . . . . .
be magnified when multiple teams are deployed. Scaling problems include organizational policies
. . . . . . . . . .
and procedures or development practices that block performance and frustrate teams.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2017). Agile practice guide. PMI.

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 Beyond agile model
The beyond agile model (BAM) is a visual-thinking framework for discussing and combining
concepts from agile/lean, plan-driven, leadership, and emotional intelligence. It’s approach-
Source: Griffiths, M. (2022). Beyond agile:
agnostic and combines recommendations from many approaches. Bam is designed for team
Achieving success with situational
knowledge & skills. RMC Publications. leads, project practitioners, project management offices, and business representatives who want
htts://beyondagilemodel.com relevant, high-value project guidance.

Griffiths, M. (2022). Beyond agile: Achieving

BAM recommends learning much and implementing little. This dynamic model changes based on
success with situational knowledge & skills.
RMC Publications. project and organizational characteristics, recommending the highest value-added approaches,
knowledge, and deliverables for the situation at hand.

Some key concepts of BAM include:

• There is no single, simple model for complex projects.
• The process carries weight, but knowledge is weightless.
• Agile myopia: The idea that all problems can be solved by agile processes.
• Buffet syndrome: Frameworks and toolkits tempt us to take on too much process, which
takes the team away from delivering value.
• Guidance should be dynamic, based on project and organizational characteristics.

Agile approaches provide a decent starting point, but they’re neither quick answers nor complete
solutions. Instead, we should broaden our view and embrace the scary ambiguity offered by the
"Yes, and …" approach. It’s scary because the choice depends on context; there’s no single
Scrum process to follow, no universal WBS-to-Gantt-chart method. In addition to providing some
great comedy, "Yes, and …" is how projects are run.

Mindset | 2024 52 ©2024 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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 Cultivate Connect
Earlier in this module, we were introduced to Cultivate Connect. After a lot
of preparation, the organization is ready to begin their work on the Urban
Farming Network Platform. There are several teams assembled, but for the
purposes of this exercise, we are going to focus on these three teams:
At which stage of psychological safety is
• App
your current team?
• Legal
. . . . . . . . . .
• Lobbying support team
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
You will find descriptions of each of these teams on the following pages.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Pick one of the three teams and decide what agile approach would work best. Be prepared to
. . . . . . . . . .
come back and share your answers when you come back.

What is holding you back from

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
advancing to a higher stage?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 App development team
The app development team will be developing the Cultivate Connect Platform, a digital hub that
will connect urban farmers to each other, enabling resource and knowledge sharing, and provide
a platform to coordinate deliveries to local restaurants and organize local farmer markets.

The team should use agile principles to guide the development process to ensure a community-
driven and adaptable platform.

Legal team
The legal team is responsible for ensuring the organization complies with all relevant laws and
international agreements. They are also responsible for protecting the organization's intellectual
property and understanding privacy regulations (e.g. GDPR, CCPA) and good practices for data
handling, user consent, and security to ensure compliance with legal requirements.

Lobbying support team

This team provides training and guidance for urban gardeners to lobby local governments to
provide aid for urban gardeners and enact policies that encourage community gardening
initiatives. This includes providing direction on several steps involved in lobbying local
governments.

Mindset | 2024 54 ©2024 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 The agile-minded professional
Today's project manager should not only excel in hard and soft skills
but should also be agile minded in order to become indispensable.
This should include seven habits:

Habit 1: Question everything

To become effective and more agile as a project manager, learn to ask
simple but powerful questions? Challenge the “status quo.” Challenge “that's the way we've
always done it.” Become aggressively curious. Ask “why?” Ask “why not?” Ask “what if?” Agility is
enhanced not by taking orders but by questioning.
Source: Merla, E. (2011). The agile minded
professional: Seven habits to agility success
Habit 2: Relate to innovate
[Paper presentation]. PMI® Global Congress
2011—EMEA, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. Expand your vision, your experiences, and your networks to uncover novel approaches to your
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile- work. Harness this exposure to become more creative and innovative.
minded-professional-agility-success-6181

Habit 3: Fail your way to success

Learn to fail your way to success through the power of experimenting. Use experimentation to
discover what works. Fail in small steps to achieve the big successes. Experiment to improve
your ability to adjust and adapt.

Habit 4: Communicate thoughts and ideas

Unleash your creativity by giving it a voice. Agility cannot be enhanced if important thoughts and
ideas lay dormant, without expression.

Mindset | 2024 55 ©2024 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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 Habit 5: Deliver value frequently
Become indispensable by delivering tangible value frequently. Harness your leadership power to
deliver more than asked and sooner than expected.

Habit 6: Change incrementally

Make small incremental changes consistently over time to achieve quantum leaps in productivity
and agility.

Habit 7: Connect with your purpose

Connect with your purpose for enhanced creativity and agility. Connect with your purpose to
release those hidden reserves of personal power within you.
Source: Merla, E. (2011). The agile minded
professional: Seven habits to agility success
[Paper presentation]. PMI® Global Congress This table lists some of the key differences between the traditional project manager and the agile-
2011—EMEA, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland. minded professional project manager.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile-
minded-professional-agility-success-6181
Traditional Agile-minded
Objective
project manager project manager

Develop vision Creates “contract of work” Understands that the product

with the customer owner owns the vision
Communicate vision Communicates vision as the Understands that the product
agent of the product owner or owner is responsible for
sponsor communicating the vision
Plan the work of the project Leads the project team to Facilitates process to “plan to
develop a detailed plan deliver features” in short
upfront; this plan becomes a iterations with predefined
contract of work for the timeframes—no contract of
project team work is required
Organize the work of the Organizes through top-down Creates an environment to
project leaderships allow the work to be

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 performed through self-
organizing teams
Execute the work of the Leads the team to create Facilitates environment for
project well-defined activity-based team-driven decisions
schedules
Schedule the project Leads the team to create Facilitates processes to allow
well-defined activity-based iterations of fixed durations
schedules which always end when time
is up.
Make decisions Facilitates top-down Facilitates environment for
decisions team-driven decisions
Improve productivity of the Takes responsibility for Facilitates the environment to
team productivity of the team allow team to be responsible
for its own productivity
Source: Merla, E. (2011). The agile minded Manage change Protects the scope of the Facilitates the environment to
professional: Seven habits to agility success project using change allow team to self-manage
[Paper presentation]. PMI® Global Congress management processes change (formal project
change management does
2011—EMEA, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland.
not exist)
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile-
Communicate progress Leads team to report what is Facilitates open
minded-professional-agility-success-6181
“contractually” required communications
Coach team members Coaches the team members Coaches on processes, not
on work performance on the team members’
performance (members are
self-managed)
Manage the customer Manages the customer Creates environment to allow
through the contract of the customer to be part of the
project; customer is usually team, not outside of the team
removed from the day-to-day
work of the project

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 Apply principles of
systems thinking to
classify scenarios
Section 3 of 5

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 Systems thinking
Systems thinking means looking at the big picture to understand how different parts of a project
are connected and affect each other. It involves viewing the project not just as a collection of
individual components (like tasks, people, or technologies) but as an interconnected system of
. . . . . . . . . .
people, processes, and tools where each part can influence and is influenced by others. This
. . . . . . . . . .
perspective is crucial in agile approaches, where adaptability and continuous learning are key.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Systems thinking can help you identify potential bottlenecks, understand
. . . . . . . . . .
dependencies, and foresee the impacts of changes or decisions on the project
. . . . . . . . . .
as a whole.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
System thinking also considers complexity …
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
… and uncertainty.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
For example, Scrum, Kanban, and lean inherently embrace systems thinking by not trying to
. . . . . . . . . .
discover everything up front and instead acknowledging that details will emerge gradually, and
. . . . . . . . . .
plans will have to change. Each of these approaches has feedback loops for improving both the
. . . . . . . . . .
product and the process being used.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Scrum encourages regular reflection on processes (through retrospectives) and continuous
. . . . . . . . . .
improvement. The Kanban method helps teams visualize work processes to manage flow, identify
bottlenecks, and optimize the whole system, rather than individual parts. And lean development

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 focuses on value delivery and waste reduction across the entire project system, promoting
efficiency and effectiveness.

VUCA
If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that the world is full of uncertainty. VUCA—volatile,
uncertain, complex, and ambiguous—is an acronym for a framework we can use to understand,
and better manage, uncertainty. In project management, what do these terms mean?

Volatility is the dynamic rate of change. With the speed at which a project

Source: Project Management Institute.

moves, what should be done to remain effective constantly changes.
(2022, December). VUCA – volatility,
uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Uncertainty is the lack of predictability and information. While clarity is nice to
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/vuca-
have, we rarely have a complete version of it on a project.
volatility-uncertainty-complexity-and-
ambiguity Complexity describes interdependent systems with no apparent cause and
effect. Everyone you interact with is part some larger system. These other
systems create relationships that aren’t always seen or understood, but their
existence should be acknowledged.
Ambiguity describes the parts of the project that are not clearly defined or
agreed upon, or the challenge we have in understanding and assessing the
reality of the situation in which the project exists. Sometimes it is hard to know
what is going on and how to improve it.

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 Stacey matrix
Ralph Douglas Stacey developed and published the Stacey matrix to help practitioners
understand the things that make a project complex and choose the best actions to address
complexity in a project. The matrix is based on two dimensions: requirements and technological
realization.

Sources:
Stacey, R. D. (2002). Strategic management
and organizational dynamics: The challenge
of complexity (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall.

Stacey matrix: Praxis Framework. (n.d.).

https://www.praxisframework.org/en/library/s
tacey-matrix

Based on the relative uncertainty of these dimensions, a project is considered simple,

complicated, complex, or chaotic, as shown. By mapping your project on this matrix, you can
work to reduce the risk of the requirements and technology.

For example, if your project falls into the simple space, you may consider using traditional
predictive methods rather than agile approaches. That includes large projects as well. However,
the less certain your technology or requirements are, the more adaptive your project should be.

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 Cynefin model
The Cynefin model, developed by Dave Snowden of IBM, categorizes systems into five domains:
clear, complicated, complex, chaotic, and disorder. Cause and effect are used in this model to
describe the relationship between actions and outcomes within a given domain.

Sources:
Snowden, D. (2000). Cynefin: A sense of
time and space, the social ecology of
knowledge management. In C. Despres &
D. Chauvel (Eds.), Knowledge horizons:
The present and the promise of knowledge
management. Butterworth-Heinemann.

Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007). A

leader's framework for decision making.
Harvard Business Review, 85.

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 Other systems thinking models
There are many other systems thinking tools and models that can help us understand complexity
and dynamic environments. You may see any one of these on the PMI-ACP® exam.

. . . . . . . . . .
The theory of constraints
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . The theory of constraints can help you identify and manage the most critical constraint or

. . . . . . . . . . bottleneck in a system and understand its impact on the entire project.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Importance: It helps identify and manage the Risks: By focusing only on the current

. . . . . . . . . . most critical bottleneck, improving overall bottleneck you might miss other potential

. . . . . . . . . . project flow. problem areas; continuous identification of

. . . . . . . . . . new constraints is required.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Lean Startup methodology
. . . . . . . . . . Lean Startup methodology emphasizes the importance of learning and adapting through build-
. . . . . . . . . . measure-learn feedback loops. It's particularly useful for projects in highly uncertain environments
. . . . . . . . . . and aligns with agile principles.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Importance: It encourages innovation and Risks: Continuous pivoting (changing
. . . . . . . . . . adaptability. It emphasizes customer feedback direction based on feedback) might lead to
. . . . . . . . . . and rapid iterations. And it promotes the strategic drift and confusion within the team.
. . . . . . . . . . concept of a MVP to test market hypotheses, The approach relies heavily on customer
. . . . . . . . . . reducing the risk of large-scale failures. feedback, which can be misleading if not
. . . . . . . . . . properly segmented or if provided by only a
. . . . . . . . . . small, nonrepresentative market sample.

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 Design thinking
Design thinking focuses on empathy, ideation, and experimentation. This approach helps tackle
complex problems through a human-centered design process, complementing the collaborative
and user-focused aspects of agile.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Importance: It encourages innovation and Risks: It can be time consuming and
. . . . . . . . . . human-centric solutions. It fosters creativity expensive; it may lead to ambiguity in
. . . . . . . . . . and problem-solving. decision-making processes.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Value stream mapping
. . . . . . . . . . Value stream mapping is a lean management method for analyzing the current state and
. . . . . . . . . . designing a future state, focusing the series of events that take a product or service from its
. . . . . . . . . . beginning through to delivery to the customer.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Importance: It identifies areas for Risks: It may require significant time and
. . . . . . . . . . improvement in processes and enhances effort to map and analyze; effectiveness
. . . . . . . . . . understanding of the flow of value through the depends on the accuracy of the mapping.
. . . . . . . . . . project.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Each of these models or tools offers different insights and approaches that can enhance our
. . . . . . . . . . understanding and management of complex project environments, especially when applied in
. . . . . . . . . . combination with agile approaches.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 A note for systems thinking tools
Projects bring people with different skill sets and work approaches together to collectively create
some new product, service, or result. Just the people aspects alone are enough to create all sorts
of complexities. These complexities are then compounded with task, product, and change
. . . . . . . . . .
complexities that we see on today’s technology projects.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
No single model or tool can capture the complexity of the impacts of these people, processes,
. . . . . . . . . .
and technologies. Instead, each systems thinking model brings a simplified set of benefits for
. . . . . . . . . .
project practitioners but also carries limitations and risks if not applied thoughtfully and in the
. . . . . . . . . .
proper context.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Agile practitioners should be familiar with these systems thinking models, know how they work,
. . . . . . . . . .
and know when to apply them. However, they should not trust important product or team
. . . . . . . . . .
decisions to a single model in isolation. Instead, agile practitioners should use the tools to help
. . . . . . . . . .
visualize the risks and issues at play and have productive conversations with the team and other
. . . . . . . . . .
stakeholders to gain consensus on decisions, experiments, and changes collectively.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Systems view skills
Most groups working on a project realize that someone should oversee keeping them on track. If
you are doing this, using the following skills will support a systems view of the project:

. . . . . . . . . .
• Empathy with the business areas
. . . . . . . . . .
• Critical thinking with a big picture focus
. . . . . . . . . .
• Challenge assumptions and mental models
. . . . . . . . . .
• Seek external review and advice
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . • Use integrated methods, artifacts, and practices, which lead to a common understanding

. . . . . . . . . . of project work, deliverables, and outcomes

. . . . . . . . . . • Use modeling and scenarios to envision how system dynamics may interact and react

. . . . . . . . . . • Proactively manage the integration to help achieve business outcomes

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Using these skills will help you recognize, evaluate, and respond to system interactions, leading
to the following positive outcomes:

• Early consideration of uncertainty and risk within the project, exploration of alternatives,

. . . . . . . . . . and consideration of unintended consequences

. . . . . . . . . . • Ability to adjust assumptions and plans throughout the project life cycle

. . . . . . . . . . • Provision of ongoing information and insights that inform planning and delivery

. . . . . . . . . . • Clear communication of plans, progress, and projections to relevant stakeholders

. . . . . . . . . . • Alignment of project goals and objectives to the customer organization’s goals,
. . . . . . . . . . objectives, and vision
. . . . . . . . . . • Ability to adjust to the changing project deliverable requirements of the end user, sponsor,
. . . . . . . . . . or customer
. . . . . . . . . . • Ability to see synergies and savings between aligned projects or initiatives
. . . . . . . . . . • Ability to exploit opportunities not otherwise captured or see threats posed to, or by, other
. . . . . . . . . . projects or initiatives
. . . . . . . . . . • Clarity regarding the best project performance measurements and their influence on the
. . . . . . . . . . behavior of the people involved in the project
. . . . . . . . . . • Decisions that benefit the organization as a whole
. . . . . . . . . . • More comprehensive and informed identification of risks
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Design thinking to improve your agile process
Design thinking is thinking about “what” should be built (or shouldn’t be
Source: Vukosav, D. (2019). Design thinking
built), and agile delivery is about “how” value can be delivered quickly.
to improve your agile process [Paper
presentation]. PMI® Global Congress —
Although they are aligned, these interests are not exactly the same.
EMEA, Dublin, Ireland. Some design thinking initiatives were started with an idea of a certain
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/design- project and, after better understanding user requirements, then moved
thinking-improve-agile-process-11909
in the direction of a different type of project.

Agile delivery expects that the “what” has already been decided, and now the “how” should be
split into minimal, viable pieces. This can be pictured as a design-thinking wedge that narrows
and overlaps with an agile wedge that expands as the project's focus transitions from “what” to
“how.”

Design thinking emphasizes building throwaway work to understand the problem better. In agile,
the intent is to build minimally, so there is no work to throw away.

Design thinking and agile pair very well together since they build off the iterative nature of one
another. Design thinking helps drive and foster a creative and playful mentality that frees
participants from judgment or fear of failure. It is also an iterative approach based on prototyping,
Denis Vukosav is a PMI conference speaker
which falls into agile practices perfectly.
and a Kerzner International Project Manager
of the Year Finalist. He has 15 years’
experience as PMO head, program and Design thinking and agile should be combined using the three core elements of design thinking:
project management experience in finance, multidisciplinary teams, variable space, and design thinking methods.
card payments, and airline industries.

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 Multidisciplinary teams
To solve complex problems, the expertise of a single person and the know-how of a single
discipline are no longer sufficient. That is why successful and innovative companies focus on
team effectiveness instead of individual capabilities. The ideal design thinking team draws on its
members’ differences in age, nationality, education, profession, and cultural background. This
diversity allows teams to tap into many different areas of expertise, methods, and models. Such
multidisciplinary teams often produce unusual results and innovative solutions.

Developers, managers, designers, and users can often misunderstand one another, simply
because of the individual backgrounds and experiences. The ability to use this different
knowledge during project development is crucial for later success.
Source: Vukosav, D. (2019). Design thinking
to improve your agile process [Paper
Variable space
presentation]. PMI® Global Congress—
EMEA, Dublin, Ireland. This kind of creative work calls for a special kind of environment, lending itself to the process.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/design- Generally, the workspace should support the group's creativity, openness, and communication.
thinking-improve-agile-process-11909
The office space should primarily be changeable and flexible. The office space has to quickly
adapt to the team's requirements (i.e., working while standing up or sitting, working as a team or
by oneself, silently or noisily). It should be easy to move office furniture around, such as tables
and chairs, quickly creating new scenarios. Organizations should play with their physical
workplace in a way that sends positive “body language” to employees and visitors.

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 Design thinking methods
Probably the most known element of the design thinking approach is its methods. The design
thinking methods involve a series of nine activities split into three groups: inspiration, ideation,
and implementation. Usually, the introduction of agile delivery happens after completion of the
ideation activities, so our focus is on the first six activities that are part of the inspiration and
ideation stages:

1. Inspiration
a. Understand
b. Observe
c. Point of view
Source: Vukosav, D. (2019). Design thinking 2. Ideation
to improve your agile process [Paper
a. Ideate
presentation]. PMI® Global Congress —
b. Prototype
EMEA, Dublin, Ireland.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/design- c. Test
thinking-improve-agile-process-11909

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 Interpret the output of
agile suitability tools

Section 4 of 5

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 Agile suitability filter tools
In 1994, the dynamic systems development method (DSDM) developed an agile project suitability
questionnaire and an organizational suitability questionnaire to help gauge likely fit and potential
problem areas. The Crystal family of agile approaches also used similar criteria, ranking projects
by team size and the criticality of the product or service being developed.

For this course, we are going to use a radar chart that synthesizes several suitability filter
attributes to help organizations assess and discuss whether projects should be undertaken and
what approach should be used. The attributes under this model are assessed in three categories:

Culture: Is there a supportive environment with buy-in for the approach and trust in the team?

Team: Is the team of a suitable size to be successful in adopting agile? Do its members have the
necessary experience and access to business representatives to be successful?

Project: Are there high rates of change? Is incremental delivery possible? How critical is the
project?

Questions are answered and plotted. Clusters near the center indicate a good fit for an agile
approach, while clusters near the outside are more suited for a predictive approach. Those falling
in the middle of the approaches lend themselves to a hybrid approach. These are useful tools for
identifying potential fits and gaps for agile approaches. They should be used as topics for
objective discussion with all interested parties.

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 Instructions for use
Score the categories as a group
For small projects, this group may include the project sponsor, technical lead, and a customer.
For large projects, this group may include representatives from the sponsoring group, project
execution team, impacted business group(s), project governance group(s), and customer
community. No single stakeholder should estimate a plan or project based on only their own
viewpoint. The tool encourages conversation by the invested parties of the project. It is a high-
level diagnostic only. The final decision should rest with, and be supported by, the people
involved.

Score the questions from 1 to 10

The group should agree on a score that accurately reflects the most subjective evaluation of the
question. Trying to decide on a score leads to open and honest discussion. For the purposes of
this scale, 1 is a Yes, 5 is a partial answer, and 10 is a No.

Interpret the results

Mark the answers on a blank chart and connect the points. The results are also helpful as inputs
for the risk management process, since they indicate mismatches that should be managed.

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 Suitability filter questions: culture
Buy-in to approach: Does your senior sponsor understand and support the use of an agile
approach for this project?

Trust in team: Look at the sponsors and representatives who will be working with the team. Do
they have confidence in the team to transform their vision into a successful product or service?

Decision-making powers of the team: How much autonomy will the team have to make their
own decisions about how to undertake the work?

Suitability filter questions: team

Team size: How big is the team? Use the following scale to assign points: 1–9 = 1; 10–20 = 2;
21–30 = 3; 31–45 = 4; 46–60 = 5; 61–80 = 6; 81–110 = 7; 111–150 = 8; 151–200 = 9; more than
201 = 10.

Experience levels: Consider the experience and skill levels of the core roles, being sure to have
at least one experienced team member in each role.

Access to the customer/business: Will the team be able to speak to a business or customer
representative to ask questions and obtain feedback?

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 Suitability filter questions: project
Likelihood of change: What percentage of the requirements are going to change or be
discovered monthly?

Criticality of product/service: To help determine the necessary levels of verification, assess the
criticality of the product or service being built. An assessment considers loss because of defects
and determines the result of a failure.

Incremental delivery: Can the product or service be built or evaluated in portions? Will the
business or customer representative be available to provide timely feedback on what is being
delivered?

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 Drug store example
A project developed an online drug store to sell less expensive Canadian prescription drugs to
(primarily) U.S. customers. The sale of these drugs is a contentious subject in both Canada and
the U.S. The industry is characterized by swift regulation changes and fierce competition. The
. . . . . . . . . .
project faced extremely volatile requirements with major changes weekly. It used very short (2-
. . . . . . . . . .
day) iterations and weekly releases to tackle the high rates of change.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
High levels of buy-in and trust are evident for those who worked in an empowered way. The
. . . . . . . . . .
visual nature of the website made it easy to show new increments of functionality, but the system
. . . . . . . . . .
criticality was high with essential funds for the pharmacy at stake. There were very high rates of
. . . . . . . . . .
change, but the small and
. . . . . . . . . .
experienced team handled
. . . . . . . . . .
them well and had easy
. . . . . . . . . .
access to a knowledgeable
. . . . . . . . . .
business representative. The
. . . . . . . . . .
approach was very successful
. . . . . . . . . .
and extremely agile.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Military messaging system example
An assessment was made on a large project to develop a military messaging system that had
already been running for 5 years. Buy-in for an agile approach was lacking because one was not
being considered. Trust in the vendors was mixed but generally respected. Decision-making was
. . . . . . . . . .
not local, but instead made by architecture and requirements committees. While elements of the
. . . . . . . . . .
design could be tested incrementally in a computer laboratory setting, they could not be gathered
. . . . . . . . . .
for an end-to-end demonstration of functionality. Many lives were potentially at risk, so criticality
. . . . . . . . . .
was very high. Requirements were locked down because changes impacted so many
. . . . . . . . . .
subcontractor organizations.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The project was large with
. . . . . . . . . .
more than 300 people from
. . . . . . . . . .
one vendor alone, but each
. . . . . . . . . .
role had many experienced
. . . . . . . . . .
practitioners. Access to the
. . . . . . . . . .
business/customer was not
. . . . . . . . . .
possible, but contract analysts
. . . . . . . . . .
were available for answering
. . . . . . . . . .
specification questions and
. . . . . . . . . .
they usually replied or asked
. . . . . . . . . .
clarifying questions within 10
. . . . . . . . . .
days. Parts of the project
. . . . . . . . . .
could have been carved off
. . . . . . . . . .
and run as agile projects, but
. . . . . . . . . .
at the heart of the initiative
. . . . . . . . . .
was a single large project.

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 Cultivate Connect
Take the team you selected in the previous exercise and complete this agile
suitability chart. You will find the questions on pages 72 to 75 of this
workbook. Be prepared to come back and share your answers.
. . . . . . . . . .
At. which
. stage
. . of psychological
. . . . . is .
safety
. current
your . . team?
. . . . . . .
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . . . . . .
.
What .is holding
. . you. back
. from
. . . .
. .
advancing.to a. higher
. stage?
. . . . .
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Integrate agile hybrid
models based on
needs
Section 5 of 5

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 Why go hybrid?
When it comes to cars, having a hybrid right now is not only fashionable, but it’s also good for the
environment. When it comes to a project, having a hybrid is a result of the project itself.

. . . . . . . . . .
Some products or projects in safety-critical environments may require a lot of
. . . . . . . . . .
upfront analysis or documentation to gain approval. Or perhaps testing
. . . . . . . . . . traceability and compliance certification should be approved before use. In
. . . . . . . . . . these cases, we may use a largely agile approach for the central development
portion of the project but “bookend” the life cycle with more formal upfront
. . . . . . . . . . approval and final compliance testing and documentation.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
You should ask yourself, “How can we be most successful?”
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . feedback necessary as the team produces value? If so, an incremental
. . . . . . . . . . approach is helpful.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Is it necessary to manage risks as ideas are explored? If so, iterations or agile
. . . . . . . . . . can help.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
If you can’t deliver intermediate value, agile may not be helpful. Don’t do agile
. . . . . . . . . . just for the sake of doing it. The point of selecting an approach is to find a life
. . . . . . . . . . cycle, or a combination of them, that works best for the project, risks, and
culture.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Hybrid life cycles as transition strategy
Another reason to use a hybrid life cycle is if your team is in transition. As with any change, you
could make the change immediately; however, it would cause resistance. You should accustom
the team to the change, and not foist it upon them.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Teams do not make the switch to agile overnight. Agile techniques look and feel very different to
. . . . . . . . . . those who are accustomed to, and have been successful in, a predictive environment. The larger
. . . . . . . . . . the organization and the more moving parts, the longer it will take to transition. For that reason, it
. . . . . . . . . . makes sense to plan a gradual transition. A gradual transition involves adding more iterative
. . . . . . . . . . techniques to improve learning and alignment among teams and stakeholders. Consider adding
. . . . . . . . . . more incremental techniques to accelerate value delivery and return on investment to sponsors
. . . . . . . . . . as you go. This combination of various approaches is considered a hybrid approach.
. . . . . . . . . .
Try these new techniques on a less risky project with a medium to low degree of uncertainty.
. . . . . . . . . .
Then, when the organization is successful with a hybrid approach, try more complex projects that
. . . . . . . . . .
require more of those techniques to be added. This tailors the progressive hybrid transition to the
. . . . . . . . . .
organization’s situation and specific risks, and the team’s readiness to adapt and embrace the
. . . . . . . . . .
changes.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Mixing agile approaches
. . . . . . . . . . Agile is a mindset, a set of values and principles, and not a methodology. Agile teams rarely limit
. . . . . . . . . . their practices to one prescriptive approach. Each project context has its peculiarities, such as the
. . . . . . . . . . varied mix of team member skills and backgrounds; the various components of the product under
. . . . . . . . . . development; and, scale, criticality, complexity, and regulatory constraints of the environment in
. . . . . . . . . . which the work takes place.The team may have to tailor practices to regularly deliver value.
. . . . . . . . . . Often, teams practice their own special blend of agile, even if they use a particular framework as
. . . . . . . . . . a starting point.

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 Case study:
how blending adaptive practices
delivered huge cost savings

Organization: An American cable television company

Industry: Telecommunications

Reference source: Agile Practice Guide, Section 3.2

Background
With roughly 16 million subscribers, delivering and monitoring the cable television service in a
seamless fashion is key to enhancing the customer experience. One of the critical tools is our
circuit inventory management system—critical because when alarms go off on a network device,
it shows up in one of the alarming tools for network operations center (NOC) visibility. Typically, a
NOC technician would obtain metadata from our circuit inventory management system to
understand the type of device affected and then transmit that information into the trouble-ticketing
Source: Subramaniam, N. (N.D.) Case
study: How blending adaptive practices tool. When an outage happens, we should restore service to customers in a timely fashion, per
delivered huge cost savings. the service-level agreement. That means the tools should be capable of housing the required
®
PMIStandards+ .
information and be able to display customer impacts. Some key questions to expedite event
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_26/
restoration are the number of customers or circuits affected in an event, and does a circuit has
fb3383b6-0337-496b-89f1-2ee729a89c14
redundancy built in or not.

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 The problem
Problems range from data issues, lack of robust customer-impact reporting, commercial account
directors not having reliable reports during their monthly and operations reviews with customers,
lost credibility with customers, and lack of visibility of number of affected customers and circuits
when an outage meets the regulatory reporting threshold.

How it was solved

I conducted comprehensive impact assessment studies to address broad, important, and severe
events affecting service. I designed automated reporting mechanisms to provide accurate and
timely customer-impact analysis (a critical governance touchpoint), and prioritize and report on
planned/unplanned network outages.
Source: Subramaniam, N. (N.D.) Case
study: How blending adaptive practices
delivered huge cost savings.
I identified all of the key stakeholders and worked with various cross-functional organizations to
PMIStandards+®. map the various activities required to bring the problem to fruition. I continued to update the
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_26/ stakeholder register on an iterative basis as new information emerged.
fb3383b6-0337-496b-89f1-2ee729a89c14

I then conducted design workshops with a cross-functional team comprising of regulatory, legal,
sales engineering, event analysis, network operations center (NOC), and operational support
systems personnel to ensure alignment of the program objectives with organization objectives.

A series of requirements emerged during this workshop and subsequently during the weekly
touch point meetings. The result was a product backlog. The project team drove the
documentation of mandatory field requirements in the circuit inventory management tool by
working closely with circuit provisioning subject matter experts. Together, they developed
compliance reporting and then implemented upfront validations to address data integrity issues.

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 Graphic user interface development for “customer impact” reporting followed Scrum methodology
where we completed the scope in various iterations, and requirements were constantly changing
based on the stakeholder feedback. I effectively engaged all identified stakeholders (sponsor,
project team, and key stakeholders) at key points during the project. The team refactored existing
codes and improved reporting in line with the collected requirements. I monitored the progress via
the kanban board and ensured seamless execution of user stories by monitoring work in progress
limits.

The outcome
The work done in this space negated the need for several teams (NOCs, event analysis, service
provisioning managers, project managers, and client service managers) that mine data from
Source: Subramaniam, N. (N.D.) Case
various sources to understand client impact, an unnecessary time and resource drain. Process
study: How blending adaptive practices
change followed by enforcement of data compliance and design of a robust “customer impact”
delivered huge cost savings.
PMIStandards+®. report delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost savings.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_26/
fb3383b6-0337-496b-89f1-2ee729a89c14

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 Case study: managing scope change and
complexity with hybrid

A hybrid approach allowed the team to successfully

complete work packages that had a known scope of work
while still making progress on the more uncertain ones.

Organization: Canadian community institution

Industry: Nonprofit

Lessons learned
“For a hybrid approach to succeed, the rationale has to be clearly communicated to all
stakeholders who initially expect an end-to-end schedule,” says David Hunter, PMI-ACP, PMI-
RMP, PMP, managing principal, Hunter Group, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Source: Hunter, D. (N.D.) Case study:

Managing scope change and complexity Background
®
with hybrid. PMIStandards+ . Just before the installation of a new solar power system at its main office, a community nonprofit
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_21/
organization in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, identified the requirement to create a new information
c98b10d6-95f7-49f5-b8b8-c1ddd4716d9f
display system for the lobby. Originally, the organization planned to use the system to provide
real-time information about solar panels and energy use. The scope was later expanded for the
system to act as a display for other information, with integration via an application programming
interface connection.

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 The problem
“Initially, only the physical installation of the system drove the timeline,” says Hunter. “But as the
scope—and complexity—expanded, the uncertainty ballooned. It seemed overly complex and
perhaps a larger scope than the team could support,” he says.

How it was solved

The team moved to a hybrid approach, dividing the project into two buckets: one for any work that
could be immediately assigned to team members, and the other for work that still had to be
defined. To the latter, Hunter applied spikes to empower the discovery of requirements that could
not otherwise be defined.

Source: Hunter, D. (N.D.) Case study: By using short bursts of work in the yet-to-be-defined bucket, the team often uncovered hidden
Managing scope change and complexity
requirements for other work packages in the same category and created economies of scale. This
with hybrid. PMIStandards+®.
work was happening while team members were already up and running on the defined tasks that
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_21/
c98b10d6-95f7-49f5-b8b8-c1ddd4716d9f had been parsed out.

Hunter used a simple documenting process to pair work packages with the right team members.
Then he assigned team members to privately denote a complexity score and a priority score to
each work package. “The median and average of these scores then gave a picture, albeit
imprecise, of what was immediately possible and what would require more planning,” Hunter
says.

Actively involving team members in the process helped generate greater buy-in than simply
assigning tasks and dampened any biases around how quickly certain tasks might progress.

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 The outcome
“A hybrid approach allowed the team to successfully complete work packages that had a known
scope of work while still making progress on the more uncertain ones,” Hunter says. “And
because stakeholders were educated on the hybrid approach and knew that work might be
iterative at times, the team felt supported throughout.”

“For example,” Hunter says, “because the project integrated newer technologies, such as
ethernet over power lines, certain connections had to be modified as the system load shifted and
when signal strength was lower than expected. That meant the installation team had to return to
run additional tests on the electrical infrastructure. That might be considered rework from a purely
predictive perspective, but we expected it because of the uncertainty surrounding some of the
Source: Hunter, D. (N.D.) Case study: display system’s work packages,” he says. “A hybrid approach smoothed stakeholder
Managing scope change and complexity expectations by implementing a continuous improvement cycle.”
®
with hybrid. PMIStandards+ .
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_21/
c98b10d6-95f7-49f5-b8b8-c1ddd4716d9f

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 04
Promote a
collaborative
team
environment

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 Establish team vision
and working
agreements
Section 1 of 7

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 Charter the project and the team
Every project requires a project charter so the project team knows why this project matters, where
the team is headed, and what the project objective is. However, the project charter alone may not
be enough for the team. Agile teams require team norms and an understanding of how to work
. . . . . . . . . .
together.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
In that case, the team might require a team charter.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The chartering process
. . . . . . . . . .
The chartering process helps the team learn how to work together and coalesce around the
. . . . . . . . . .
project. At a minimum, for an agile project, the team requires the project vision or purpose and a
. . . . . . . . . .
clear set of working agreements. An agile project charter answers these questions:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Why are we doing this project? This is the project vision.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Who benefits and how? This may be part of the project vision and/or project
. . . . . . . . . . purpose.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . What does “done” mean for the project? These are the project’s release
. . . . . . . . . . criteria.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . How are we going to work together? This explains the intended flow of work.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Working agreements
Working agreements describe how the team interacts within itself as well as with other teams
within an organization. A working agreement is a key element of a team’s coordination strategy.

. . . . . . . . . .
Consider these questions while creating a working agreement:
. . . . . . . . . .
• How do we share information internally?
. . . . . . . . . .
• Who should update the artifacts the team creates?
. . . . . . . . . .
• How do we coordinate internally?
. . . . . . . . . .
• How do we coordinate with each other if we're part of a larger team?
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . • How should we work with IT or enterprise teams, such as data managers and enterprise

. . . . . . . . . . architects?

. . . . . . . . . . • How do we coordinate our deployment or release with others in the organization?

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Install efficient coordination strategies so the team can easily collaborate internally and externally.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . It’s important that the working agreement specifies who will update the artifacts. Without it, the

. . . . . . . . . . team could become confused and duplicate efforts. It could also lead to potential conflicts and

. . . . . . . . . . delays. For example, if multiple team members update the same artifact without coordinating with

. . . . . . . . . . each other, they can introduce errors and inconsistencies in the artifact. However, if only one

. . . . . . . . . . person updates the artifact, it can create a bottleneck and slow down the team's progress.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Project charter example: Cultivate Connect
Using what you know so far about the Cultivate Connect project,
complete this example template for the team you’ve been using in the
previous exercises. Be prepared to come back and share your
answers.

Project title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Problem statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Scope outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Definition of success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 Risk summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Business case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Deliverables schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Definition of success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Team structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 Organization structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Project approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Steering committee decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 Chartering ideas
Servant leadership is a style of leadership emphasizing the requirements of the lead’s “followers,”
that is, the team members. This is a term originated by Robert Greenleaf. A servant lead focuses
on the growth and well-being that may facilitate the chartering process by working with the team.
A team can coalesce through these interactions, and the project charter is a great way to start the
task. In addition, team members may want to collaborate to understand how they’ll work together.

Teams don’t require a formal process for chartering if the teams understand how to work together.
However, some teams benefit from a team chartering process. Here are some chartering ideas
for team members to use as a basis for their social contract:

Source: Greenleaf, R. K. (2015). The

Team values, including sustainable pace and core hours.
servant as leader. Center for Servant
Leadership.
Working agreements, including what “ready" means so the team can take in
work, what “done" means so the team can judge completeness consistently,
respecting the timebox, or the use of work in process limits.

Ground rules, such as one person talking in a meeting.

Group norms, such as how the team treats meeting times.

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 XP project metaphor
One of the core practices of Extreme Programming (XP) is the use of metaphor, which allows the
team to better understand how the system works. To distill that even further, let’s boil a project
metaphor down by answering three questions:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
What is it? The metaphor is a story or analogy that describes how the system works and is
. . . . . . . . . .
derived from an element of common understanding, making it easy for anyone to comprehend.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Why is it important? Metaphors simplify complex systems and structures into understandable
. . . . . . . . . .
and relatable terms, and they offer a shared understanding within the team, aiding in
. . . . . . . . . .
communication.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
How does it work? Metaphors simplify complex system functions. An example is describing a
. . . . . . . . . .
data processing system as a “factory”—where data is entered, processed, and then becomes
. . . . . . . . . .
output.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Metaphor examples
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . System Design Story Journey
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Form and develop a
high-performing team

Section 2 of 7

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 The team development model
A team that is together for any period evolves in many aspects, including performance. A
psychologist named Bruce Tuckman noted three factors that determine how well teams perform:

Content Process Feelings

Source: Tuckman, B. W. (1965).

Stages of team development
Developmental sequence in small groups.
As part of his research, Tuckman identified that teams go through four stages of development:
Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1
037%2Fh0022100

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 Implications
Tuckman’s work yielded a few observations:

Teams aren’t fully effective until they reach the performing stage.

A team determines its own progress. Some teams operate with storming as their definition of
“normal,” while others don’t leave the storming stage. Still others devolve into storming after not
fully norming. The size of the team, distribution, number of meetings, level of stability, and other
pressures impact a team’s effectiveness.

In addition to all of these factors, the duration of the team’s progress through the life cycle stages
Source: Tuckman, B. W. (1965).
depends on the team itself.
Developmental sequence in small groups.
Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384–399.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1
037%2Fh0022100 Virtual teams
The COVID-19 pandemic and its immediate aftermath brought virtual teams and virtual work into
the forefront of our thought processes out of necessity. For most teams, work wasn’t going to be
accomplished without people working from their own houses.

Tuckman’s model highlights the use of virtual teams through its flexibility. Virtual teams often take
longer to proceed from storming to norming, since it’s easier for people to withdraw from conflict
remotely than to confront and resolve it.

Virtual teams are common in today’s business environment, as technology allows teams to more
effectively function across time zones and cultural boundaries.

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 Time to reflect
Let’s take some time to take what you’ve learned and apply it to your job.
Now that we’ve discussed Tuckman’s stages, think for a minute about your
own projects and teams. What stage of the life cycle are they in? If they are
not in norming, how can they arrive there? Be ready to share your answers
with the rest of the learners.

You’ll have five minutes to complete this thought exercise, and we’ll take about five minutes to
review.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 Strategies to predict virtual team conflict before it occurs
Understanding the development process of a virtual team can aid in
knowing when conflict will occur. Tuckman's model defined five phases
of team development as forming, norming, storming, performing, and
adjourning (Tuckman, 1995; Johnson & Johnson, 2000, p. 31).
Identifying these distinctions in the virtual team process can assist a
project manager in avoiding disruptive conflict. This model of group
development described by Tuckman definitely applies to virtual teams.
Research conducted by Joy-Matthews and Gladstone (2000) supported the use of the Tuckman
model in the formation of virtual teams and documented that when virtual teams circumvented
Source: Curlee, W., & Gordon, R. L. (2004). one of these sequential steps, these teams were not as successful. Furthermore, Duarte and
Leading through conflict in virtual teams: A
Snyder (2001) defined similar elements to the Tuckman sequential team model in their model of
study of best practices [Paper presentation].
PMI® Global Congress 2004—Latin
the virtual team process. Lipnack and Stamps (2000) agreed that the Tuckman model can be
America, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Project applied successfully to virtual teams.
Management Institute.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/conflict-
Research (Curlee & Gordon, 2004) indicated that the brick-and-mortar project manager faced
virtual-teams-best-practices-8389
conflict during the forming and storming stages of the Tuckman model, which was the same as
the virtual project manager. The literature review emphasized that, in the virtual environment,
trust was essential for effective management. Previous survey results (Curlee & Gordon, 2004)
corroborated this by demonstrating the need for the project manager to competently and
effectively communicating with customers and teams, and set high expectations. It can be
reasonably concluded that a skilled project manager will then gain the trust of team members
(Duarte & Snyder, 2001, p. 83; Brown et al., 2004; Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1999). Forming and
storming are the first two phases of a project team's life; without them the team is not able to
establish the necessary trust with the project manager. It may be effective for the project manager
to meet face-to-face (electronically or traditionally) and demonstrate competence as a project
manager to increase the trust quotient.

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 Tuckman found the forming and storming phases were the two most likely where internal group
conflict occurred (1995, pp. 356–357). In these phases, a project manager should establish a
clear group hierarchy to avoid conflict (Johnson & Johnson, 2000, p. 31). These roles shape a
person's future contribution to the group. A project manager that is working virtually should expect
conflict during the team formation process (Curlee & Gordon, 2004). Communication limitations
exist in the virtual environment, so the project manager should plan to compensate for this initial
formation delay. Teams start to form and individuals should learn to interact in the new
environment. Any distance and possible cultural obstacles can retard the initial team formation.
Individuals that are unfamiliar with each other should take time to get to know one another.
Usually, this kind of formation occurs naturally through informal contact within a physical office.
Without this kind of interaction, virtual teams may form more slowly. Majchrzak et al. (2004, p.
Source: Curlee, W., & Gordon, R. L. (2004).
137) found that the formation of small teams within the larger team helped the overall virtual team
Leading through conflict in virtual teams: A
study of best practices [Paper presentation].
become more successful. Curlee and Gordon (2004) survey results also suggested that the
PMI® Global Congress 2004—Latin America, conflict was mitigated by smaller, agile, and successful teams.
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/conflict-
A project manager can avoid conflict during the forming stage by increased initial contact and by
virtual-teams-best-practices-8389
communicating the initial project plan. An initial face-to-face meeting of all team members to
discuss the project and allow individuals to have an initial understanding of each other is one
successful strategy to avoid conflict during the forming stage (Lipnack & Stamps, 2000, pp. 222–
223). The project manager should link the introductions with the communication of the project
plan because pleasant group contact will not decrease intergroup tension (Johnson & Johnson,
2000, p. 434). Another important factor in this initial stage, whether done face-to-face or virtually,
is the introductory communication. If conflict does occur, the project manager should act as a
mediator to resolve conflict (Johnson & Johnson, 2000, pp. 31–32).

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 Intragroup conflict in the storming phase is common (Tuckman, 1995, p. 357). As individuals are
learning their role and responsibilities, they will usually make mistakes. Communication is slower
and less robust in the virtual environment and individuals may misinterpret these issues.
Therefore, a project manager should plan on resolving conflict between team members. In the
storming phase, a project manager should expect people to disagree, as individual
responsibilities become clearer.

In order to mitigate this conflict, a project manager should take steps to clearly define
expectations, expected tasks, deadlines, and ramifications (PMI, 2000). The better individuals
understand their role, the less likely they will clash with others. Additionally, when everyone is
aware of what is required of each individual on the team, there is less of a concern that some
people are performing below expectations. When tasks are agreed upon up front, there are fewer
points of conflict due to ambiguity (Duarte & Snyder, 2001, p. 75).
Source: Curlee, W., & Gordon, R. L. (2004).
Leading through conflict in virtual teams: A
study of best practices [Paper presentation]. Another recommendation is the project manager use a project plan to manage the virtual aspect
PMI® Global Congress 2004—Latin of the team, as well as creating another project plan for the team goal (Curlee & Gordon, 2004).
America, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The project manager in effect has to manage two projects while leading a virtual team. The virtual
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/conflict-
team project manager should also plan to build a timeline and project plan for the project as well
virtual-teams-best-practices-8389
as one for the virtual environment. Creating two separate documents helps outline the process
and expectations of the virtual team, but also creates a performance document where team
members can anticipate potential problems in the virtual environment. This document will also
help keep the goals of the team in focus while explaining the challenges that might arise. Team
members can then become committed to the project as well as be accountable for their actions
(Johnson & Johnson, 2000, p. 33).

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 Strategies to resolve virtual team conflict when it occurs
The virtual team encounters temporal issues. Most virtual teams contend with an asynchronous
environment and use various techniques to stay current with the other team members, including
synchronizing email/databases and conducting meetings at periodic intervals (Montoya-Weiss et
al., 2001). This may lead to confusion and tension within the team, which in turn leads to conflict.
Merriman et al.’s (2004) research found that virtual relationships were slow to develop trust.
Therefore, it follows logically that the virtual team will have difficulties in resolving team conflict.

The project manager should develop trust from the onset of the project, or the forming stage.
Curlee and Gordon's (2004) research showed that conflict happens during this stage. They
should demonstrate their competencies in project management by being direct and providing an
authoritative “persona” at this stage (Furst et al., 2004). The project manager should ensure the
team has been introduced to and understands the project charter and project mission, and verify
that project documents are available online and up to date. They should also often include the
sponsor and the senior management to encourage trust in, both, the project manager and
Source: Curlee, W., & Gordon, R. L. (2004).
management. During this phase, face-to-face meetings whenever possible would be most
Leading through conflict in virtual teams: A
study of best practices [Paper presentation].
beneficial.
®
PMI Global Congress 2004—Latin
America, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The project manager should confront conflict quickly to encourage team cohesiveness and move
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/conflict-
forward to the norming phase. As the team shifts into the storming phase, the project manager
virtual-teams-best-practices-8389
should slowly shift their leadership to encourage team-building and hold individuals accountable
for deadlines and deliverables. This means they may have to remove disruptive individuals from
the team. During the performing stage, the project manager should shift the leadership to focus
on removing any barriers for the virtual team from the “home office” or from bureaucracy on the
team.

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 References
Brown, H., Poole, M., & Rodgers, T. (2004). Interpersonal traits, complementarity, and trust in
virtual collaboration. Journal of Management Information Systems, 20(4), 115.
Curlee, W., & Gordon, R. (2004). Leading through conflict in a virtual team. Proceedings of the
2004 North American Project Management Institute.
Duarte, D., & Snyder, N. (2001). Mastering virtual teams (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Furst, S., Reeves, M., Rosen, B., & Blackburn, R. (2004). Managing the life cycle of virtual teams.
Academy of Management Perspectives, 18(2).
Jarvenpaa, S., & Leidner, D. (1999). Communication and trust in global virtual teams.
Organization Science: A Journal of the Institute of Management Sciences, 10(6), 791.
Johnson, D., & Johnson, F. (2000). Joining together: Group theory and group skills. Pearson.
Source: Curlee, W., & Gordon, R. L. (2004).
Leading through conflict in virtual teams: A
Joy-Matthews, J., & Gladstone, B. (2000, January 27). Extending the group: A strategy for virtual
study of best practices [Paper presentation]. team formation. Industrial and Commercial Training, 32, 24–29.
®
PMI Global Congress 2004—Latin Lipnack, J., & Stamps, J. (2000). Virtual teams: People working across boundaries with
America, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
technology (2nd edition). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/conflict-
virtual-teams-best-practices-8389
Majchrzak, A., Malhotra, A., Stamps, J., & Lipnack, J. (2004). Can absence make a team grow
stronger? Harvard Business Review, 5(82), 131.
Tuckman, B. W. (1995). Developmental sequence in small groups. In T. Wren (Ed.), The leader's
companion: Insights on leadership through the ages (pp. 355–359). The Free Press.

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 Use retrospective
findings

Section 3 of 7

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 Retrospectives
Retrospectives are a common and important method or means for improvement. Normally,
they’re attended by just the team but the team may occasionally invite others—though these are
exceptions the team agrees to ahead of an invite. Examples of this include a customer coming to
. . . . . . . . . .
share feedback or other stakeholders not normally in attendance.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Retrospectives are arguably among the most important agile ceremonies, since they help the
. . . . . . . . . .
team learn about, adapt, and improve their processes. This learning is specifically mentioned in
. . . . . . . . . .
the final principle of the Agile Manifesto, which states, “At regular intervals, the team reflects on
. . . . . . . . . .
how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.” They can also
. . . . . . . . . .
occur at any time in the project process, whether after a release, as a means of removing an
. . . . . . . . . .
obstacle or blocker in product work, or when the team reaches a milestone.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Retrospectives use qualitative data (people's feelings) and quantitative data (measurements) to
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find root causes, design countermeasures, and develop action plans.
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 Importance of retrospectives
If done correctly, retrospectives can produce many benefits, including but not limited to the
following examples:

Improved productivity
The team discovers that unit testing should be improved and acts. As a result, the current tests
improve, and tests in deficient areas are added. The team will find errors earlier from now on, and
this reduces work at the end of the release.

Improved capability
Sometimes, retrospectives can resolve long-standing issues such as team capability gaps. For
Source: Derby, E., & Larsen, D. (2012). example, if only one person knows how to integrate customer data into a database no one can
Agile retrospectives: Making good teams perform that task when that person is unavailable. During a retrospective, the team can discuss
great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
how to transfer this skill and eliminate a potential bottleneck.

Improved quality
The team noticed a connection between a lack of customer input during iterations and missed
requirements. After a retrospective, the project manager decides to increase customer
involvement. This reduces misunderstandings and rework as well as time spent fixing defects or
refactoring.

Increased capacity
As the result of a retrospective, the team decides to change its release schedule from monthly to
weekly to focus on delivering more high-value features.

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 Common retrospective problems
Blame: Don’t let the retrospective turn into a meeting where people try to place blame on one
another. “You” statements (“you broke the build”) and labeling statements (“you’re immature”) are
signals of blame. Blame distracts from the real work of discussing and solving issues.

System problems: One goal of a retrospective is problem identification but sometimes these
problems can’t be fixed because they’re systemic. Your team may not be able to fix a systemic
problem in a retrospective, though they can be a part of the solution by influencing and making
proposals.

Not taking the broader view: Retrospectives, particularly at the end of a project or a release,
allow the team to take a broader view. Taking a broader view means allowing team members to
Source: Derby, E., & Larsen, D. (2012).
Agile retrospectives: Making good teams
assess the context of an issue. A broader view allows the team to look at their own and the work
great. Pragmatic Bookshelf. of other teams and the larger organization, which promotes collaboration and mitigates potential
dependencies and roadblocks.

Not sharing responsibility: Make sure the team shares responsibility for work and leadership. If
responsibility consistently falls to one person, others begin to depend on them. This damages the
team dynamic of collaboration and shared ownership. Another illustration is scapegoating, where
the team allows one group to resolve any issues the team has, for example. Make sure the team
shares the responsibility for the work and the leadership.

Not proposing solutions or experiments: The purpose of the retrospective is to adapt and
improve. If teams aren’t suggesting improvements or experiments to try in the next sprint or
iteration, this is a sign that the improvement aspect of the retrospective isn’t working correctly.

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 Using retrospectives to shape future work
You’ve produced a list of things to do, but what's the best way to decide what to do? Let the team
decide, of course. But how do we do that? Here are a few ways.

Voting
Let the team vote on what to do. Ask the team to place dots or some other indicator next to the
work item of their choice on a list.

Planning games
Have your team divide itself into small groups and analyze the tasks. You can figure out where
the duplicates are, eliminate them, and fill in the gaps with work you may have missed. Use dot-
Source: Derby, E., & Larsen, D. (2012). voting to decide on priorities.
Agile retrospectives: Making good teams
great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
SMART
Organize the work based on what’s specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and/or timely. Work
that has most of these characteristics is more likely to be completed.

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 Course retrospective
Now that we’ve discussed retrospectives, let’s hold one. Take a few
minutes to think about the course so far, and be ready to answer the
following questions:

• What’s worked so far?

• What hasn’t worked?
• What can be improved?

Be ready to share your answers with the rest of the learners.

You’ll have five minutes to complete this thought exercise, and we’ll take about five minutes to
review.

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 Practice: iteration retrospective (facilitate)
Iteration retrospectives are the structured reflective practice to learn
and improve based on what has already been done. The purpose of
retrospection is to build team commitment and to collectively find ways
to improve the team’s ways of working. Retrospectives are usually
done at the end of every iteration (but be pragmatic about this!).
Usually, the team lead is the facilitator for the meeting. A facilitator
helps the team stay focused and learn together.

Why practice
Retrospectives are a conversation between team members, and the job of the facilitator is to help
Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (2023, May). Practice: Iteration the team identify opportunities for improving their ways of working and to plan how to implement
retrospective. PMI. those improvements.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/tester/practice-iteration-retrospective
Facilitation is a skill. Facilitation helps a team improve their effectiveness, address impediments
and conflicts, create a safe environment to identify and address issues as a group, and assist
with the decision-making process.

The facilitator’s job includes:

• Drawing out ideas and opinions
• Writing and communicating on behalf of the team
• Acting as an occasional referee
• Helping the team keep to its process and revise it when required
• Helping achieve consensus

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 Who does this practice
• The team lead has ideas or concerns that should be highlighted based on knowing the
issues of the team as well as the experience in the iteration. The team lead is usually the
facilitator for the retrospective, but this responsibility can also be rotated within the team.
• The product owner and other team members actively participate and share their ideas.
What to do
Inputs
• Everyone who was involved in the iteration should be available. Everyone has a
viewpoint about what happened and if someone is missing, an insight will be lost.
• Goals and objectives for the iteration
Source: Project Management Institute
• Understanding what the team committed to for the iteration
(PMI). (2023, May). Practice: Iteration
retrospective. PMI. • Concerns and impediments
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/tester/practice-iteration-retrospective
Approach
At the end of each iteration, the whole team conducts a retrospective, facilitated by the team lead.
The key question is:
“If we could do it again, what would we keep doing and what would we improve?”
The approach to facilitation requires:
• Understanding the goals and objectives of the iteration
• Handling the logistics for meeting room and materials
• Scheduling participants
• Identifying possible problems; develop a good facilitation plan and review the facilitation
tools that will be used
• Gathering and making visible in handouts or charts the data required for the meeting
• Keeping the meeting running and focused and managing the clock
• Capturing notes and insights and distributing to members after the meeting

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 Discussion
The iteration retrospective is the opportunity for the team to learn together. Each team member is
expected to speak to the whole team. In this session, everyone should consider themselves to be
peers.

The team lead facilitates the conversation but does not lead the session.

Objectives
Here are important objectives for facilitating a retrospective:
• This is a blame-free environment.
o The goal is process improvement, not blame. Be honest about what happened.
Source: Project Management Institute Critiques are allowed without recrimination.
(PMI). (2023, May). Practice: Iteration o Use the normal rules for brainstorming.
retrospective. PMI.
o Seek to uncover the unvarnished truth, what actually went on.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/tester/practice-iteration-retrospective • We want to identify a few vital things to change.
o While a team may generate a lot of ideas, have the team pick a “vital few” that
offer the greatest opportunity for near-term improvement. For each one, create a
story and assign it to an iteration.
o A retrospection is successful if it generates two or three stories focused on
process improvement.
• Everyone participates.
o Everyone who was involved in the iteration should be present at the
retrospective.
o Everyone speaks because everyone has an insight that may help foster
understanding.

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 Facilitation
• At the beginning, ask people to introduce themselves and their role or some other activity
that makes everyone feel they are involved
• Begin by reviewing the objectives for the iteration (described previously)
• Create an atmosphere of openness and don’t be afraid to ask the unasked questions
• Clarify the distinction between facts and opinions
• Ensure a blame-free environment
• In a big meeting, delegate someone to take detailed notes

Challenges to consider
• Growing stale. At some point in a team’s life, retrospectives become rote, stale. They
Source: Project Management Institute cease to be seen as useful to the team. Whenever you sense this, it is your responsibility
(PMI). (2023, May). Practice: Iteration
to point it out. The team should consider together how to shake things up, to see how
retrospective. PMI.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined- they can make retrospectives relevant again.
agile/tester/practice-iteration-retrospective • Too many suggestions. Focus on the vital few. Track these as stories for the next iteration
so the team can see value being produced.
• Too few suggestions. Teams often think too small. They are constrained by assumptions
about what they are allowed to do.
• Complaining. It is common for improvement events to devolve into whining sessions,
complaining without an intention to do better. The facilitator can allow a little time for
venting but then should take strong action to end it.

Involving outsiders
Retrospectives are intended for the team itself, and they should provide a safe environment for
participants. This is an important part of the facilitator’s job.

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 Outsiders usually don’t participate in retrospectives. In order to maintain the safe environment
aspect of the meeting, the team should be restrictive in inviting other people to participate in the
meeting. When deciding whether to involve outsiders in the retrospective, following this rule: Will
the additional person contribute to learning among the team and within the organization?

Should the product owner come to the retrospective? Yes, if…

• The team feels comfortable with the product owner being there
• The product owner has perspectives about the iteration that should be shared
• It will help build a relationship between the product owner and the team
• The product owner is not involved in evaluating team members

Source: Project Management Institute Outputs

(PMI). (2023, May). Practice: Iteration The iteration retrospective should result in one to three stories for the next iteration, reflecting a
retrospective. PMI.
vital few improvements to the team’s ways of working.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/tester/practice-iteration-retrospective
The meeting is primarily intended for the team itself, and “what happens in the retrospective stays
in the retrospective.” From a transparency point of view, though, the team should share the
improvement stories they have committed to implementing.

When to do this practice

Iteration retrospectives should be done at the end of the iteration, while the experience from the
iteration is fresh in everybody’s mind. Planning for facilitation should be done at least a few days
before the retrospective.

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 Outcomes
Here are some of the compelling reasons for this practice:

• Effective communication between all parties

• Creation of a safe environment for listening and sharing

• Good relationship with team members

• Concerns are addressed effectively

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2023, May). Practice: Iteration
retrospective. PMI.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/tester/practice-iteration-retrospective

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 Use collaborative
practices to break
down silos
Section 4 of 7

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 Collaborative practices
Agile teams have full-time team members working in a projectized structure to minimize the silo
issues often seen in matrix organizations. However, this is sometimes not enough to ensure
collaboration within the team. Agile teams use several techniques to break down these barriers.
. . . . . . . . . .
Practices that can promote cross-functional teamwork and improve overall team dynamics
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include:
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• Daily coordination meetings
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• Sprint or iteration planning
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• Demos
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• Retrospectives
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Daily coordination meetings
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Coordination meetings are where the team discusses their current tasks, uncovers problems, and
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ensures the work flows smoothly through the team. The meeting is timeboxed to no longer than
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15 minutes. The team “walks” the kanban or task board in some way, and anyone from the team
. . . . . . . . . .
can facilitate the coordination meeting while answering three questions in a round-robin fashion:
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• What did I complete since the last coordination meeting?
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• What am I planning to complete between now and the next coordination meeting?
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• What are my impediments (or risks or problems)?
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These questions generate answers that allow the team to self-organize and hold each other
. . . . . . . . . .
accountable for completing the work they committed to the day before and throughout the
. . . . . . . . . .
iteration.

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 Sprint planning
Each team has a different capacity. Product owners create stories of various sizes, reflecting
unique values of complexity and urgency. Teams use these sizes when figuring out their workload
. . . . . . . . . . so they aren’t committing to more stories than they can complete within one sprint. Silos create
. . . . . . . . . . blockers and task dependencies. On the task board, items blocked by an external group (a silo)
. . . . . . . . . . are labelled as “blocked.” Every day that a team member reports the item as blocked adds a new
. . . . . . . . . . checkmark to the blocked card. The queue length and impact of the silo is visible, and the scrum
. . . . . . . . . . master or team lead can escalate it.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . It is not only external groups that may create silos. Sometimes, agile teams can end up in a silo
. . . . . . . . . . themselves. Agile teams follow their own team norms and processes and act as self-contained
. . . . . . . . . . units. This can limit their interactions with other teams or individuals within the organization. They
. . . . . . . . . . might remain unaware of potential solutions or perspectives that could resolve their project
. . . . . . . . . . issues.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Teams estimate what they can reasonably complete; this is a measure of capacity. If product
. . . . . . . . . . owners make smaller stories and the team makes better progress, then teams learn for future
. . . . . . . . . . iterations.
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 Demos
As the team completes the features, usually in the form of user stories, the team periodically
demonstrates the working product for the product owner, who views the demonstration and
accepts or declines features and stories. The product owner role typically is a business role that
. . . . . . . . . .
has the authority to expedite issues such as waiting for information or feedback and general silo
. . . . . . . . . .
issues.
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Escalations should be reserved for issues the team and scrum master can’t solve. They’re a last
. . . . . . . . . .
choice and should never be used on minor issues.
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The team holds a demo when a product is ready for stakeholder feedback. Ideally, this is every
. . . . . . . . . .
two weeks, though the team can decide on a different cadence that optimizes the timing of
. . . . . . . . . .
feedback.
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Just as communities of practice can be a great place for teams to learn from other individuals,
. . . . . . . . . .
teams can also use demos to break silos within their team. They could invite an external team to
. . . . . . . . . .
a demo of the working product to obtain their feedback and viewpoint. For example, a team can
. . . . . . . . . .
demo the product to the marketing team to understand if it meets the requirements of the target
. . . . . . . . . .
customer.
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 Problem-solving in retrospectives
Retrospectives don’t have to be held only at the end of iterations. You can use them to solve
problems, break through silo barriers, or propose experimentation and innovation.

. . . . . . . . . .
Teams should use retrospectives to identify and troubleshoot collaboration barriers such as
. . . . . . . . . .
organizational silos and talent dependencies outside of the core team.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
When teams identify dependencies or bottleneck issues working with people outside the core
. . . . . . . . . .
team, they can propose experimentation or innovation to discover a way forward. Maybe we can
. . . . . . . . . .
schedule regular information-exchange sessions with these required people? Maybe we can
. . . . . . . . . .
negotiate a temporary or part-time solution with their managers? Maybe we can grow these
. . . . . . . . . .
capabilities within the team to eliminate the dependency?
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The idea here is to use the retrospective to brainstorm and then resolve these kinds of issues.
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 How to build organizational agility into company culture:
breaking down silos
Hannah Labelle
Tell me about a project where you helped a team boost its agility. What
problem was the project aiming to solve, and how did it help the team
deliver value faster moving forward?

Amol Pradhan
We changed how our human resources (HR) department operates. We
Source: Hendershot, S. (Host). (2022, have 400 staff based out of Philippines and Malaysia. It was taking a little longer time to address
September 28). How to build organizational HR queries. So it is all about following our own advice while we help our clients to transform
agility into company culture: Breaking down
faster, adopt new ways of working. What we have changed is the cycle time. We have changed
silos. [Audio podcast episode]. In
from the way we are operating in a siloed way; we adopted Kanban.
Projectified®. Project Management Institute
(PMI).
https://www.pmi.org/projectified- The first thing is—what we can remove out of the process? What are the waste? Identify those
podcast/podcasts/how-to-build-
first, and just fix those things. We have seen that some people are [geographically] distributed.
organizational-agility-into-company-culture
They are working in pretty much silos. So we’re organizing teams in another way, and we
suddenly saw that there is a great amount of collaborative communications happening and that
itself has changed the cycle time.

The second thing—we looked at the systems, what we were using, and we have changed the
systems to technology software where we can have more transparent dashboards around
pending queries. And instead of just one of the leads assigning tickets to the teams, it is visible
how many tickets are still open, and people can go directly and pick those. Instead of having
APAC [Asia-Pacific], United Kingdom, U.S., because they are only focusing on those markets, but

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 if they see sometimes a ticket is there, a worker in some other region could also pick up the
tickets. So we removed those siloed ways of operating.

The third thing—transparency. We have seen happier teams and they got [a] little bit better
work/life balance as well because that is also important. While you are changing the pace of the
systems or product, it’s quite important to ensure the team’s happiness is not compromised while
we make our customers happy.

Source: Hendershot, S. (Host). (2022,

September 28). How to build organizational
agility into company culture: Breaking down
silos. [Audio podcast episode]. In
Projectified®. Project Management Institute
(PMI).
https://www.pmi.org/projectified-
podcast/podcasts/how-to-build-
organizational-agility-into-company-culture

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 Commit to the team’s
decisions even in
disagreement
Section 5 of 7

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 Sources: Lencioni, P. (2009). The five Five dysfunctions of a team
dysfunctions of a team. Soundview.
In his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni lists the five main reasons teams
struggle to develop teamwork. Though these dysfunctions are listed as distinct issues, they’re
interrelated. This is part of the reason why they’re presented as a pyramid.

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 Inattention to results
The ultimate dysfunction of a team is the tendency of members to care about something other
than the group's collective goals. An unrelenting focus on specific objectives and clearly defined
outcomes—attention to results—is a requirement for any team that judges itself on performance.

Results aren’t limited to financial measures, like profit, revenue, or shareholder returns. This
dysfunction refers to a far broader definition of results, one that’s related to an outcomes-based
performance.

Perhaps more than with any of the other four dysfunctions, those in a lead role should set the
tone for a focus on results. Team leads should be selfless and objective, reserving rewards and
recognition for those who make real contributions to achieving group goals.

But what would a team be focused on other than results? Team status and individual status are
the prime candidates:

Sources: Lencioni, P. (2009). The five • Team status: For some team members, just belonging to the group is enough to keep
dysfunctions of a team. Soundview. them satisfied. They may not be willing to fully dedicate themselves to the attitude or
work required to achieve the desired results.
• Individual status: A functional team should make the collective results of the group more
important for the individual than the individual member’s personal performance goals.

To ensure teams stay focused on results, team leads should:

• Clearly define results.
• Encourage teams to publicly commit to results to motivate them.
• Reward team members for achieving specified goals.

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 Avoidance of accountability
In this context, accountability refers specifically to the willingness of team members to alert their
peers to performance or behaviors that might hurt the team, such as inattention to results.

Peer pressure is the most effective and efficient means of maintaining high standards of
performance on a team. More than any other policy or system, there’s nothing like the fear of
letting down respected teammates to motivate people to improve performance.

If you’re a team lead wanting to instill accountability in your team, one of your greatest challenges
is encouraging and allowing the team to serve as the first and primary accountability mechanism.

Once you’ve created a culture of accountability in a team, someone in the lead role—team lead or
scrum master—should be willing to serve as the ultimate moderator of discipline when the team
fails. Nevertheless, it should be clear to all team members that accountability is a shared team
responsibility, and that the lead will not hesitate to step in when necessary.

To create a culture of accountability, team members should:

• Publicly clarify the team’s goals, roles, and responsibilities as well as expected behaviors.
• Review their peers’ performance against the shared team goals.
• Reward team achievements instead of individual performance.
Sources: Lencioni, P. (2009). The five • Encourage each other to speak up when one of them isn’t performing well.
dysfunctions of a team. Soundview.

Team leads should:

• Communicate to team members that accountability is a shared responsibility.
• Enable team members to act as the primary bastions of accountability.
• Enforce discipline when the team fails to do so.

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 Lack of commitment
Lack of commitment is caused by two things: the desire for consensus and the requirement for
certainty:

Consensus: Great teams find ways to achieve buy-in even when complete agreement is
impossible. They understand that people don’t have to get their way to support a
decision, but do have to know that their opinions have been heard and considered.

Certainty: Great teams unite behind decisions and commit to clear courses of action
even with little assurance about the accuracy or suitability of the decision. They realize
that it’s better to decide boldly and be wrong than it is to hesitate or be indecisive.

We need constructive disagreement to build commitment for our decisions. Without it, people can
avoid accountability and fail to focus on results.

To help team members arrive at a decision and obtain their buy-in, you could:
• Review key decisions made during meetings and communicate concrete steps to
members on implementing those decisions.
• Set and honor clear deadlines to make decisions.
• Clarify worst-case scenarios for decisions that are difficult to make and set contingency
plans for them.
• Use low-risk situations to demonstrate how to discuss in depth and arrive at a good
quality decision, instead of staying stuck in research and analysis.
Sources: Lencioni, P. (2009). The five
dysfunctions of a team. Soundview.
More than any other team member, the team lead should be willing to take the risk of making a
decision that may prove to be wrong. They should also constantly encourage the group to resolve
issues and adhere to set timelines.

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 Fear of conflict
How does a team go about developing the ability and willingness to engage in healthy conflict?

They separate the product from the person or people who work on it and know when to intervene.
They know that disagreement or criticism about work is fine, but they keep this professional and
not personal. We’ll explore the differences between healthy and unhealthy conflict later.

Leads should demonstrate restraint when their people engage in conflict and allow resolution to
occur naturally—as messy as it can sometimes be. By avoiding conflict when it’s necessary and
productive, we encourage this dysfunction to thrive.

Here are a few simple methods for making conflict more common and productive:

Mining: Conflict miners are expected to dig out hidden disagreements within the team and bring
everyone’s attention to them. This method helps disrupt the status quo in a productive way.

Real-time permission: In this process, team members coach one another not to retreat from
healthy debate.
Sources: Lencioni, P. (2009). The five
dysfunctions of a team. Soundview. Use the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument, also called TKI. It is discussed
extensively in lesson two.

Allow conflicts to occur. Team leads especially should stay back and allow team members to
engage in and resolve conflicts naturally. Avoiding essential and productive conflicts can make
the dysfunction grow.
Sources: Lencioni, P. (2009). The five
dysfunctions of a team. Soundview.

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 Absence of trust
The other dysfunctions we’ve discussed ultimately lead to this one. Trust can’t be built without the
willingness to be vulnerable. According to Dr. Brené Brown, vulnerability is “the emotion that we
experience during times of uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure.”

Building trust based on vulnerability takes time. It requires shared experiences among team
members, consistent display of reliability and integrity, and a deep understanding of each
member’s unique qualities.

There are tools teams can use to quickly gain trust:

Personal histories exercise: Ask team members to answer a series of questions or a short
question about themselves.

Team effectiveness exercise: Ask team members to identify one area where their peers
Sources:
Brown, B. (2021). Atlas of the heart. contribute positively to the team and an area they should improve or eliminate for the team’s
Penguin Random House. benefit.

Lencioni, P. (2009). The five dysfunctions of

a team. Soundview. Personality and behavioral preference profiles: Use self-assessment tools like the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to gather team member profiles with their personalities and
behavioral preferences.

360-degree feedback: Encourage peers to evaluate each other’s performance and behavior and
provide constructive criticism.

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 Time to reflect
Think about your recent projects and identify the dysfunctions you’ve
encountered. Provide an example of one that was solved, and one that
went unsolved.

You’ll have 10 minutes to complete this thought exercise, and we’ll take about five minutes to
review.

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 Five levels of conflict
Conflict-resolution expert, Speed B. Leas, created a framework to help project managers judge
the seriousness of a conflict and better understand how conflicts may escalate. Understanding
this model can help you look at a situation more objectively, moving past your judgments to see
what’s really happening. You can then better determine what tools and techniques may work in a
situation.

Source: Leas, S. (1982). Leadership and

conflict. Abingdon Press.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 In a level 1 conflict, teams are problem-solving, sharing information, and collaborating. People
speak in an open and fact-based manner, exchanging opinions. Misunderstandings can occur
because of conflicting goals or values. The atmosphere isn’t comfortable yet, but it isn’t
emotionally charged.

In a level 2 conflict, personal protection outweighs resolving conflicts. People speak in a

guarded manner, which can sound like ambiguity. Self-protection also leads team members to
distance themselves from the debate. Most of these debates happen outside of the team
environment, and a lot of the good-natured jokes the team previously exhibited devolve into half-
joking barbs.

Source: Leas, S. (1982). Leadership and In a level 3 conflict, personal protection is outweighed by winning or being right. People launch
conflict. Abingdon Press. personal attacks on other team members. Everyone is trying to win. Sides form and blame
flourishes.

In a level 4 conflict, the team’s focus moves to protecting the members of their ‘side.’ The
language people are using has become very ideological. Resolving the conflict is no longer good
enough. People on both sides view people on the opposing side as stubborn—they won’t change
and should be removed. The lead should be trying to de-escalate the level of this conflict.

In a level 5 conflict, the team members in conflict are focused on destroying anyone who
disagrees. Language is sparse or nonexistent. No one is getting along; everyone has to be
separated, and there’s no constructive outcome. These are unmanageable conflicts. The lead is
trying to make sure no one is hurt.

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 How do you manage conflict?
Adopting a cooperative conflict management style that demonstrates
empathy for others in conflict situations helps establish strong
relationships. When teams use this method of conflict management,
they tend to pursue common goals and increase mutual trust. Studies
also show that a cooperative conflict management style is positively
correlated with the satisfaction of superiors. Three styles of cooperative
conflict management can improve relationship quality.

Let’s dig into these cooperative approaches a bit more.

Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (2022, September 28). How do you
Integrating
manage conflict? PMI Picks™.
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
This approach, with its high concern for others and self, requires confronting problems and
page/a286d160-591f-466b-979d- conflicts to solve problems. Integrating is a win-win approach to conflict management, and
9fd07bca4f37 several studies show that this approach is the most appropriate and effective. Integrating focuses
on reducing stress on both parties, consolidating commitments between them and improving
project performance and satisfaction. This helps improve the overall relationship quality. Adopting
an integrating style can also have a significant positive effect on employee innovation
performance.

Compromising
In this approach, individuals give up less than those who adopt an obliging style. Each side
sacrifices some interests to reach a decision acceptable to both parties. When the goals of the
conflicting parties are mutually exclusive or when both parties are equally powerful in a conflict,
the compromising style may be an appropriate option that provides a partial win for both sides,
maintaining the quality of the relationship.

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 Obliging
In this approach, individuals have a high concern for others and a low concern for themselves.
They attempt to downplay differences and emphasize commonality to meet the requirements of
others, resulting in sacrificing oneself and being accountable to others. This type of conflict
management is indirect and cooperative, thereby contributing to relationship quality.

Select an approach
Cultural differences and status, emotional intelligence, leadership style, mindfulness and threat
perception will influence how you approach conflict.

Source: Project Management Institute

Integrating and compromising styles are more commonly used forms of conflict management than
(PMI). (2022, September 28). How do you
manage conflict? PMI Picks™. obliging. The reason is that integrating and compromising styles tend to have a positive effect on
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content- job performance, personal innovation, satisfaction, commitment and relationship quality.
page/a286d160-591f-466b-979d-
9fd07bca4f37
As a conflict management style aiming at a win-win situation, integrating is the first choice of
many people. Compromising requires some personal sacrifice but can also lead to partial win-win
results. Compared with other industries, conflicts in the construction industry will generally be
more competitive due to the many participants of most construction projects.

Sometimes, the integrating style may not completely consider the interests of both parties in the
conflict, and as a suboptimal approach, the compromising style may be highly acceptable.
Although obliging considers the interests of others and helps maintain the cooperative
relationship between both parties to a certain extent, obliging requires self-sacrifice and often
results in lose-win. Therefore, people's willingness to choose the obliging style is often
significantly lower than the other two approaches.

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 Evaluate the team’s
understanding of
agile to tailor the
agile approach
Section 6 of 7

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 The shu-ha-ri model
In any attempt at mastering a new skill, there are three levels of practice: following, detaching,
and fluency. The Japanese martial art of Aikido has a similar concept called Shu-ha-ri, which
roughly translates to “learn-detach-transcend.”

Shu (pronounced as “shoo”) means “to keep, protect, or maintain.” During the
Shu phase, there a single instructor, from whom the student learns to copy the
techniques as taught without modification or attempting to understand. In this
way, a lasting technical foundation is built on which a deeper understanding of
the art can be based. At the Shu level, agile teams should follow the guidance of agile
approaches exactly as outlined in their descriptions without modification.

Source: Cockburn, A. (2009). Agile software

development: The cooperative game.
Ha (pronounced as “ha”) means “to detach.” This means breaking free from
Addison-Wesley. the instructor and reflecting on the meaning and purpose of everything to
come to a deeper understanding of the art. The technique is thoroughly
learned and absorbed into the muscle memory, and the student is prepared to
reason about the background behind these techniques. At the Ha level, agile teams are happy
with what they’ve done and are looking for ways to improve.

Ri (pronounced as “ree”) means “to go beyond or transcend.” In this stage, the

student is no longer a student in the normal sense. They’ve become a
practitioner who can think originally, develop from background knowledge
original thoughts about the art, and test them against the reality of background
knowledge, conclusions, and the demands of everyday life. In the Ri stage, the art truly becomes
the practitioner's own, and to some extent, their personal creation.

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 Tailoring
Agile approaches can be tailored to meet the requirements of a project. Tailoring is an advanced
topic that should be undertaken by experienced practitioners who have been successful using
agile approaches in multiple environments.

Tailoring considers all of the factors involved in a project and addresses competing constraints of
scope, schedule, cost, resources, quality, and risk. The tailoring process is iterative and
continuous throughout a project. In other words, one should gain experience and be successful
with an approach before attempting to tailor it.

Teams new to agile shouldn’t try adjusting a given approach until they’ve worked on a few
projects, at least. A common occurrence when teams struggle to adopt an agile practice is their
consideration of adjusting it. A statement like, “Retrospectives were unpopular, so we decided to
drop them,’’ illustrates this issue. Yet it indicates a more fundamental problem on the team that’s
unlikely to be addressed by tailoring the method. In this example, the situation will be made worse
by omitting the activity that aims to improve the process.

Teams should also pay attention to how different agile practices and techniques balance each
other before removing or changing an approach. Any change that doesn’t consider the overall
relationships can cause more harm than good for a project.

Consider the product and project requirements, the people involved in the project, the
organizational culture and norms, and the problem that should be addressed to determine how to
tailor an approach.

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 Tailoring should be undertaken in collaboration with whomever the change is likely to impact.
People should be engaged in the thinking and decision-making process for them to commit and
buy in to the changes to have a successful transition. Omitting people from tailoring a process is
likely to result in resistance and resentment to the change, even if it makes good sense
technically.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
You don’t have to create a completely new technique to customize an agile approach. Instead,
. . . . . . . . . .
you could use a blend of different agile approaches to create a custom approach. For example,
. . . . . . . . . .
you could use elements of Scrum, Kanban, and XP to create an agile blend for a project. Agile
. . . . . . . . . .
blends may not necessarily use a formal framework or approach.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Or, you could create a hybrid model by combining agile approaches with traditional predictive
. . . . . . . . . .
methodologies. This model is usually used when you have stakeholders with different
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements. It may involve a formal framework or approach, such as Scaled Agile Framework®
. . . . . . . . . .
(also called SAFe®) or dynamic systems development method (DSDM).
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Tailoring for very large project teams
□ Restructure large projects into multiple smaller projects. Try a technology trial project first
and then an implementation project.
□ Consider more frequent releases of fewer features each, which allows for the creation of
. . . . . . . . . .
smaller project teams.
. . . . . . . . . .
□ Use agile and lean program management to organize the larger effort.
. . . . . . . . . .
□ Consider a scaled agile or lean framework such as Disciplined Agile®, SAFe®, or LeSS.
. . . . . . . . . .
Each offers some useful ideas and each carries implementation risks and process
. . . . . . . . . .
weight/cost. We’ll discuss these frameworks later in this lesson.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Tailoring for dispersed teams
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . □ Many projects have dispersed team members. Tools like instant messaging,

. . . . . . . . . . videoconferencing, and electronic team boards help bridge many of the communication

. . . . . . . . . . gaps.

. . . . . . . . . . □ When teams are likely to remain stable, set up face-to-face meetings as soon as possible

. . . . . . . . . . to make future remote conversations more effective. People who have met face-to-face

. . . . . . . . . . are more likely to have higher trust and engage in unfiltered, useful debates.

. . . . . . . . . . □ When conducting meetings with remote participants where there’s a loss of facial and

. . . . . . . . . . body-language cues, consider round-robin check-ins to ensure participation, and monitor

. . . . . . . . . . consensus for decisions.

. . . . . . . . . . □ Consider the use of iteration-based agile approaches. When team members are many

. . . . . . . . . . time zones apart, consider using whole-project interactions less frequently while

. . . . . . . . . . encouraging one-on-one meetings more frequently.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Tailoring for safety-critical projects
□ Agile approaches can still be used in these environments, but they should have the
additional layers of conformance review, documentation, or certification required by the
domain. If that is the case, documentation could be part of what the team delivers along
. . . . . . . . . .
with finished features, which may not be done until the documentation is completed.
. . . . . . . . . .
□ Consider using a hybrid approach involving multiple agile approaches to obtain the
. . . . . . . . . .
benefits of improved collaboration and communication brought by agile with the added
. . . . . . . . . .
rigor required by the product environment. Aircraft flight system developers and drug
. . . . . . . . . .
companies use agile approaches coupled with their own additional processes to leverage
. . . . . . . . . .
the benefits and retain appropriate controls.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Tailoring for stable requirements and execution processes
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . □ Is agile required? If uncertainty in requirements is low and there are low rates of change

. . . . . . . . . . or minimal execution risk, the full suite of agile approaches may not be required. While

. . . . . . . . . . any project benefits from increased collaboration and transparency, some of the iterative

. . . . . . . . . . build and review cycles might be unnecessary.

. . . . . . . . . . □ If build/feedback cycles don’t routinely uncover or refine requirements, consider

. . . . . . . . . . extending their durations to minimize the cost impact of review time.

. . . . . . . . . . □ If the project has high rates of change during design and development but rolling it out to

. . . . . . . . . . customers is a defined and repeatable process, hybrid approaches that use the

. . . . . . . . . . appropriate life cycle model for each project phase may make more sense.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Tailoring for functional silos inside functional organizations
□ Consider asking people to create cross-functional teams themselves without
management involvement and see what happens.
□ If the compensation system is organized to recognize and reward functional areas,
. . . . . . . . . .
consider changing that first. People might not act in the interest of the product or the
. . . . . . . . . .
team until it affects their compensation in some way.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Tailoring for transparency to reduce fear
. . . . . . . . . . □ Agile creates a culture of transparency: People show and share their work throughout

. . . . . . . . . . development. This sharing of interim deliverables and being open and honest about

. . . . . . . . . . successes, failures, and the current state develops transparency.

. . . . . . . . . . □ Lead by example and demonstrate transparency in decision-making processes by using

. . . . . . . . . . a status board or whiteboard.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Tailoring for team members with little technical knowledge
. . . . . . . . . . □ Agile approaches encourage and make use of self-directing teams to make local
. . . . . . . . . . decisions about work items. When most team members are inexperienced, consensus-
. . . . . . . . . . based approaches may lead to problems and rework. For these teams, additional help
. . . . . . . . . . assigning and directing may be necessary until the team gains the necessary skills. An
. . . . . . . . . . example of this strategy is Disciplined Agile. We’ll discuss that in the next section.
. . . . . . . . . . □ In other words, don’t just declare that agile will be used and let an inexperienced team try
. . . . . . . . . . to figure everything out because they’re empowered and self-directing. Consider building
. . . . . . . . . . centers of competencies to help provide guidance and build domain knowledge.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Tailoring for lack of executive buy-in
□ When executive buy-in is missing, teams will encounter a clash between the agile
mindset and approaches and the more predictive mindset and approaches.
□ Find common ground and areas for improvement based on the organization's
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements, and then use experiments and retrospectives to progress.
. . . . . . . . . .
□ Consider education or training for executives. Consider explaining agile in terms of lean
. . . . . . . . . .
thinking: short cycles, small batch sizes, frequent reviews, and retrospectives with small
. . . . . . . . . .
improvements.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Tailoring when agile does not fit the organizational culture
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . □ Modify the terms so people will understand and agree to the activities, if not the agile

. . . . . . . . . . language. Be specific about what each term means. For example, if the organization

. . . . . . . . . . finds the word “game” unprofessional, don't use terms such as “planning game.” Instead,

. . . . . . . . . . consider using the term “planning workshop.”

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Case study: Tailoring planning and
communication in a multidiscipline project

Organization: SLB
Industry: Energy

Lessons learned
Communication is key when aligning multiple teams! This covers everything from discussions to
design requirements.

Source: Project Management Institute Background

(PMI). (N.D.). Tailoring planning and Developing a complex system comprised of mechanical, electronic and software elements
communication in a multi-discipline project
(including innovative operational processes) brings unique challenges to planning and executing
PMIpicks. PMI.
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content- a project in a multinational organization.
page/a286d160-591f-466b-979d-
9fd07bca4f37
The problem
Multiple teams plan and execute work in different ways—how could I bring them all together in
the most efficient way to deliver a new technology efficiently?

The outcome
When leading my first major project within a multidisciplined, global organization that brought
together mechanical, electronic, and software elements in a complex integrated system, I
required a customized planning approach to align the way the geographically separated teams
operated and planned their work. The project also had to develop a complex new technology in a
field (rather than laboratory) environment.

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 The different approaches of the various teams are as follows:
• Mechanical/predictive (design/build/test)
• Eelectronics/predictive (design/build/test with long lead times)
• Software (embedded)/iterative (agile sprints)
• Software (cloud)/iterative (agile sprints)
• Field test users/predictive (design/build—highly regulated environment)

To align the ways of working, I tailored the project planning and divided it into three distinctive
phases: (1) the initial phase (using predictive planning), where a prototype mechanical and
electronics system was developed and tested; (2) the second phase (using iterative planning and
development), where embedded and cloud software solutions were developed and iterated; and
Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (N.D.). Tailoring planning and (3) the third phase, where a final field-test phase involved both predictive planning for the
communication in a multi-discipline project regulated aspects of the field test and iterative aspects that allowed features to be developed and
PMI Picks™.
feedback incorporated quickly.
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
page/a286d160-591f-466b-979d-
9fd07bca4f37 The specific tailoring required for this project was:
1. Integrated planning that incorporated the broad constraints of the overall plan (including
the rigid elements of Phase 1 and Phase 3) and prioritized requirements of the ‘must
have, should have, could have, and won’t have’ (MoSCoW) method and iteration limit
used in Phase 2 to ensure the minimum viable product (MVP) (i.e., bare-minimum
software functions) was available for the field test (i.e., Phase 3).
2. Clear design and interfacing requirements with designated, accountable owners were
essential to ensure that assumptions were agreed upon and validated by all supporting
teams. This meant that agile use cases were adopted as a common structure and
language for all project requirements (rather than a mixture of use cases and
requirements documents that varied among teams).

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 3. Increased focus on communication planning than was typical in the organization to
ensure the separated teams worked closely to understand the complexity of the system.
This was particularly key when issues arose so communication did not cause false
assumptions and delays. Regular coordination meetings were held, along with open
video conference links in particularly critical periods (like the first integration of the
complete system).
4. Clear and fast feedback during Phase 3 included involving the design teams in the field
test preplanning and postjob summary meetings. These were important to gather first-
hand feedback (with context) quickly and efficiently (this would typically be a purely
operations forum).

Source: Project Management Institute

Using these measures, the project team and I were able to minimize (but not entirely avoid)
(PMI). (N.D.). Tailoring planning and
communication in a multi-discipline project assumptions that would have cost the project months of wasted design efforts as the separate
PMI Picks™. teams moved in subtly different directions. The field feedback meetings enabled the design teams
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
to coach the users on specific concerns and gather valuable feedback more quickly, which
page/a286d160-591f-466b-979d-
enabled faster iterations and eventual, faster value realization of a key new technology.
9fd07bca4f37

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 Identify key factors to
consider when
determining the
appropriate interteam
coordination
approach

Section 7 of 7

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 Scaling frameworks
Many projects incur dependencies, even when they aren’t managed within a given program. For
this reason, it’s necessary to understand how agile works within an existing program and portfolio
management context.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The guidance of the most widespread agile approaches, such as Scrum and XP, focuses on the
. . . . . . . . . .
activities of a single, small, usually colocated, cross-functional team. While this is very useful for
. . . . . . . . . .
efforts that require a single team, it may provide insufficient guidance for initiatives that require
. . . . . . . . . .
the collaboration of multiple agile teams in a program or portfolio.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Frameworks considerations
. . . . . . . . . .
There’s more than one way to scale work. The team might have to scale the work of several agile
. . . . . . . . . .
projects into a single agile program. Alternatively, the organization can design a structure that
. . . . . . . . . .
supports agile approaches across the entire portfolio.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Regardless of the approach, a critical success factor is the healthy agile team. If using an agile
. . . . . . . . . .
approach for a single team isn’t successful, don’t try to scale up to using it more broadly; instead,
. . . . . . . . . .
address the organizational impediments that prevent teams from working in an agile way.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The goal of large-scale agile projects is to coordinate the efforts of different teams to bring value
. . . . . . . . . .
to customers. There’s more than one way to do that. Teams may use a formal framework or apply
. . . . . . . . . .
agile thinking to adjust existing program management practices.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Scrum of Scrums
Scrum of Scrums, also known as “metascrum,” is a technique used when two or more Scrum
teams consisting of three to nine members each have to coordinate their work instead of one
large Scrum team.

A representative from each team attends a meeting with the other team representatives,
potentially daily but typically two to three times a week. The daily meeting is conducted like the
daily coordination meeting in Scrum.

The goal is to ensure the teams are coordinating work and removing impediments to optimize the
efficiency of all of the teams.

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 Scaled Agile Framework
Scaled Agile Framework, or SAFe®, is a solution created by Dean Leffingwell based on his writing
in 2007 on software scaling agility. SAFe® incorporates planning at the levels of team, program,
and portfolio so organizations can build a solution for the whole enterprise, rather than one team
or project. SAFe® pioneered the concept of agile release trains (ARTs) to organize teams around
value streams and a common delivery cadence. It’s a common framework used in scaling agile.

Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October

10). Scaling agile. PMI.org.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888

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 At the team level, teams use Scrum and XP practices to define, build, and test working solutions
every 2 weeks. Team members adopt many of the roles that one would expect to find in agile:
product owner, developers, testers, and a scrum master. Teams develop in cadence to match up
with the ART.

At the program level, each value stream has an ART that includes around five to 10 teams and
delivers a potentially shippable increment every 10 weeks (five iterations). The release train
engineer is a role unique to SAFe® that manages teams and release logistics. The product
manager (owner) role has deep expertise in the value stream. A program manager or senior
project manager could fill the role. Finally, the release management team helps manage each
release to a customer and includes members from various functions such as marketing,
development, and quality.
Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October
10). Scaling agile. PMI.org. Shared roles also exist on the program level to provide consistency to teams’ releases. UX
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
designers, security specialists, and database specialists are three examples of resources that
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888
would be shared across teams. This approach helps teams who might otherwise run into issues
of lacking the necessary expertise on their team and helps prevent specialized roles from
becoming overloaded.

At the portfolio level, investment themes last 6–12 months and drive the budgeting process from
the top. To support the investment themes, there are customer-facing “business epics” and
“architectural epics” focused on technical solutions. The presence of agile release trains to deliver
consistent, potentially shippable increments across value streams helps teams work to complete
their business and architectural epics, which in turn helps fulfill investment themes.

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 SAFe® core values
Alignment: SAFe® requires that companies instill planning and reflection
cadences that help everyone understand the current state of the business, the
goals, and how everyone should move together to achieve those goals. By
synchronizing people and activities regularly, all levels of the portfolio stay in
alignment. Information flows both upward and downward in a timely fashion,
unlike traditional top-down, command, and control structures.

Built-in quality: Agility should never come at the cost of quality. Teams at all
levels should define what “done” means for each task or project and build
quality development practices into every working agreement.
Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October
10). Scaling agile. PMI.org. Transparency: SAFe® encourages trust-building behavior, including planning
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
work in smaller batch sizes so problems can surface sooner, providing real-time
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888
visibility into backlog progress across levels, and inspecting and adapting
rituals.

Program execution: Program execution is the heart of SAFe® and powers

everything else in the framework. Teams and programs should be able to
deliver quality, working software and business value regularly.

Leadership: SAFe® requires agile/lean leadership behavior because only leads

can change the system and create the environment necessary to embrace all of
the core values.

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 SAFe® principles
The SAFe® principles are meant to improve the company by inspiring agile or lean decision-
making across functional and organizational boundaries. The principles are intended to influence
. . . . . . . . . .
the decisions of not just leads and managers but of everyone in the organization, conditioning a
. . . . . . . . . .
mindset shift from traditional predictive thinking to agile or lean thinking, where practices like lean
. . . . . . . . . .
portfolio management are applied. The principles include:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Take an economic view
. . . . . . . . . . Inspired by Donald Reinertsen’s theories on product development flows, achieving the shortest

. . . . . . . . . . sustainable lead time requires everyone in the decision-making chain to understand the economic

. . . . . . . . . . implications of delays. Delivering early and often isn’t always enough. Sequencing jobs for

. . . . . . . . . . maximum benefit, understanding economic trade-offs, and operating within lean budgets are all

. . . . . . . . . . responsibilities that should be shared throughout the organization.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Apply systems thinking
. . . . . . . . . . SAFe® encourages people to apply systems thinking to three key areas: the solution itself, the
. . . . . . . . . . enterprise building the system, and the value streams. Solutions can refer to products, services,
. . . . . . . . . . or systems delivered to the customer, whether they’re internal or external to the enterprise.
. . . . . . . . . .
Assume variability; preserve options
This principle addresses uncertainty by including the concept of set-based design, which calls for
retaining multiple requirements and design options for a longer period in the development cycle.
Set-based design helps inform decision-making during times of uncertainty by identifying the
Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October
10). Scaling agile. PMI.org. options and intended outcomes. The concept of integrating “learning milestones,” which refers to
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop- a deadline for a decision, is instrumental to set-based design.
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888

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 Build incrementally with fast, integrated learning cycles
Like the previous principle, this one addresses risk and uncertainty through learning milestones. It
isn’t enough for each part of the system to prove functional; the whole system should be
. . . . . . . . . . considered to assess the feasibility of current design choices. Integration points should be
. . . . . . . . . . planned on a regular cadence to accelerate faster learning cycles.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Base milestones on objective evaluation of working systems
. . . . . . . . . .
Demonstration of an actual working system provides a better basis for decision-making than a
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements document or some other evaluation of success. Including stakeholders in those
. . . . . . . . . .
feasibility decisions early on supports trust building and systems thinking.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Visualize and limit work in process (WIP), reduce batch sizes, and manage
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . queue lengths
. . . . . . . . . . Limiting WIP helps stakeholders see exactly how work is progressing. The three elements of this

. . . . . . . . . . principle represent the primary ways for maximizing throughput and accelerating value delivery—

. . . . . . . . . . or in other words, implementing flow. Small batch sizes allow for constant validation that work is

. . . . . . . . . . headed in the right direction.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Apply cadence, synchronize with cross-domain planning
Agile teams naturally apply cadence through sprints or iterations. Creating a cadence for all
possible matters reduces complexity, addresses uncertainty, builds muscle memory, enforces
quality, and instills collaboration. Synchronizing these cadences enables the people and the
activities to move more smoothly, where learned information informs decisions and incremental
Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October planning.
10). Scaling agile. PMI.org.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888

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 Unlock the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers
Inspired by influential management consultant, Peter Drucker, and author, Daniel Pink, this
principle is about unleashing the potential of teams and helping leadership take the perspective of
. . . . . . . . . . coaching and serving their teams over a command-and-control mindset.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Decentralize decision-making
. . . . . . . . . .
Reducing queue lengths and taking an economic approach by decentralizing decision-making
. . . . . . . . . .
gives teams the autonomy they require to accomplish the work. Leads should preserve their
. . . . . . . . . .
decision-making authority for topics of strategic importance and enable teams to make informed
. . . . . . . . . .
choices on everything else.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October

10). Scaling agile. PMI.org.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888

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 LeSS
Large-Scale Scrum, or LeSS, is an approach that aims to apply the principles, purpose, elements,
and values of Scrum in a large-scale context as simply as possible. Like Scrum and other truly
. . . . . . . . . .
agile frameworks, LeSS is a “barely sufficient approach” for high-impact reasons. LeSS includes:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Principles
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . At the heart is a set of principles that inform the rules, guides, and experiments.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Rules
. . . . . . . . . . A few rules get things started and form the foundation. They define the key elements of the LeSS
. . . . . . . . . . frameworks that should be in place to support empirical process control and whole-product focus.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Guides
. . . . . . . . . . A moderate set of guides containing tips to effectively adopt the rules, for a subset of
. . . . . . . . . . experiments; worth trying based on years of experience with LeSS.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Experiments
. . . . . . . . . .
Many experiments are very situational and may not even be worth trying.
. . . . . . . . . .

The LeSS guides and experiments are optional. Guides will probably be helpful and are
recommended, but bypass or drop those that limit further improvement or just don’t fit.

Source: Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October

10). Scaling agile. PMI.org.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888

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 Nexus
Nexus builds upon Scrum’s foundation, and its parts will be familiar to those who have used
Scrum. It minimally extends the Scrum framework only where necessary to enable multiple teams
to work from a single product backlog to build an integrated increment that meets a goal.

A Nexus is a group of approximately three to nine Scrum teams that work together to deliver a
single product; it’s a connection between people and things. Nexus seeks to preserve and
enhance Scrum’s foundational, bottom-up intelligence and empiricism while enabling a group of
Scrum teams to deliver more value than can be achieved by a single team. It does this by helping
Sources:
these teams to reduce the complexity created by cross-team dependencies that they encounter

Shrivastava, N. K. (2015, October 10). as they collaborate to deliver an integrated, valuable, useful product increment at least once
Scaling agile. PMI.org. every sprint.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/develop-
agile-approach-with-these-tips-9888
The Nexus framework was created by Ken Schwaber, cocreator of Scrum, and was released by

The NexusTM guide. (N.D.). Scrum.org. Scrum.org along with a body of knowledge,The Nexus Guide, in 2015 with subsequent updates in
https://www.scrum.org/resources/nexus- 2018 and 2021.
guide

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 Disciplined Agile®
Disciplined Agile (DA) is an agnostic, hybrid tool kit that harnesses hundreds of agile, lean, and
traditional strategies to guide you to an effective way of working (WoW) for your team or
. . . . . . . . . .
organization. Rather than prescribing a collection of practices, it teaches you how to choose and
. . . . . . . . . .
later evolve a fit-for-purpose WoW that’s solves the situation you face.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: PMI. (N.D.). Principles. PMI.org.

https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/mindset/mindset-principles

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 DA enables you to become better at getting better. DA helps you become a learning organization,
rather than simply providing a collection of practices that may not apply to your context.
DA provides options for interteam coordination. People and teams across your organization,
. . . . . . . . . . regardless of business function, can all benefit from straightforward guidance to streamline their
. . . . . . . . . . processes, by addressing the DA across the entire enterprise.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . DA starts where you are. If your organization is currently following Scrum, Kanban, SAFe®, LeSS,
. . . . . . . . . . or other mainstream approaches, then DA shows you how to improve upon and extend those
. . . . . . . . . . frameworks. For your teams that are still working more traditionally, DA offers advice for how they
. . . . . . . . . . can improve their WoW; DA is a hybrid that doesn’t expect everyone to work in the same manner.
. . . . . . . . . . Sometimes the best WoW isn’t agile—but it is still disciplined.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . DA teaches you to become a learning organization. A true transformation results in you becoming
. . . . . . . . . . a learning organization that can continually improve through experimentation and learning,
. . . . . . . . . . thereby enabling you to better serve your customers.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: PMI. (N.D.). Principles. PMI.org.

https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/mindset/mindset-principles

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 Disciplined Agile® principles
The principles of DA provide a philosophical foundation for business agility. They’re based on
both lean and flow concepts and include:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Delight
Context
. . . . . . . . . . customers Be awesome Be pragmatic
counts
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Choice Optimize Organize around Enterprise
. . . . . . . . . . is good flow products/services awareness
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: PMI. (N.D.). Principles. PMI.org.

https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-
agile/mindset/mindset-principles

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 Time to reflect
Can you use any interteam approaches to agile in your career? Be
prepared to answer why or why not.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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 Case study:
when the business shifts,
projects can follow suit

Regardless of your project management approach, there’s always

space for adopting fast feedback loops and focusing on value.

Organization: Livestock identification firm

Industry: Livestock

Lessons learned
“The experience of embracing a change has molded me into how I manage projects today,” says
Nestor Jimenez, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PMP, business analyst, digital transformation office,
Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y Administradoras Privadas de Fondos de Pensiones,
Lima, Peru. “It doesn’t matter if I’m working in predictive (waterfall) or hybrid projects; now I
believe there’s always space for adopting fast feedback loops and focusing on value.”
Source: Jimenez, N. (N.D.). Case study:
When the business shifts, projects can
Background
follow suit. PMIstandards+®. PMI.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_67/ In a previous position at an organization that upgraded a national livestock identification system,
cf62afb6-6dbb-4760-b248-2a7339589bf2 Jimenez was part of the team tasked with dramatically increasing the product’s features while
overhauling the website and all client-facing content.

The problem
The organization was trying to complete a significant cultural shift—speeding up timelines,
increasing agility, and focusing more on whether a project had delivered value rather than simply
met its schedule, scope, and budget targets. Senior stakeholders were open to the idea of

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 moving to agile, but few members of the project team had the necessary experience to make it
happen.

How it was solved

The team went all-in on agile. The organization hired a consultant who spent weeks introducing
the team to Scrum, reviewing its architecture and procedures, and preparing the product backlog
and enhancements.

The first few weeks were slow, “but we improved because the whole team embraced the change,”
says Jimenez. “And we knew we needed to get used to the new agile practices so we wouldn’t
get anxious after the initial outcomes.” Over time, the team’s cadence increased until they were
Source: Jimenez, N. (N.D.). Case study:
confidently completing a sprint each month.
When the business shifts, projects can
follow suit. PMIstandards+®. PMI.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI_67/ When the first few sprints seemed harder than sticking to the waterfall approach the team was
cf62afb6-6dbb-4760-b248-2a7339589bf2 used to, the team kept its focus on delivering value. “That helped our morale stay pretty good,” he
says. “And as our expertise around doing certain rituals improved, stakeholders noticed that.”

The outcome
The team missed its initial 18-month goal for rolling out new features and overhauling the
company website. “But that’s okay!” says Jimenez. The products that were delivered ranked high
in value, and the team continued to work—and deliver value—past the initial schedule date.

Just as importantly, he says, by embracing agile, the project team was able to embrace the larger
shift happening at the organization. And that meant they were well poised to jump into the next
initiative once it was ready to launch.

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 05 Build
transparency

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 Provide accessible
status, progress,
process, risks,
impediments, and
learning to all

Section 1 of 3

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Information radiators
Project teams should know where they’ve been, where they are, and where they are going. An
information radiator is a visible display that provides information to the organization and enables
. . . . . . . . . .
knowledge sharing.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
These physical charts should be posted in a place where people can see the information easily,
. . . . . . . . . .
rather than storing information electronically in a scheduling or reporting tool. The charts should
. . . . . . . . . .
be easy to frequently update. They’re often considered “low tech and high touch” in that they are
. . . . . . . . . .
manually maintained rather than electronically generated. Having these radiators is an illustration
. . . . . . . . . .
of the “make process explicit” lean concept.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Examples of information radiators include:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
• Burndown chart: Shows how much work is yet to be completed
. . . . . . . . . .
• Burnup chart: Shows how much work has been completed
. . . . . . . . . .
• Combined burn chart: Shows how much work has been completed and how much
. . . . . . . . . .
remains
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 How do we reduce the risks of distributed teams: DA edition
Although geographically distributed agile software development is
clearly a risky proposition, there are several strategies you can adopt
to overcome these risks:

Strategy 1: Build a positive team culture

This is important for any team, but is particularly critical for
geographically distributed teams due to the increased difficulty in
communicating and collaborating. You should promote a culture that is based on collaboration
and respect, a culture where people want to work with one another even when they are very far
Source: Project Management Institute
(PMI). (N.D.). How can we reduce these apart.
risks. PMI.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/agility-
Strategy 2: Bring together the key team members at the beginning
at-scale/tactical-agility-at-
scale/geographically-distributed-agile- One of the riskiest times of a project is the very beginning. This is when you build the foundation
teams/how-can-we-reduce-these-risks for an effective team, develop a common vision for the team to work toward, and start going in the
right direction. Or this is the time where you don’t do that.

We suggest you bring together at least the key people involved in the effort—the team lead,
product owner, architecture owner, and important stakeholders—at the beginning to determine
important aspects of how you’re going to work together. This includes initial modeling of the
scope and your technical strategy, initial high-level planning, and initial risk assessment.
Obviously this is more expensive than gathering just the key people together, but it will provide a
more solid foundation for team success.

The implication is that some people will have to travel by plane, increasing your initial expenses,
an investment that many organizations refuse. The reality is that you will eventually end up

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 paying for travel anyway, either because people travelled by plane or because your
communication costs are higher throughout the project. In the majority of cases, it is much less
expensive to bring people together at the beginning of a project than to not do so.

Strategy 3: Do a bit more up-front modeling

You will want to do a bit more up-front requirements and architectural modeling due to the
increased risks associated with geographically distributed teams. In both cases you will find that
you should have a formal procedure for the amount of documentation that you create, capturing
your models using electronic tools such as Wikis, drawing tools such as Visio, or even
modeling/CASE tools such as Blueprint or Enterprise Architect. You may also find that you have

Source: Project Management Institute to create a few extra views than you normally would, compared to a colocated team, to promote a
(PMI). (N.D.). How can we reduce these more thorough understanding of your strategy at each disparate location.
risks. PMI.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/agility-
at-scale/tactical-agility-at-
Strategy 4: Do a bit more up-front planning
scale/geographically-distributed-agile- Because geographically distributed development is higher risk than colocated development, you
teams/how-can-we-reduce-these-risks will likely want to invest more effort thinking through your plan. That doesn’t mean that you should
create a monolithic, 1000+ task Gantt chart, but it does mean that you should identify your major
dependencies and milestone dates. Effective teams do this planning with the distributed
developers actively involved (they are part of the team after all), they strive to consider all
associated costs, and in particular they don’t overlook the low-probability, high-impact risks which
often prove to be project killers.

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 Strategy 5: Integrate regularly
Agile teams should integrate regularly, hopefully many times a day, to reduce the feedback and
thereby increase their productivity. The same is true of geographically distributed teams, although
this can prove to be difficult when the team has taken on a complex or large problem. The more
complicated the solution, generally the harder it is to integrate. Large or geographically distributed
teams often find that they require a subteam specifically tasked with the overall integration and
end-to-end testing of the entire solution. Other subteams will integrate and test their work to the
best of their ability, and ideally this additional team isn’t even necessary, however it sometimes
proves economical to have this separate team handle the integration and testing issues that tend
to fall through the crack in a “team of teams” situation typical of large programs or geographically

Source: Project Management Institute distributed teams.

(PMI). (N.D.). How can we reduce these
risks. PMI. In the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®), this strategy is called an integration team. However, in
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/agility-
disciplined agile delivery we typically call this an independent testing team, or independent testing
at-scale/tactical-agility-at-
scale/geographically-distributed-agile- and integration team, due to the observation that the majority of the effort is actually focused on
teams/how-can-we-reduce-these-risks testing.

Strategy 6: Recognize that communication is critical

GDD puts many barriers to communication in place, increasing overall project risk. To overcome
these risks you will first have to be aware of them and act accordingly; and second, you should
write more documentation than you would likely prefer. The risks associated with long-distance
communication include cultural differences, time-zone differences, and the challenges with written
documentation (which is actually the least effective way to communicate information). Make it a
habit to ask open-ended questions so you can determine whether or not the other people truly
understand the topic of conversation. Never ask a yes/no style of question because the simple
answer of yes can mean a range of things depending on the culture. It may mean “Yes, I heard
you,” “Yes, I understand what you’re saying,” or “Yes, I understand and agree with you.” When

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 you’re dealing with people at other locations it is a good practice to ask them to summarize the
conversation, in particular to identify key action items and ownership of them, to ensure that
everyone agrees with what was discussed. A good approach is to have the team lead on the
other end do the summary so they own it going forward. This of course should be done in as
lightweight manner as possible.

Strategy 7: Daily coordination meetings

A common practice on colocated agile teams is to have daily coordination meetings, sometimes
called a standup meeting or Scrum meeting. Distributed teams can do this as well, the people in a
given geographical location can hold local coordination meetings and then representatives from

Source: Project Management Institute each location can hold a shared meeting to coordinate the subteams. This strategy is typically
(PMI). (N.D.). How can we reduce these called a “Scrum of Scrums” and it works well up to five or six subteams although it should be
risks. PMI. replaced with a boundary spanner strategy (discussed later) for larger efforts.
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/agility-
at-scale/tactical-agility-at-
scale/geographically-distributed-agile- Disparate time zones can be a challenge. Whereas local coordination meetings are held first
teams/how-can-we-reduce-these-risks thing in the morning, distributed daily coordination meetings should be held at unusual times to
include people at distant locations. Similarly, coordination between subteams should occur at
times that are respectful to those subteams, which can be difficult when the time zone difference
is greater than a working day. For example, the time-zone difference between Toronto, Canada,
and Pune, India, is currently 10.5 hours, so the representative from at least one if not both
locations will be on the coordination call at an inconvenient time. To spread out the pain of such
calls and work in a respectful manner, many teams will choose to rotate the times of the
coordination calls.

Strategy 8: Ambassadors travel between far-located sites regularly

Gathering the team together at the beginning of the project sets the foundation for
communication, but without continual investment in maintaining effective collaboration between

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 teams you run the risk of your subteams deviating from the overall strategy. Ambassadors are
people who regularly travel between sites, often technically senior people or senior business
experts, who share information between the subteams. Ambassadors have short engagements
away from their home site, typically a week or two in length, because of the pressures it puts on
the travelers. As a result you’ll have several people flying between sites at any given time on a
reasonable rotation schedule. It would be helpful if the local team’s office could accommodate
ambassadors by having one or more desks available for them to use when they’re visiting.

Strategy 9: Boundary spanners at each site

A boundary spanner is someone who is located onsite who focuses on enabling communication

Source: Project Management Institute between subteams throughout the day as well as within their subteam. On disciplined agile
(PMI). (N.D.). How can we reduce these delivery teams you’ll find three types of boundary spanners: team leads that coordinate project
risks. PMI. management responsibilities between subteams, product owners who are responsible for
https://www.pmi.org/disciplined-agile/agility-
coordinating requirements management issues between subteams, and architecture owners
at-scale/tactical-agility-at-
scale/geographically-distributed-agile- responsible for coordinating technical issues between subteams. These boundary spanners will
teams/how-can-we-reduce-these-risks work closely with their peers, and hold regular coordination meetings across all subteams as well
as impromptu one-on-one meetings to deal with specific issues between individual subteams.

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 Establish a feedback
loop for team and/or
product owners

Section 2 of 3

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 Feedback loop characteristics
No matter what agile approach a team uses, the team has evolved project life cycles to use
iterative and incremental approaches. These iterative and incremental approaches reduce waste
. . . . . . . . . .
and rework because the teams gain feedback. Doing this allows for improved adaptability and
. . . . . . . . . .
responsiveness, efficient decision-making, and change. Put these all together and you have a
. . . . . . . . . .
feedback loop, which has the following characteristics:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Very short
. . . . . . . . . .
Feedback loops reflect one of the three levels agile plans cover—the release, the iteration, and
. . . . . . . . . .
the current day’s work. As a result, the feedback is more focused, and the feedback loop is
. . . . . . . . . .
shortened since there are clear boundaries within which people offer feedback.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Frequent adaptation of process
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Feedback loops allow the team to adjust their approaches and process when

. . . . . . . . . . necessary. Retrospectives are good ways of helping adjust your process, as they help the team

. . . . . . . . . . realize what does and does not work well.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Reprioritization
. . . . . . . . . . Short iterations and frequent demos allow the product owner to reprioritize as required.
Adjustments for strategy updates, external market factors, or just feature preferences can be
reflected by updating the sequence of planned work in the backlog.

Regularly updated plans

Source: Cohn, M. (2012). Agile estimating
Release plans are usually updated at the end of an iteration, or at the very least, every few
and planning. Prentice Hall.
iterations. While it is impossible to make a plan that stays perfectly accurate at all times, updating

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 your plan shows that you know that your knowledge is incomplete and are always attempting to
revise.

. . . . . . . . . . Frequent delivery
. . . . . . . . . . Using frequent deliveries, and keeping the feedback loops as simple as possible, the team
. . . . . . . . . . provides a better working solution at the end of an iteration. Remember, providing that working
. . . . . . . . . . solution is the goal of each iteration.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Cohn, M. (2012). Agile estimating

and planning. Prentice Hall.

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 Guidelines for estimating and planning
Involve the whole team
While prioritizing the backlog is the responsibility of the product owner, they require input from the
. . . . . . . . . .
team to understand estimates, risks, and dependencies. The whole team should be involved in
. . . . . . . . . .
estimating, where feasible, to gain the benefits of multiple perspectives and share information
. . . . . . . . . .
about the design.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Plan at different levels
. . . . . . . . . .
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a release plan renders an iteration plan unnecessary or
. . . . . . . . . .
the other way around. The release, iteration, and daily plans each cover a different time horizon
. . . . . . . . . .
with a different level of precision, and each serves a unique purpose.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Replan often
. . . . . . . . . . Take advantage of the start of each new iteration to assess the relevancy of the current release
. . . . . . . . . . plan. If the release plan is based on outdated information or on assumptions that are now false,
. . . . . . . . . . the product owner can update it. Use replanning opportunities to ensure that the project is always
. . . . . . . . . . targeted at delivering the greatest value to the organization.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Track and communicate progress
Many project stakeholders have a very strong interest in the progress of the project. Keep them
informed by showing them increments of the product regularly and publishing understandable
indicators of the team’s progress. Burnup charts and other at-a-glance indicators of project
progress are optimal.
Source: Cohn, M. (2012). Agile estimating
and planning. Prentice Hall.

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 Acknowledge the importance of learning
Because a project is as much about generating new knowledge as it is about adding new
capabilities to a product, plans should be updated to include this new knowledge. As we learn
. . . . . . . . . . more about our customers’ requirements, new features are added to the project. As we learn
. . . . . . . . . . more about the technologies we’re using or about how well we’re working as a team, we adjust
. . . . . . . . . . expectations about our rate of progress and our desired approach.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Prioritize features
. . . . . . . . . . Work on features in the order that optimizes the total value of the project. In addition to the value
. . . . . . . . . . and cost of features, also consider the learning that occurs and the risk that is reduced by
. . . . . . . . . . developing the feature. Early elimination of a significant risk can often justify developing a feature
. . . . . . . . . . early. Similarly, if developing a particular feature early will allow the team to gain significant
. . . . . . . . . . knowledge about the product or their effort to develop it, they should consider developing that
. . . . . . . . . . feature early.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Cohn, M. (2012). Agile estimating

and planning. Prentice Hall.

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 Use communication
strategies for
colocated and
distributed teams

Section 3 of 3

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 Colocated teams
Agile practices recommend face-to-face interaction as the preferred means of communication;
they also advocate that a team be colocated. Team members should work together in the same
. . . . . . . . . .
room, free of physical barriers that may interrupt conversations.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
While this does have its advantages, colocating a team isn’t always possible. Agile projects can
. . . . . . . . . .
use dispersed teams, whether they are in different buildings, cities, or continents. If your team is
. . . . . . . . . .
dispersed in this manner, use digital tools so the team feels as close as possible to being
. . . . . . . . . .
physically colocated while connecting virtually.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Team space
. . . . . . . . . .
A colocated team should be in the same space, also called a team space—a common area to
. . . . . . . . . .
foster collaboration and allow for information sharing during the team’s everyday work.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
This team space is usually a large open area, such as a conference room, with plenty of room for
. . . . . . . . . .
whiteboards, information radiators, and other tools. The tools and equipment in the team space
. . . . . . . . . .
should include not only the already-mentioned whiteboard but also sticky notes, a table with a
. . . . . . . . . .
screen and/or laptop, the ability to video conference, food, and ways for the teams to destress.
. . . . . . . . . .
What it should not have are barriers to face-to-face communication.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
While a colocated team does have its advantages, it also comes with challenges. One of these is
. . . . . . . . . .
a lack of privacy and quiet time. The way a colocated team addresses this is through the “caves
. . . . . . . . . .
and common” model. While most of the work is done in the common area, there’s also access to
. . . . . . . . . .
private spaces, called caves, where team members can make phone calls, have one-on-one
. . . . . . . . . .
conversations, and do work on their own.
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Teams also have a community knowledge base called tacit knowledge. The maintenance of this
knowledge is one of the reasons that the size of agile teams is limited to fewer than 12 people. As
teams approach this number, the ability to maintain face-to-face communication becomes difficult
and starts to lead to a breakdown in tacit knowledge. The breakdown is mainly due to the pains of
. . . . . . . . . .
a large team, such as the commitment to a large amount of work and writing the documentation
. . . . . . . . . .
for all of that work.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Osmotic communication
. . . . . . . . . . Osmotic communication refers to the useful information that flows between team members who

. . . . . . . . . . are working near each other as they overhear each other’s conversations. For example, let’s say

. . . . . . . . . . that one team member asks another team member how to do something. A third team member

. . . . . . . . . . overhears their conversation and offers that they know a faster or better way to do what the first

. . . . . . . . . . team member is trying to do and offers to show them. This ability to optimize benefits that

. . . . . . . . . . otherwise would have been missed is a benefit of colocation.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . According to Alistair Cockburn, osmotic communication is like the energy fields that radiate from

. . . . . . . . . . people. You only receive the benefits if you’re nearby and there are no barriers. The only way for

. . . . . . . . . . people to improve their osmotic communication is by working closely together with others, free of

. . . . . . . . . . any barriers.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Distributed teams
Distributed teams have at least one team member working off-site. As we’ve said previously, agile
practices recommend colocating a team; but in today’s post-COVID-19 world, that’s no longer the
. . . . . . . . . .
norm. As a result, distributed agile teams have become more of a default than an exception.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
This is due in part to the internet and related communication tools. These tools have lowered
. . . . . . . . . .
communications costs, making virtual teams more cost effective. As projects grow, project teams
. . . . . . . . . .
often become more distributed. However, agile practices are still viable because the iterations
. . . . . . . . . .
and approaches used encourage collaboration and coordination, in some ways making a project
. . . . . . . . . .
easier to control. A distributed team should use agile approaches because frequent feedback
. . . . . . . . . .
provides an effective way to keep a team on track.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Let’s circle back to Tuckman’s team phases. One issue that distributed teams run into is that the
. . . . . . . . . .
storming and norming phases can be more difficult for a distributed team because the members
. . . . . . . . . .
aren’t colocated. While some members may excel at working virtually, and as a result may be
. . . . . . . . . .
more engaged, there are probably also team members who may disengage themselves from any
. . . . . . . . . .
virtual discussions. As we discussed when covering Tuckman, the storming and norming phases
. . . . . . . . . .
are critical to a team’s success. As a result, the lead of a distributed team should ensure that a
. . . . . . . . . .
foundation built on decision-making and distribution exists from the start of the project. One way
. . . . . . . . . .
of doing this is to work on a piece of a project that may generate lively discussion early in the
. . . . . . . . . .
project, so the team is more comfortable talking and working through issues.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
If possible, have a face-to-face meeting with a distributed team to start a project. Many people are
. . . . . . . . . .
more comfortable engaging with someone via email or by phone if they have met in person first
. . . . . . . . . .
and have a face to associate with a name.
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Distributed team tips
Companies that formed remote-only working spaces by choice can teach us some valuable tips
for working effectively in distributed environments. They have internal guidelines that encourage

. . . . . . . . . . successful remote collaboration. These include:

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . • Never stop learning
. . . . . . . . . . • Favor written processes over on-the-job training
. . . . . . . . . . • Never pass up an opportunity to help a colleague
. . . . . . . . . . • Communicate as much as possible—it’s the oxygen of a distributed company
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Organizations that purposely utilize full-time remote working have no central hubs for workers.
. . . . . . . . . . Since all employees experience the same work style, there are no different sets of contributors
. . . . . . . . . . (colocated versus remote) or different forms of communication (face-to-face versus dial-in).
. . . . . . . . . . Instead, everyone experiences a consistent and universal interaction style. In this regard,
. . . . . . . . . . everyone’s on even footing.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Distributed team advantages
. . . . . . . . . . Access to better talent: Traditional colocated organizations rely on attracting the best local
. . . . . . . . . . talent and those willing to relocate. This talent pool is then further reduced to people who are
. . . . . . . . . . willing and able to come into the office for the prescribed office hours.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 More expertise and ability: Human expertise and ability are globally distributed. The likelihood
of having world-class professional talent in our home area is about the same odds of having
world-class sprinters, pianists, or painters in our home area. We may be fortunate and find one or
two but are much more likely to find the talent we desire elsewhere in the world.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Flexibility: Often, all-remote organizations also add the flexibility of allowing individuals to work
. . . . . . . . . .
when they choose. Now, the collection of qualified candidates expands again to encompass part-
. . . . . . . . . .
time workers and those with personal or family health issues to attend to also. Or, maybe they
. . . . . . . . . .
have a passion for daytime activities like waterskiing or gardening and prefer to work when it’s
. . . . . . . . . .
dark.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Results-focused: Since all-remote organizations work largely asynchronously, part-time and
. . . . . . . . . .
odd-time work can also be accommodated. You may be wondering how project managers track
. . . . . . . . . .
the hours? They don’t; instead, they monitor results (which are what really matters anyway).
. . . . . . . . . .
These all-remote organizations are results focused. As long as people accomplish their work,
. . . . . . . . . .
collaborate, contribute, and help move the organization forward, nobody cares when or where
. . . . . . . . . .
people participate.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Reduced overhead: Remote workers can save on housing costs by living somewhere cheaper.
. . . . . . . . . .
They can also save on commuting and work wardrobe costs. All-remote organizations save on
. . . . . . . . . .
office space and relocation costs. In addition, there is reduced overhead in materials and energy
. . . . . . . . . .
usage, helping the environment.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
No “us” and “head office” divisions: Without head-office hubs and satellite offices, everyone is
. . . . . . . . . .
on an even playing field. This removes individual fears of missing out and creates a more
. . . . . . . . . .
cooperative environment.
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Free to travel and move: If someone wants to move or travel, they can do so and remain
productive. Changing health conditions and life priorities of workers and their partners are
common reasons why people leave office-based jobs. Now they don’t have to. This extra stability
increases retention, accumulated domain knowledge, and working relationships.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
It attracts the self-motivated: Knowing you’ll be judged on your results, not your attendance,
. . . . . . . . . .
attracts self-starters who are motivated to deliver. Fewer people simply “turn up” at the office now,
. . . . . . . . . .
expecting someone to show them every step of their jobs. Onboarding and learning a role takes
. . . . . . . . . .
some self-starting skills. These are typically attributes employers are looking for regardless of the
. . . . . . . . . .
work environment.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Distributed team disadvantages
. . . . . . . . . . Onboarding: Acquainting people with how things work is often best achieved through face-to-

. . . . . . . . . . face interactions with someone who can answer the myriad of diverse questions that arise. Both

. . . . . . . . . . Automattic and GitLab companies have extensive onboarding handbooks, videos, and FAQ

. . . . . . . . . . resources, but they admit this process is a challenge.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Initial loneliness: Working without meeting your peers can seem isolating for some workers (and

. . . . . . . . . . a blessing for some introverts). All-remote organizations build connections through their video

. . . . . . . . . . meetings and work interactions. One policy of GitLab is to celebrate and learn from interruptions.

. . . . . . . . . . Whenever a child, pet, or delivery interrupts a video call, there’s an opportunity to learn about the

. . . . . . . . . . person: “Tell us about ... ”

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Self-discipline: Some people struggle to maintain focus while working from home or at their

. . . . . . . . . . favorite coffee shop. People can use technology to filter out distractions (noise-canceling

. . . . . . . . . . headphones, focusing applications), but it boils down to doing the work. Some people can do this;
others struggle.

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 Stifled innovation: Some critics of all-remote work claim that without watercooler interactions,
companies miss out on new products or improvement ideas. However, successful organizations
such as Automattic have creeds that incorporate “Never stop learning,” “Do not just work on
things assigned,” and “There is no such thing as the status quo” to encourage innovation.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Communications: It’s generally easier to phone and work with people you’ve physically met in
. . . . . . . . . .
person. Before COVID-19, all-remote organizations still had meetups and gatherings where
. . . . . . . . . .
people got to know each other.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Time zones: It can be challenging to find time for meetings when everyone is geographically
. . . . . . . . . .
distributed. People should be flexible with their schedules and make accommodations to have
. . . . . . . . . .
real-time conversations.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Tax and labor laws: It can be challenging for all-remote organizations to keep up with the local
. . . . . . . . . .
tax and labor laws and currency fluctuations. If Bob decides to follow summer surfing and works
. . . . . . . . . .
in Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, and Hawaii, there’s a significant amount of administration to do.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Global, cultural, and team diversity
As communication becomes more ubiquitous and less expensive, and customer bases become
more global, considering culture and diversity has become more important for project teams.
. . . . . . . . . .
Working with people in different time zones and cultures can bring many advantages but
. . . . . . . . . .
also challenges that teams should address, including:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Different time zones
. . . . . . . . . .
Team members are working throughout the day, which can inhibit their becoming familiar with
. . . . . . . . . .
each other. As a result, you may have to put some extra time into communication.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Different cultures
. . . . . . . . . . Some societies are more hierarchical than Western ones, and it may be considered rude to make

. . . . . . . . . . suggestions, be candid, or even disagree. If this is the case, this behavior should be encouraged.

. . . . . . . . . . In addition, explain that agile does not run smoothly without it. An example of this may occur

. . . . . . . . . . during a retrospective if the culture you are working with does not encourage challenging

. . . . . . . . . . leadership. One way around this is to leave the questions you ask in a retrospective up after the

. . . . . . . . . . meeting is over, so those at the meeting have the chance to answer in a private setting in which

. . . . . . . . . . they feel more comfortable.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Different communication styles
. . . . . . . . . . Depending on the culture, the means of communication may have different norms. This means
. . . . . . . . . . minimizing misunderstandings, inappropriate versus appropriate speech, and clashing
. . . . . . . . . . assumptions about people’s roles should be paid special attention.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Different native languages
The language people speak may lead to miscommunication. If this is the case, work to ensure a
shared understanding of what should be done and provide more detailed documentation. For

. . . . . . . . . . example, people in the United Kingdom and United States both speak English. But if you have

. . . . . . . . . . members of your team in London, and they say, “I don’t have a Scooby about that,” another

. . . . . . . . . . member of the team there may know they are telling you (in slang) that they have no clue about

. . . . . . . . . . the issue you’re discussing. On the other hand, to an American that may mean that you don’t

. . . . . . . . . . have a dog, which more than likely has no bearing on the matter at hand.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Digital tools for distributed teams
Videoconferencing/live chat, Skype
Using these tools provides a shared team environment and allows the stakeholders to interact as
. . . . . . . . . .
if everyone is in the same room. Videoconferencing is especially helpful for coordination meetings
. . . . . . . . . .
and retrospectives.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Interactive whiteboard
. . . . . . . . . . Team members can share content and collaborate in a more fulfilling way than just a telephone

. . . . . . . . . . call.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Instant messaging (IM) and VoIP (voice over internet protocol) headsets
. . . . . . . . . . Both bring people who seem spread out closer together. For example, VoIP headsets allow team
. . . . . . . . . . members to chat as if they are in the same room.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Presence-based applications
. . . . . . . . . . These build on IM messages by building a status to create a virtual environment for sharing
. . . . . . . . . . information. The applications usually offer document and file management services and project
. . . . . . . . . . plan integration capability.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Electronic task boards and storyboards
. . . . . . . . . .
Teams use these tools as information radiators.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Web-based meeting facilitators
. . . . . . . . . .
Use these to keep track of the team members and provide a connection hub for the team.
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Survey applications
Surveys are an effective way to poll the team in real time to answer questions or ask the team’s
opinions.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Agile project management software
. . . . . . . . . . These tools assist in backlog creation and prioritization and help the team have a process for
. . . . . . . . . . tracking progress.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Virtual card walls
. . . . . . . . . . Like a physical card wall, these are accessible anywhere to team members, provided they have a
. . . . . . . . . . working internet connection.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Smart boards
. . . . . . . . . .
They help to capture the output of a design session without the creation of formal documents.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Digital cameras
. . . . . . . . . .
Digital photography on our phones can capture whiteboard sessions, removing the requirement to
. . . . . . . . . .
create separate designs or models.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Wiki sites, document management tools, and collaboration websites
. . . . . . . . . . These allow stakeholders to work through the elements of a project.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Automated testing tools
. . . . . . . . . . Tools typically used to show the status of a build.
. . . . . . . . . .

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 CASE tools
Tools to reverse-engineer documentation from source code and data models. This allows
developers more time to focus on the work, rather than the documentation.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .

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 Time to reflect
If you work on a distributed team, think about the tools you are currently or
could be using. If you do not work on a distributed team, consider if any of
these tools would work for your team.

You’ll have 10 minutes to complete this thought exercise, and we’ll take about five minutes to
review.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 06 Foster
psychological
safety

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 Promote a
no-blame culture

Section 1 of 3

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 Fear
For a team to do its best work, there should be innovation. For there to be innovation, there
should be collaboration. For collaboration to happen, there should be creative abrasion and
constructive friction, which comes from high intellectual friction and low social friction. In other
. . . . . . . . . .
words, collaboration comes from people being allowed to be creative without a lot of project-
. . . . . . . . . .
related drama.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Many leads don’t pay enough attention to either intellectual or social friction. They seem to forget
. . . . . . . . . .
that creating an environment of collaboration is at the heart of effective leadership. In fact, many
. . . . . . . . . .
leads fear the friction of collaboration, and that fear ties up creativity. This loop leads to a
. . . . . . . . . .
presence of fear, and the presence of that fear is the first sign of weak leadership in an
. . . . . . . . . .
organization.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The way to keep this fear from happening is to banish it. And while that’s easier said than done,
. . . . . . . . . .
doing so yields positive outcomes from the team. Removing fear from a team and installing
. . . . . . . . . .
performance-based accountability along with a nurturing environment presents a team that
. . . . . . . . . .
exceeds expectations.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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 Psychological safety
What is psychological safety? It’s a condition that allows the team to be:

. . . . . . . . . .
Included
. . . . . . . . . .
Make sure that your team members feel included, accepted, and welcomed into the group. We
. . . . . . . . . .
accept people even if their values differ from ours.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Safe to learn
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . The team is encouraged to learn and grow and is supported in that process even when they lack

. . . . . . . . . . confidence or make mistakes. This means people feel safe to ask questions without being made

. . . . . . . . . . to feel dumb.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Safe to contribute
. . . . . . . . . . Grant people maximum autonomy to contribute as they demonstrate their ability to deliver results.
. . . . . . . . . . This means people are happy to share their work, even if not fully complete, without internalizing
. . . . . . . . . . critical feedback. This is especially important on agile teams, where we frequently share work in
. . . . . . . . . . progress.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Safe to challenge the status quo
People are consistently invited to challenge the status quo to make things better. As the lead, you
should be prepared to be wrong based on the humility and learning mindset you’ve developed.
Agile retrospectives encourage challenging the status quo and finding ways to improve.

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Exclusion
Exclusion hurts. Think of a time when you were rejected in a social setting, such as your boss
criticized your idea, or your team went to lunch without inviting you. These were times you were
. . . . . . . . . .
deprived of psychological safety.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Do those occasions influence your behavior? Yes, they activate the pain centers of the brain.
. . . . . . . . . .
They lessen our confidence. Yet sometimes the fear of these things can be more debilitating than
. . . . . . . . . .
the actual thing. How we feel influences what we think and do.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 The blame game
To bring projects back from the brink, focus team members on finding
solutions instead of pointing fingers

Andrew Lund, Toyota Motor Corp., Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA:

Automaking giant Toyota Motor Corp. has embraced a blame-free
approach to project management for years. When projects hit speed
bumps, managers don't focus on who is at fault, they look at how to get that project out of trouble,
says Andrew Lund, executive program manager at Toyota, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. “When
problems arise on projects, leads take a two-step approach to dealing with them,” he says. “First
we recover, then we reflect.”
Source: Fister Gale, S. (2006). The blame
game. PM Network, 20(12), 52–60.
In the recovery phase, the team identifies the problem and what they should do to get back on
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/blame-
track—without wasting time punishing those at fault. Once the problem is solved, there's a formal
game-work-together-solve-problems-2760
reflection process, in which the team and its champion identify what went wrong and how to avoid
it in the future. “To do both of those things, we need honest answers from team members,” Mr.
Lund says. “You can't have your people afraid to say what they know because they fear
retribution. So, we don't do the blame game.” This strategy only works, however, when
companies forgo scapegoating to create an environment in which employees can own up to their
mistakes and receive help in solving them. “Team associates will improve if you give them the
time and support they need,” Mr. Lund says. “Patience is key to their long-term development.”

Patrick Andrews, director at Innovation consultancy and software development firm in Stirling,
Scotland, United Kingdom: After toiling more than a decade in software development, Mr.
Andrews knows how stifling a blame-based workplace can be. “It was a ridiculously macho
culture where we were expected to get from A to Z by whatever means available,” he says. “I only

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 kept my job by delivering a functional product, even if sometimes it was required to challenge the
laws of physics.”

His experience inspired him to try to create an environment where people weren't petrified to
confess they'd blundered. “If someone spent 3 days trying something that didn't work just
because they are afraid to say they made a mistake, that's a huge amount of time wasted—
especially if it's software development,” he says. “If there is no freedom to admit mistakes, errors
grow like snowballs.”

Kevin Thomas, director of Visionality Ltd., has a strategy he calls by its acronym, FUSION, which
stands for the six qualities that, in his view, underlie successful partnerships:
• Fairness
Source: Fister Gale, S. (2006). The blame
• Unity
game. PM Network, 20(12), 52–60.
• Seamless
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/blame-
game-work-together-solve-problems-2760 • Initiative
• Openness
• No blame

Mr. Thomas developed the approach while working at pharmaceutical powerhouse Glaxo
Wellcome, now Glaxo SmithKline. Using the strategy, his team cut delivery time by 40% and
capital costs by 18% on average over conventional project management methods. At least part of
those savings came from implementing innovative solutions for project problems and eliminating
the time and money lost spent trying to cover them, he says.

Teri Takai, director of the Michigan Department of IT and CIO for the State of Michigan in Lansing,
Michigan, USA.: “When problems arise, we hold people accountable, but we don't start with

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 ‘Who's off the project?’” she says. “We start with ‘How do we fix it?’ and we give them a chance to
succeed.”

Ms. Takai begins with an assessment of where the project is in relation to the goals. She also
checks whether a single voice is leading the project, which she considers key to preventing cross-
purpose tasks and scope creep. “Once you get off track on a project, communication can shut
down,” she says. In a blame-based culture, different factions of a team tend to turn against each
other when troubles arise, clouding the truth with accusations.

To avoid finger-pointing, Ms. Takai jumps in immediately, showing the team she’s serious about
finding a remedy and not looking for a scapegoat. “When people see a senior manager get
involved, they calm down,” she says. “No one can hide, and we stop talking about the problem
Source: Fister Gale, S. (2006). The blame and start working on a solution.”
game. PM Network, 20(12), 52–60.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/blame-
game-work-together-solve-problems-2760

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 Create a safe
environment

Section 2 of 3

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 Stages of psychological safety
In 2020, Dr. Timothy R. Clark wrote an influential book called The 4 Stages of Psychological
Safety. As you’ve probably inferred from the title, it describes four stages of psychological safety
. . . . . . . . . .
based on permission and respect.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Challenger
safety
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Contributor
. . . . . . . . . . safety

Respect
. . . . . . . . . .
Learner
. . . . . . . . . . safety
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Exclusion
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Permission

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of In general terms, the first stage of psychological safety is informal admittance to the team. You’re
psychological safety: Defining the path to no longer an outsider—with its associated stigma. The other team members accept you as you
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler are and grant you a shared identity. You’re part of the team.
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 The next stage is learner safety. When you have learner safety, you feel safe to ask questions,
experiment, and even make mistakes. Without it, you’re likely to remain passive because of the
risk of sounding dumb or crossing some invisible line and landing in trouble.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . The next stage is contributor safety. At this stage, you’re invited to participate as a full-fledged

. . . . . . . . . . member of the team. Now, you’re willing to share and show your work—even when not fully

. . . . . . . . . . fleshed out—and receive feedback on it. It’s an invitation and an expectation—an expectation that

. . . . . . . . . . you can actually do the job.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . And finally, we have challenger safety. This final stage allows the team to change its way of

. . . . . . . . . . working without retribution, reprisal, or the risk of damaging your personal standing or reputation.

. . . . . . . . . . This is the stage at which team members can improve their processes and become creative. It’s

. . . . . . . . . . one of the definitions of a high-performing team.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Outside this diagonal corridor, problems occur. With too much respect and not enough

. . . . . . . . . . permission, we end up with paternalism—which means making all of the decisions for the people

. . . . . . . . . . you manage so they can’t or don’t have to make their own decisions. With too much permission

. . . . . . . . . . and not enough respect, the result is exploitation—in other words, taking advantage of the trust

. . . . . . . . . . granted.

. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Stage 1: Inclusion safety
The first stage of psychological safety is informal admittance to the group—the members of the
social collective accept you and grant you a shared identity. You are now destigmatized as an
. . . . . . . . . .
outsider. It is important to understand that inclusion safety is not merely tolerance, an attempt to
. . . . . . . . . .
cover up differences, or politely pretending they don’t exist.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Inclusion safety is provided by inviting others into your group because you’re a human being.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
As a species, we have both instincts and acquired socialization to detect social boundaries, along
. . . . . . . . . .
with gestures of invitation or rejection across those boundaries. This allows us to perceive the
. . . . . . . . . .
levels of respect and permission offered. For example, when a new school student asks their
. . . . . . . . . .
peers, “Can I eat lunch with you?,” the response to that question extends inclusion safety if the
. . . . . . . . . .
students say yes. If they say no, the individual isn’t allowed to cross the threshold of inclusion. In
. . . . . . . . . .
a more subtle version of this encounter, the student is simply ignored as the others pass by.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Inclusion safety is created and sustained through renewed admittance to the group and repeated
. . . . . . . . . .
indications of acceptance. In the business world, we are formally admitted to a team when we’re
. . . . . . . . . .
hired, but informal membership is granted or withheld by the people with whom we work. You may
. . . . . . . . . .
be the new hire on the software development team, which gives you official membership status,
. . . . . . . . . .
but you still require the team’s sociocultural acceptance to gain inclusion safety, which is a moral
imperative.

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Stage 2: Learner safety
Team members experiencing learner safety feel safe to engage in the discovery process, ask
questions, experiment, and even make mistakes—not if, but when, they make them. Without it,
. . . . . . . . . .
they will likely remain passive due to the risk of acting beyond a tacit line of permission. We all
. . . . . . . . . .
bring inhibitions and anxiety to the learning process. An environment that grants safe passage to
. . . . . . . . . .
learning develops potential, in turn cultivating confidence, resilience, and independence.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
While individuals can remain relatively passive in the first stage of inclusion safety, they still have
. . . . . . . . . .
to exert themselves and develop self-efficacy. They’re no longer spectators. The transition to
. . . . . . . . . .
learner safety means crossing into the anxiety of the unknown. When learner safety is present,
. . . . . . . . . .
the lead and team may even supply some of the confidence that the individual lacks.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Learner safety implies activity and participation within defined limits.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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 Skunk works
The term “skunk works” is defined as an “enriched environment that is intended to help a small
group of individuals design a new idea by escaping routine organizational procedures.”
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Work done at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Project division during World War II is
. . . . . . . . . . the origin of the term “skunk works.” The team developing the P-80 Shooting Star aircraft was
. . . . . . . . . . working on a top-secret project in a circus tent next to a plastics factory in Burbank, California.
. . . . . . . . . . The smells that wafted into the tent reminded the workers of the “Skonk Works” factory in the Li’l
. . . . . . . . . . Abner comic strip, which at the time was very popular. As with many other military terms, such as
. . . . . . . . . . ‘strategic alliance,’ the term has worked its way into the vernacular of business.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . “Skunk works” now applies to projects that a company is touting as “the next big thing.” An
. . . . . . . . . . example is the development of the Macintosh computer in the early 1980s at Apple. Skunk works
. . . . . . . . . . projects are frequently worked on by people in the first two
. . . . . . . . . . stages of psychological safety. People in inclusion safety
. . . . . . . . . . seek to validate themselves as part of the group, and
. . . . . . . . . . people experiencing learner safety seek the opportunity to
. . . . . . . . . . experiment and make mistakes. In other words, members
. . . . . . . . . . of these groups are looking for projects that make them
. . . . . . . . . . feel accepted while they’re also able to start satisfying
their intellectual curiosity.

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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 How to promote well-being on teams
Hannah Labelle
When we’re talking about emotional intelligence and empathy, another
thing that usually comes up is this idea of psychological safety. Do you
make psychological safety a focus of how you either build or lead
teams? And if so, how do you foster a psychologically safe
environment?

MariLlena Koliavasili
Psychological safety is a fundamental aspect. I believe that encouraging open communication
Source: Hendershot, S. (Host). (2023,
September 20). How to promote well-being helps a lot for psychological safety. Apart from that, I think that we should lead by example. As a
on project teams. [Audio podcast episode]. project manager, I should set the tone for psychological safety by being open and approachable
In Projectified®. Project Management
and share my own challenges and vulnerabilities, demonstrating that it’s acceptable to make
Institute (PMI).
mistakes and learn from them. If the team members see me acting like that, they will feel free to
https://www.pmi.org/projectified-
podcast/podcasts/how-to-promote-well- express themselves openly. Also, I think it’s important to [provide] constructive feedback and
b i j tt allow team members to have a say in project-related choices because that increases their sense
of ownership and accountability, and it leads to higher levels of engagement.

Steve Hendershot
What about psychological safety, that notion of feeling safe at work? How do you incorporate
that? How does that factor into team dynamics, and what do you do personally to cultivate that
and make sure it’s respected?

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 Jonas Ng
Psychological safety is a huge[ly] important component that’s often overlooked. It’s something
that takes ages to build, and it’s very easily broken. I think just being respectful of each person’s
views, being transparent yourself, and really encouraging that transparency and openness in
communication of any views and any opinions is really important. As humans with different
cultures and different beliefs, we are going to have different opinions and a huge number that’s
going to contradict one another. I think just being able to put aside your assumptions and just
being able to actively listen to one another’s opinions, being curious about one another’s opinions
and really encouraging the sharing of opinions, that will actually help to create a safe environment
for people to speak up. And once people feel that they are empowered to speak up, then you will
be able to have people be open about whatever that they are facing. I think most often people are
Source: Hendershot, S. (Host). (2023,
September 20). How to promote well-being scared of sharing what is going on in their life because they feel that it’s not important or it’s going
on project teams. [Audio podcast episode]. to offend someone. But if we are all able to demonstrate that behavior of openness and
In Projectified . Project Management
®
transparency itself, that will probably encourage others to do the same as well, and that will help
Institute (PMI).
to build that environment of safety, basically.
https://www.pmi.org/projectified-
podcast/podcasts/how-to-promote-well-
b i j tt

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 Solicit and provide
constructive
feedback.
Act on it.

Section 3 of 3

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 Stage 3: Contributor safety
An example of contributor safety is when a hospital hires a well-qualified surgeon. Upon being
hired, the surgeon is granted the authority or credentials to perform surgery at a hospital. If formal
. . . . . . . . . .
authority or credentials are prerequisites to a role, the credentials act as a partial proxy for
. . . . . . . . . .
psychological safety based on the official or legal right to contribute.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
As with any other part of a job, an individual may be denied contributor safety for illegitimate
. . . . . . . . . .
reasons, including the arrogance or insecurity of the lead, personal or institutional bias, prejudice
. . . . . . . . . .
or discrimination, or prevailing team norms, among others.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Contributor safety emerges when the individual performs well, but the lead and team should do
. . . . . . . . . .
their part to provide encouragement and appropriate autonomy. In agile teams, contributor safety
. . . . . . . . . .
is achieved when people are comfortable sharing their work, having it reviewed, and receiving
. . . . . . . . . .
critical feedback that they don’t take as personal criticism. Achieving contributor safety is critical
. . . . . . . . . .
for teams to receive feedback and act on it.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Stage 4: Challenger safety
. . . . . . . . . .
Challenger safety allows you to challenge the status quo without retribution, reprisal, or the risk of
. . . . . . . . . .
damaging your standing or reputation. It gives you the confidence to speak truth to power when
you think something should change and it’s time to say so. Armed with it, individuals overcome
the pressure to conform and enlist themselves in the creative process.

Without challenger safety, there is little chance of that happening because threats, judgment, and
Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of
psychological safety: Defining the path to other limiting beliefs block curiosity in ourselves and others.
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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 The open climate of challenger safety allows the organization to circulate local knowledge from
the bottom of the organization to the top to increase its adaptive capacity. This empowers people
to be curious and creative.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . If you conduct a postmortem analysis of failure for almost any defunct commercial organization,

. . . . . . . . . . you can trace the cause of failure to a lack of challenger safety.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Retrospectives promote challenger safety. They encourage teams to think about ways to improve

. . . . . . . . . . how they’re currently working. This may include abandoning, changing, or creating processes.

. . . . . . . . . . The goal is to empower the team to own their own processes and collectively find ways to

. . . . . . . . . . improve them. Suggestions are typically trialed as experiments for an iteration or two to test their

. . . . . . . . . . suitability. Valuable changes are kept; failed experiments are analyzed for learnings and stopped.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Changing the way of working normally injects a degree of conflict, confrontation, and sometimes

. . . . . . . . . . a measure of chaos. When this scrutiny is greeted by the threat of punishment instead of

. . . . . . . . . . openness, the process collapses and people go silent.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Challenger safety is a license to innovate. For many leads, asking for something that makes them

. . . . . . . . . . personally vulnerable is beyond their moral, emotional, and intellectual capacity. Those who

. . . . . . . . . . create challenger safety gain a competitive advantage because they can accelerate the process
of innovation. To scale innovation throughout the organization, leads should establish a norm of
challenging the status quo.

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 Retrospectives as part of changing a team’s way of working
Earlier on in this module, we discussed the core values of Extreme Programming (XP). The value
of courage states that “For our work to be entirely visible to others, it takes courage.” To navigate
. . . . . . . . . .
your way to challenger safety, this courage is also necessary for challenging the status quo.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Additionally, the value of feedback is important in challenger safety. It couples with courage in that
. . . . . . . . . .
the members of your team are given the courage to provide feedback in your team’s
. . . . . . . . . .
psychologically safe environment.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The value of respect also factors into challenger safety. If team members have respect for the
. . . . . . . . . .
other members of the team and that respect is reciprocated, your team is going to feel
. . . . . . . . . .
psychologically safe.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Retrospectives are a great venue for these values to be highlighted in the work of your team. For
. . . . . . . . . .
there to be experimentation by the team, there should be the courage to propose the idea and
. . . . . . . . . .
take the feedback given when experimenting—as well as the respect that courage engenders. As
. . . . . . . . . .
we said previously, challenger safety is a license to innovate, and retrospectives provide some of
. . . . . . . . . .
the sources of that innovation.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Source: Clark, T. (2020). The 4 stages of

psychological safety: Defining the path to
inclusion and innovation. Berrett-Koehler
Publishers.

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This material is being provided as part of a PMI course.
 07 Shorten
feedback
loops

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 Include customers
from day one

Section 1 of 3

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 Principles 1, 2, and 3 of agile development
We discussed the principles of the Agile Manifesto very early in this lesson. While these
principles were written for software development, they can be applied to any industry. Three of
the first four focus on the customer.

Principle 1: Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous
delivery of valuable software. Our work should focus on the customer. Our products should be
structured to deliver value early and continuously. We should stay focused on our end goal, which
is providing the product or service that’s part of the project.
Source: Beck, K., Beedle, M., van
Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham,
Principle 2: Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes
W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J.,
Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B.,
harness change for the customer's competitive advantage: Changes in a product can be good,
Martin, R. C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K., depending on what they bring to the projects. But they can also impact the customer. The key to
Sutherland, J., & Thomas, D. (2001). dealing with changes is to make sure they have a minimal impact on the customer.
Principles behind the agile manifesto.
Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
Principle 3: Businesspeople and developers should work together daily throughout the
project: The sharing and the feedback we just mentioned are examples of how the team should
work together throughout the project. Doing so helps the team learn about the business and
customer requirements in ways that simple requirements gathering cannot. The more frequently
we provide this feedback, the better.

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 Frequent feedback
People working on a product require perspectives, insights, and clear direction from customers
and end users. The customer and end user aren’t always synonymous. For this standard, the
customer is defined as the individual or group who has requested or is funding the project.

The end user is the individual or group who will experience direct use of the product deliverable.

Products require clear direction from customers and end users regarding project requirements,
outcomes, and expectations. In agile and hybrid project environments, the need for ongoing
feedback is greater because the product teams are exploring and developing product elements
within specific increments. In some product environments, the customer or end user engages with
the product team for periodic review and feedback; other times, a representative of the customer
or client participates on the project team. The customer and end-user input and feedback
requirements are determined by the nature of the product and the guidance or direction required.

Many digital products today have customer-satisfaction, request-a-feature, and provide-feedback

capabilities built directly into the system or platform. This allows for direct and timely feedback.

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 IKIWISI
IKIWISI, an acronym for “I’ll know it when I see it,” is an attribute of intangible products like
software and services that explains how these can be difficult to describe and reference. This is
where the team should develop designs and prototypes until the customer sees what they want or
need and can better describe it.

IKIWISI occurs when the team is dealing with a stakeholder who has several variables in play
when obtaining requirements. The first of these is that the requirements come from more than
one source, including customers, managers, and the product team. Another is that the
stakeholder may have vague ideas and come from a nontechnical background. This is where
Source: Stenbeck, J. (2010). Agile project IKIWISI comes in, meaning they may not know exactly what they’re asking for but will know what
management mastery in sixty minutes,
looks right when they see it. A third challenge is that they have provided information but refining
guaranteed! [Paper presentation]. PMI®
Global Congress—North America,
that information into something usable may not be feasible.
Washington, DC.
https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/impleme The best way to avoid this is, when gathering information from stakeholders, have them be as
nting-agile-key-elements-mastery-6560
specific as possible, since doing so will cut down on miscommunication—and hopefully, rework.

Another solution is to incrementally deliver the product with frequent review points. This sort of
collaboration between team and customer ensures the product meets the user’s requirements.

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 Gulf of evaluation
Another challenge intangible products and services often run into is the gulf of evaluation. In this
phenomenon, how one person perceives something can be very different from how somebody
. . . . . . . . . .
else does.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Look at the image here. In the last image, you can see that the customer wanted a simple house
. . . . . . . . . .
with a red-tiled roof. But this isn’t what the customer explained, nor what was understood,
. . . . . . . . . .
promised, or delivered.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
How the customer How it was What was What the customer
. . . . . . . . . . described it understood
What was promised
delivered really wanted
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The first four images show what the perception of each group was along the way. Though the
. . . . . . . . . .
customer described a house, they provided more details than was necessary. The sales team
. . . . . . . . . .
interpreted it as a house with decorative Grecian columns and a backyard but promised the
. . . . . . . . . .
customer a fancy mansion with a pond and a fountain in a large garden. And the development
. . . . . . . . . .
team understood it as a ramshackle building, so that’s what was delivered to the customer.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
What can we learn from this image? It’s important to explore and understand the customer’s
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements through feedback and iteration. This helps the team overcome the gulf of evaluation
. . . . . . . . . .
and more accurately deliver what customers want.
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Personas, wireframes, and prototypes
Another way to include the customer as early in the process as possible is by using personas,
wireframes, and prototypes. Let’s consider each in general terms first.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Personas
. . . . . . . . . .
Personas are descriptions of fictional people who fill roles as stakeholders of the solution being
. . . . . . . . . .
developed. Creating them builds empathy for users as real people and helps clarify the optimal
. . . . . . . . . .
user experiences for each. Personas are useful when the project team can’t talk to actual or
. . . . . . . . . .
potential end users. Conversely, they can also be used as an excuse not to work with actual
. . . . . . . . . .
users.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Wireframes
. . . . . . . . . . Wireframes depict the flow between major user interface (UI) elements and explore a high-level

. . . . . . . . . . view of how major UI elements fit together to support one or more usage scenarios. This enables

. . . . . . . . . . the team to explore potential consumability issues long before the UI is built. On their own,

. . . . . . . . . . wireframes can be too abstract for some stakeholders, so prototyping should be used in concert

. . . . . . . . . . with them.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Prototypes
. . . . . . . . . . Prototypes are sketches that explore the solution’s look and feel and allow the customer and
. . . . . . . . . . team to figure out whether what’s being built is desirable. They’re a way to test out all or part of
. . . . . . . . . . the solution before it’s been completed. Prototypes allow for the quick exploration of potential
. . . . . . . . . . options without the overhead of completing the entire solution.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Persona
What?
A persona is a fictional character that represents a particular user profile or stakeholder segment.
It is an archetypical user of a solution and illustrates a type of person who would interact with it,
including their goals, behaviors, motivations, environment, demographics, and skills. Personas
are used to generate empathy by giving the team “someone” to relate to, instead of just thinking
and talking about generic “users.” This technique helps generate empathy by creating
perspective, emotional connection, and real-world examples.

So what?
Personas contribute to a better understanding of customers, which can inform solution
Source: Project Management Institute development, product design, and marketing decisions. Business analysis practitioners can use
(PMI). (2015). Business analysis for personas in several ways to inform and guide solution development:
practitioners: A practice guide. PMI.
• prioritizing features
• user-centered design
• testing and validation
• customer empathy
• cross-functional collaboration

By incorporating empathy into the persona development process, teams can create personas that
are accurate, relatable, and truly represent the requirements and perspectives of the customer.
Understanding and empathizing with these personas can help the team make better decisions
about how to meet their requirements, resulting in a better product and an improved customer
experience. Personas facilitate understanding of the customer in order to delight them.

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 Now what?
Personas will be as unique as the user
profiles they represent, and every team will
create them in a way that reflects what
distinguishes that user from other profiles,
what the team thinks is important about the
archetype, and what will best help the team
“relate” to the user profile. This graphic is an
example of a persona for a customer profile
that purchases the luxury model of a
product.

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (2015). Business analysis for
practitioners: A practice guide. PMI.

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 Deliver value
as often as possible

Section 2 of 3

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 Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
“Customer collaboration over contract negotiation” is the third of the four values laid out in the
Agile Manifesto.

This value reminds us to be flexible and accommodating when it comes to your customers, with
an emphasis on productive work. It works together with the three principles we discussed in a
previous section, which all focus on providing the customer as much value as possible through
continuous delivery, process, and working together with the entire team. The definition of value
may vary depending on the industry and type. Some projects may have financial value (profit),
while other projects have social value (people), and others may have environmental value
Source: Beck, K., Beedle, M., van
Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, (planet). This is referred to as the triple bottom line of profit, people, and planet.
W., Fowler, M., Grenning, J., Highsmith, J.,
Hunt, A., Jeffries, R., Kern, J., Marick, B., One way to keep an eye on this profit, people, and planet is through increments and iterations.
Martin, R. C., Mellor, S., Schwaber, K.,
Sutherland, J., & Thomas, D. (2001).
Manifesto for agile software development.
https://agilemanifesto.org Iterations, demos, and reviews
Iterations help a team create a cadence for delivery and many kinds of feedback.

Teams produce increments of value for delivery and feedback. The first part of this delivery is a
demonstration, which provides feedback about how the product looks and operates.

Teams do retrospectives to inspect and adapt their process to succeed. Both demonstrations or
reviews are a necessary part of the agile project flow and should be scheduled as appropriate for
the team’s delivery cadence.

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 Working in iterations
On an agile project, there’s no set delineation of phases. There’s no phase in which the
requirements are done, followed by one for design, and so on. What agile projects all have in
. . . . . . . . . .
common is that when the work on a project starts, all of the work happens concurrently during
. . . . . . . . . .
each iteration.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Iterations are timeboxed, meaning they finish on time even if functionality is dropped to do so.
. . . . . . . . . .
They’re often very short, usually from 1 to 2 weeks long, but some teams maintain their agility
. . . . . . . . . .
with longer iterations.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Products should be brought to a potentially shippable state at the end of each iteration.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Teams should aim to release an increment of product into a test environment at the end of an
. . . . . . . . . .
iteration. Doing this allows the team to deliver value frequently and as often as possible.
. . . . . . . . . .
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 Use tools and
techniques to shorten
feedback

Section 3 of 3

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 Design thinking
Design thinking is a customer-centric approach to development focused on short feedback loops.

. . . . . . . . . .
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In the empathize stage, it’s the job of the team to understand the customer and their problems.
. . . . . . . . . .
This is crucial for designers to gain insight into the users and their requirements. Empathy also
. . . . . . . . . .
helps define the problem, the next stage in design thinking. It does this by analyzing the
. . . . . . . . . .
observations and turning them into core problems, called problem statements. Teams often
. . . . . . . . . .
create personas to help keep things focused on the human side of the project.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
From there, the approach moves to the ideate phase. Now, the team tries to solve the problem,
brainstorming ways to view the problem and identify solutions for the problem statement.

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 These solutions become the tangible part of the next phase, the prototype phase. Here, the team
tries to develop solutions for the problem and obtain initial feedback on their prototypes.
Sometimes, the prototypes don’t work at all or as intended, which necessitates a move back to
. . . . . . . . . .
the ideate phase. This is not a setback but an advancement; the team received early feedback
. . . . . . . . . .
and can now adjust their development.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Once we have a prototype, the process moves to the test phase where the team will receive more
. . . . . . . . . .
feedback about suitability and fit for purpose. In addition to making sure the solution works, new
. . . . . . . . . .
product ideas or new insights about the initial problem come out of this phase.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
And once the solution has been tested, it’s implemented; the final stage. Real use uncovers yet
. . . . . . . . . .
more feedback and can teach us about new opportunities, and that starts the process all over
. . . . . . . . . .
again. Teams can take that feedback and incorporate it into a backlog, which can be prioritized
. . . . . . . . . .
based on its business value or importance.
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 Case study: creating an
on-demand bus service

Organization: Ventura, Moovit,

Victoria Department of Transport
Industry: Transportation
Geographic region: Asia Pacific

The problem
For about 30 years, an Australian bus service could be requested only by phone, like a traditional
taxi company. As Telebus looped around the Melbourne area, passengers called to request
pickups at designated stops or at homes, in some cases. But riders experienced frustratingly long
wait and travel times.

The operator, Ventura, the largest bus provider in the Australian state of Victoria, wanted to
decrease those wait and travel times while increasing ridership. It envisioned an app-enabled, on-
demand service with no fixed route or timetable. After rides were booked, the service would pick
people up and drop them off when and where they wanted—on their way to and from shopping
centers and train stations that serve as bus hubs. If successful, the new service, called FlexiRide,
would be the first demand-responsive transport service in metropolitan Melbourne.

Ventura first sought approval from the Victoria Department of Transport for the concept in 2017.
The department approved the project in 2020 on one condition: Ventura had to fund the
technology and ensure no operating cost overages—ultimately owning the financial risk. Ventura
accepted and partnered with the Department of Transport to create FlexiRide.

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 How it was solved
To bring the dial-a-ride bus into the digital age, Ventura developed the FlexiRide app in
partnership with Moovit, an IT company and a mobility-as-a-service solutions provider. Using the
FlexiRide app, passengers would be able to plan their journeys and schedule rides up to 1 week
in advance.

But first, the project team had to identify and educate stakeholders, including the Department of
Transport and the local councils that maintained and operated the streets where the buses would
run. In addition, the buy-in of the bus drivers’ union was indispensable, as FlexiRide would
change the drivers’ work routines, requiring them to interact more with customers and adjust to
flexible routing compared with their previously static routes.

“The key stakeholders were identified early and engaged,” says Juan Carbonell, head of solutions
for APAC in Moovit, Sydney. And stakeholders’ involvement throughout the journey was essential
to transforming the decades-old service into an agile, modern operation.

Project leads made sure passengers also had a say in ensuring the app was user friendly and
met their unique requirements through in-bus surveys. The team also created design personas
representing the service’s known user types. For instance, one persona was a university student
who utilized assistive technology for walking; another was a daily commuter traveling to and from
work. “Once we built the personas, we walked through the proposed service with the lens of that
persona to ensure we weren’t inadvertently disenfranchising patrons,” says Carbonell.

The team designed the app to direct riders to the closest pickup location and provide real-time
shuttle tracking that indicates the expected bus arrival and destination drop-off times. The
FlexiRide app combines information from local transportation agencies in the Melbourne area
with crowdsourced data to calculate the most efficient and convenient route for each journey.

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 The team also built in accessibility features, including screen readers with TalkBack and
VoiceOver capabilities for riders with low vision, and optimized menus and buttons for people with
hand-motor difficulties. Plus, the app identifies wheelchair-accessible routes and stations, as well
as step-free routes. “Public transport, by definition, should be equitable. Modern services like
FlexiRide therefore need to address all members of the public, from design to delivery, including
passengers who are transport-disadvantaged,” Carbonell says.

In December 2020, 3 years after the initial concept, Ventura launched a FlexiRide pilot project in
Rowville, Victoria. During that phase, the Moovit team adjusted its test scripts and go-live
checklists—and learned a critical lesson about stakeholder management: “We learned to check in
with passengers more frequently to make sure we gathered their feedback and addressed it
through our service design,” Carbonell says.

As a result, the app surveys passengers after each trip. The team also upped its communications
to the public with flyers and other kinds of marketing at bus stops and in local letterboxes.

The outcome
Within 3 months of FlexiRide’s launch date, the number of passengers increased by more than
five times, totaling approximately 200 riders a day. The average wait time improved from 25
minutes to just five minutes. And the travel time was cut in half to 15 minutes.

“It was seen as a resounding success by the government and our local passengers,” Carbonell
says of the project, which won a prestigious design award from the International Association of
Public Transport, a global association of public transport and a champion of sustainable urban
mobility.

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 Ventura has since launched FlexiRide routes in five other Melbourne suburbs. One key to
success, Carbonell says, has been a smooth handoff between the development and operations
teams. For the first year after the launch, the teams met on a weekly basis to resolve any issues
and prioritize the customer experience. “It’s important as you transition from a project state to an
operational state that you create a consistency with the service owners that lives on for the life of
the offering.”

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 Case study: Reimagining a landmark site

Organization: Hyatt; KOO Architecture;

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Industry: Hospitality
Geographic region: North America

The problem
After nearly 9 decades of serving Chicago, Cook County Hospital was shuttered in 2002. The
building—a historic landmark with Beaux Arts architecture—sat empty for years until 2018 when
Source: Project Management Institute the city announced a US$1 billion redevelopment of the 13-acre (5.3-hectare) site. A key part of
(PMI). (N.D.). Case study: Reimagining a that mixed-use redevelopment concept was a US$140 million project to transform the building
landmark site. PMI Picks™..
that was once the nation’s largest public hospital into a pair of sleek hotels from hospitality giant
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
page/546723b4-aa44-47a1-bfcc- Hyatt—Hyatt Place and Hyatt House.
aa223cbaa1e1

The project brought together a team of hometown talent: architecture and planning firm Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill focused on the site’s multiuse spaces, while KOO Architecture lasered in on the
interior. Because the firms were working in tandem—often making discoveries along the way—
the interior project plan was iterative, by design.

“We were working with a very unique building shell, which kept unveiling more of its historic
content as parts were demolished,” says Megan Walters, senior interior designer, KOO. “The
historic gems and quirks were then reviewed by the historic preservation committee, who directed
us on which features and finishes were to remain, to work with or around.”

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 How it was solved
Close collaboration and communication allowed KOO to adapt to changes without having the
project devolve into chaos. The team—which included Hyatt stakeholders and historic
consultants—held weekly meetings and embarked on regular site visits throughout the process.
“That helped ensure we were all on the same page with the design, schedule, and budget,” says
Walters. “Though there were a lot of moving parts happening at the same time, the team did their
due diligence to review the impact of each change throughout the project.”

For instance, keeping the beautifully restored barrel-vaulted ceiling in the second-floor corridor
was a no-brainer. But the team also had to be able to place and puncture doors and openings for
the public spaces required by the hotel brand, Walters says. “With the walls going up in real time,
Source: Project Management Institute
and in many cases shifting from planned locations due to discovered conditions,” the sizes as
(PMI). (N.D.). Case study: Reimagining a
landmark site. PMI Picks™. well as the furniture, fixtures and equipment designs of individual rooms “had to adapt along with
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content- the changes during the procurement submittal process,” says Walters. So, while many new builds
page/546723b4-aa44-47a1-bfcc- might lean into uniformity to maximize efficiencies, no two Hyatt House rooms are exactly alike.
aa223cbaa1e1

Restoring the terrazzo floors—covered in thick layers of dirt and debris from decades of neglect—
was deemed another must. But during demolition, the team discovered that the terrazzo did not
exist in all areas as expected. And the client’s goal of softening the hospital corridors into cozier
hotel walkways meant finding a material that wouldn’t damage or detract from the restored
flooring.

KOO team members were swift and decisive with adjustments, adding new tile flooring to some
locations without terrazzo, while finding creative solutions for hallway lighting and electrical wiring.
And to protect the terrazzo floors, the team designed custom antique rug runners, weaving in
ornate motifs from the Beaux Arts building façade.

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 The outcome
Completed in September 2020, the hotels provide a welcome respite for family and friends
visiting loved ones at a nearby revamped hospital. But their impact on the surrounding
neighborhood extends far beyond that, says Walters. “The historic building means a lot to the
community, and many people are thrilled to see it restored and thriving again.”

Source: Project Management Institute

(PMI). (N.D.). Case study: Reimagining a
landmark site. PMI Picks™.
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
page/546723b4-aa44-47a1-bfcc-
aa223cbaa1e1

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 Lean Startup methodology
The Lean Startup method is another approach that’s all about obtaining feedback early. It’s the
approach that popularized the concept of the pivot—a dramatic change in strategy or approach if
feedback shows that what we’re doing isn’t working. Let’s look at the process:

Source: Excellence, I. (2017, May 2). Lean

Startup methodology [infographic]. Disruptor
League.
https://www.disruptorleague.com/blog/2017/
05/02/lean-startup-methodology-infographic/

• Create an idea: The team produces an idea for a solution based on the demands of the
business and other factors.
• Formulate hypotheses: The team takes that idea and defines a brief explanation for the
solution. In short, they’ve formulated the idea for the product in the first stage and
decided what the product should do in this phase.
• Create a minimum viable product (MVP): Having figured out what the product should
do, the team starts to build the most basic version of the product, so they can show it to
people to receive feedback as early as possible.

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 • Test and validate the hypotheses: Once the product is built, the team tests the project
and attempts to validate their hypotheses. This step is all about obtaining feedback.
• Adjust the hypotheses: Based on whatever comes out of the testing phase, the team
adjusts as required.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The one aspect that all of these phases have in common is that they happen fast and are aimed
. . . . . . . . . .
at gaining feedback on early versions of an MVP as soon as possible. Agile approaches have
. . . . . . . . . .
these sorts of demos frequently to generate feedback. Teams learn, develop, and pivot, if
. . . . . . . . . .
necessary, all based on feedback from the emerging product as it evolves.
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 08 Embrace
change

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 Promote a growth
mindset to respond
to change

Section 1 of 3

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 Feedback
Feedback is an important means of promoting a growth mindset.

. . . . . . . . . .
Feedback ideally leads to progressive elaboration, which is defined as a process where the level
. . . . . . . . . .
of detail in the design of a product is increased as more accurate information becomes available.
. . . . . . . . . .
In other words, the more information you find out, the better you can make the product.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Feedback of any kind helps the team search for a better product. The more users can interact
. . . . . . . . . .
with the product, the better feedback they give. While some things become apparent in testing,
. . . . . . . . . .
there are some issues that a product generates that only appear with use. For example, some
. . . . . . . . . .
user experience-related items may only become apparent through usage by the end user.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
For this reason, demos and feedback loops come into play. Sometimes, in a demo, a stakeholder
. . . . . . . . . .
sees (or doesn’t see) something in what you present to them and offers that information. Taking
. . . . . . . . . .
this feedback and acting upon it not only improves the product; it also makes the team more
. . . . . . . . . .
responsive and shows that the team is open to, and acts upon, customer feedback.
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. . . . . . . . . .

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 Start with an agile mindset
Managing an agile project requires that the team adopt an agile mindset. But how do you do that?
Use the following questions to develop your implementation strategy:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
• How can the team act in an agile manner?
. . . . . . . . . .
• What can the team deliver quickly and obtain feedback on early to benefit the next
. . . . . . . . . .
delivery cycle?
. . . . . . . . . .
• How can the team act transparently? Welcome changing requirements, even late in
. . . . . . . . . .
development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
. . . . . . . . . .
• What work can be avoided to focus on high-priority items?
. . . . . . . . . .
• How can a servant leadership approach benefit the achievement of the team’s goals?
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
On some level, each of these questions can be responded to in the following ways: Agile teams
. . . . . . . . . .
pivot when necessary instead of following a plan. In addition, they should also welcome changing
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s
. . . . . . . . . .
competitive advantage.
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. . . . . . . . . .

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 Servant leadership
Agile approaches emphasize servant leadership to empower teams. Servant leadership is the
practice of leading through service to the team, by focusing on understanding and addressing the
. . . . . . . . . .
requirements and developing team members to enable the highest possible team performance.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The role of a servant lead is to facilitate the team’s discovery and definition of agile. Servant leads
. . . . . . . . . .
approach project work in this order:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Purpose
. . . . . . . . . .
Work with the team to define the “why” of the work so the team can coalesce around the goal and
. . . . . . . . . .
optimize at the project level.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . People
. . . . . . . . . . Once the purpose is established, encourage the team to create an environment where everyone

. . . . . . . . . . can succeed. Ask each team member to contribute across the project work. Part of the way a

. . . . . . . . . . servant lead approaches the people in the work is by shielding the team from interruptions and

. . . . . . . . . . clearing out any impediments. This allows the team members to more effectively contribute.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Process
. . . . . . . . . . Don’t plan on following the “perfect" agile process, but instead look for the results. It doesn’t
. . . . . . . . . . matter what the team calls its process.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Servant leadership characteristics
The following characteristics of servant leadership enable project leads to become more agile and
facilitate the team’s success:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
• promoting self-awareness
. . . . . . . . . .
• listening
. . . . . . . . . .
• serving those on the team
. . . . . . . . . .
• helping people grow
. . . . . . . . . .
• coaching versus controlling
. . . . . . . . . .
• promoting safety, respect, and trust
. . . . . . . . . .
• promoting the energy and intelligence of others
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Servant leadership isn’t unique to agile but integrates very well into the agile mindset. When
. . . . . . . . . .
leads develop their servant leadership or facilitative skills, they’re more likely to become agile,
. . . . . . . . . .
which helps their teams collaborate to deliver value faster.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Successful agile teams embrace the growth mindset, where people believe they can learn new
. . . . . . . . . .
skills. When the team and the servant leads believe they can all learn, everyone becomes more
. . . . . . . . . .
capable.
. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Key responsibilities of servant leads on agile projects
What are some of the most important things a servant lead should do
when managing an agile project? They should strive to educate
stakeholders about “why agile,” support and advocate for the team,
celebrate successes and more.

Servant leads:

Facilitate
• Encourage and applaud healthy discourse that focuses on solving technical or process
challenges and helping the team—without being directive when conflict is unproductive.
Source: Martin, D. (N.D.). Key
responsibilities of servant leaders on agile • Support the team during an event, such as a retrospective or review, without imposing
projects. PMIstandards+®. their views, opinions, or beliefs on the proceedings.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI32/1
• Help the team through conflicts—without directing the outcome.
dad2717-4102-47c9-82b5-a68b0396e6b6

Remove organizational impediments

• Enable the team to discover what issues are true impediments, rather than just
symptoms.
• Take ownership for the impediments which cannot be resolved by the team and escalate
them as required.
• Coach stakeholders outside of the team to help the team self-organize and/or cultivate a
level of psychological safety.

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 Encourage team contributions
• Identify quieter participants during a team event and help them find their voice without
being directive.
• Utilize techniques such as the wideband Delphi method to help team members provide
feedback without introducing bias from their peers.
• Encourage team members to leverage each other’s strengths by asking for and providing
help when faced with a blocker, or when a work item is falling behind.

Source: Martin, D. (N.D.). Key

responsibilities of servant leaders on agile
projects. PMIstandards+®.
https://standardsplus.pmi.org/posts/AGI32/1
dad2717-4102-47c9-82b5-a68b0396e6b6

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 What is servant leadership?

By developing and rewarding the practice of servant

leadership, an organization goes a long way toward
creating a positive, productive work environment that
inspires teams.

Paul was 24 years old. He was shy and the youngest member of his work group. During lunch
with his coworkers, the conversation turned to the recent promotion of his current supervisor,
Charles. They speculated about who would replace him. There was a major concern that a
coworker, Terry, was lobbying hard for the position. Terry got along with no one. He was hoping to

Source: Project Management Institute (PMI)

land the job “So people will do what I want them to do.”
(N.D.). What Is servant leadership? PMI
Picks™. While the group was lamenting that possibility, Paul asked why no one there was vying for the
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
position. One by one, they all had their reasons why they didn’t want it. Paul shook his head and
page/103f9fd0-cfd7-493a-a7f9-
c410fc98b708
said, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

Two weeks later, much to his surprise, Paul was called into Charles’ office and offered the job. He
was shocked. While most of the group was under 30, one member was in his mid-40s. Paul
thought, “I can’t tell my dad what to do.”

After sleeping on the offer overnight, Paul accepted, on the condition they train him to be a lead.
Charles agreed. Paul aggressively sought training at work. He also read voraciously about
leadership. Paul learned that leadership was not about telling people what to do. He learned to be
a lead who shares power, puts the requirements of others first, and helps people develop and

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 perform at the highest level possible. He later heard these principles described with the term
“servant leadership.”
Here are seven attributes of servant leads, and why they are important:
1. They sell, they don’t tell. The servant lead persuades others with inspiration, not force.
The phrase “Because I’m the boss” never leaves their lips. That approach may achieve
what you want in the short term, but it won’t inspire others. A title doesn’t make you a
lead. The ability to have an impact, to influence, and to inspire does.
2. They value diverse opinions. The servant lead listens to others. They recognize that
everyone has something unique to offer. They want to hear different points of view. They
believe in the old expression, “Everyone is an expert within 5 feet of their workstation.” In
meetings, they solicit input from the more reserved team members, who are often
Source: Project Management Institute (PMI) silenced by the more outgoing team members.
(N.D.). What Is servant leadership? PMI 3. They are humble. Servant leads understand the importance of being humble and grateful.
Picks™.
They know that without everyone’s effort, they simply won’t succeed. They make sure
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
they consistently thank their team members, individually and collectively. A servant lead
page/103f9fd0-cfd7-493a-a7f9-
c410fc98b708 makes a conscious effort to walk around and catch people doing things right.
4. They create a culture of trust. Servant leads keep their word. They do what they say they
will do, and they’re dedicated to doing the right thing. When the team fails, they accept
the blame. When the team succeeds, they focus the credit on the team. They feel the
tension between the requirements of the bigger organization and the requirements of the
team and they seek balanced solutions. When decisions flow down from higher
authorities that may not make sense to the team, they explain the politics and the big
picture. They don’t expect blind obedience.
5. They see themselves as part of the team. The servant lead knows their team is their most
important asset. The team helps them succeed. When the situation dictates, they roll up
their sleeves and help finish the job. If some of the team is working on the weekend to
maintain a schedule, they show up to support the team.

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 6. They develop other leads. The servant lead doesn’t hoard knowledge in fear that they
might be replaced. They know the best way to lead is to create other leads. They don’t
want to be the bottleneck to the team’s success. They allow their team members to
present to senior leadership, to give them exposure.
7. They think long term. Servant leads focus on both the immediate task at hand and the
important but not urgent activities required for a healthy organization. They spend a great
deal of their time sharing what they learn and helping others through things like career
counseling, suggesting contacts, and recommending new ways of doing things.

Paul inspired loyalty from the people he led. He mentored many employees that were his direct
reports. Employees from other organizations were referred to him.

One time, Paul’s project team was given the challenge to accelerate a prototype product delivery.
Source: Project Management Institute (PMI) Paul did not immediately commit his team to do the impossible. He presented the challenge to the
(N.D.). What Is servant leadership? PMI team and the team concluded it could, with a lot of overtime, meet the delivery. But the
Picks™.
documentation would take 1 more week. Paul reported this to his manager, Bob, who agreed with
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
page/103f9fd0-cfd7-493a-a7f9-
this approach.
c410fc98b708

While the team was celebrating the extended delivery date, Bob showed up and announced that
they had to complete the documentation in 2 days instead. Paul was furious about the bait and
switch. When Bob left, Paul told his team not to kill themselves to meet the accelerated deadline.
They had already gone above and beyond. He said he would take the blame.

The next morning, he received an email from the head of his team. “We’re going to meet the new
deadline. We are not doing it for Bob—we are doing it for you.” Paul reluctantly let them push to
meet the new deadline. As bad as he felt about Bob’s behavior, he felt good about his relationship
with his team.

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 At the end of the day, we all want to succeed and be recognized. Being a servant lead is a great
way to work toward creating a positive and productive workplace.

Source: Project Management Institute (PMI)

(N.D.). What Is servant leadership? PMI
Picks™.
https://pmipicks.pmi.org/content-
page/103f9fd0-cfd7-493a-a7f9-
c410fc98b708

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 Respond to changing
requirements
and priorities

Section 2 of 3

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 Principles 2, 3, and 4 of the Agile Manifesto
When it comes to managing changing requirements and priorities, the second, third, and fourth
agile principles provide clear directions. Let’s look at them one by one:
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The second principle states, “Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile
. . . . . . . . . .
processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.“ Changes can be
. . . . . . . . . .
disruptive, but they can also be valuable. Changes allow teams to incorporate high-value features
. . . . . . . . . .
late in development. But quite often, changes just aren’t welcome. They’re viewed as scope
. . . . . . . . . .
creep, something that derails the overall project plan, or just unnecessary rework. Traditional and
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nonagile projects have very strict change control procedures. Only critical changes make it to the
. . . . . . . . . .
product. But often, software requires swift updates to stay relevant. An environment that restricts
. . . . . . . . . .
such changes would harm the business. To help teams quickly add and prioritize changes, agile
. . . . . . . . . .
practices recommend using a lightweight, high-visibility approach. A product backlog is a great
. . . . . . . . . .
example. It lists all of the work to be done, allows for new changes to be added, and helps the
. . . . . . . . . .
team prioritize the most important tasks.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
The third agile principle states, "Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a
. . . . . . . . . .
couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale." It’s very natural for people to share
. . . . . . . . . .
their work with others only after they feel it’s in good shape. But gaining early and frequent
. . . . . . . . . .
feedback on a work-in-progress version of the product is better than waiting to complete the
. . . . . . . . . .
product, only to realize that it’s not what the customer wants. Software developers use continuous
. . . . . . . . . .
integration tools to provide feedback on any new code that might affect the build. The product is
. . . . . . . . . .
also deployed to a test environment to obtain feedback from the quality assurance team and
. . . . . . . . . .
stakeholders. Delivering a product frequently also keeps stakeholders engaged. Customers can
. . . . . . . . . .
also use these demos to share new requirements or update priorities. The product owner can use
. . . . . . . . . .
both feedback and the requirement updates to help them prioritize the backlog.

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 The fourth agile principle states, “Businesspeople and developers should work together daily
throughout the project.” Business representatives and developers work together throughout the
development process, discussing requirements and demos. Though it might not always be
practical, teams should try to engage with the customer daily. Working with business
. . . . . . . . . .
representatives daily can ensure the team understands the requirements well. The team’s deep
. . . . . . . . . .
understanding can prompt them to suggest better solutions to any requests or feature updates. In
. . . . . . . . . .
turn, business representatives learn to understand the time and effort involved in developing the
. . . . . . . . . .
features. They can use this information to fine-tune their requests in the future.
. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Prioritization methods
MoSCoW
Risks are categorized into four groups: Must have, should have, could have, and won't have
. . . . . . . . . .
(MoSCoW). This helps the team prioritize tasks and risk responses based on their urgency and
. . . . . . . . . .
importance.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Kano model
. . . . . . . . . . This technique categorizes backlog items into three groups: must haves, performance attributes,

. . . . . . . . . . and delighters. This helps the team prioritize the backlog based on how it impacts customer

. . . . . . . . . . satisfaction.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Value versus effort
. . . . . . . . . . Backlog items are categorized in three groups: must haves, performance attributes, and
. . . . . . . . . . delighters. This helps the team prioritize the backlog based on how it impacts customer
. . . . . . . . . . satisfaction.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Weighted shortest job first (WSJF)
. . . . . . . . . . This technique helps the team calculate the relative value, time criticality, opportunity enablement
. . . . . . . . . . or risk reduction, and job size of each backlog item. The items are then prioritized based on their
. . . . . . . . . . weighted shortest job first (WSJF) score.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Prioritizing the backlog
Agile projects embrace change. But all projects should adhere to their assigned timeline and
budget. This is where a prioritized list of work items called a backlog comes in. It lists all tasks in
. . . . . . . . . .
the order of the highest business value. If a customer requests a new feature, then that feature is
. . . . . . . . . .
added to the backlog, and it pushes the lowest priority task on the list beyond the cutoff point.
. . . . . . . . . .
This cutoff point could be either the deadline to deliver the final product or the cost of developing
. . . . . . . . . .
it.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Because the backlog lists all of the tasks based on their priorities, it’s easy for the product owner
. . . . . . . . . .
to see which tasks the team should work on and which of them should be deferred in the interests
. . . . . . . . . .
of time and money. If these tasks were instead categorized and listed separately, the team would
. . . . . . . . . .
miss out on this bird’s-eye view of the overall work to be done. For example, teams that are new
. . . . . . . . . .
to agile tend to list coding bug fixes and updates in separate work buckets. So, while the tasks in
. . . . . . . . . .
each bucket are prioritized, the team could feel overwhelmed trying to complete all of the priority
. . . . . . . . . .
tasks in both categories. Instead, if the tasks are all on a single list, the team could clearly see
. . . . . . . . . .
where they stand and what trade-offs they would have to make to meet the constraints.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
There are different methods to prioritize tasks in a backlog, such as MoSCoW, the Kano model,
. . . . . . . . . .
value versus effort, and WSJF. No matter which technique you use, you should prioritize the
. . . . . . . . . .
features, change requests, and coding bug fixes in relation to each other on a single list and not
. . . . . . . . . .
on separate lists.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Along with setting the team’s priorities, a product backlog helps a team manage iterations and
. . . . . . . . . .
releases. It also helps the team balance change requests and risk responses with feature
. . . . . . . . . .
development. The backlog is an effective and transparent way to collaborate with team members
. . . . . . . . . .
and communicate the project’s scope and status with stakeholders.

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 Money for nothing, change for free
Jeff Sutherland has put forward an interesting approach called “Money for nothing and your
change for free.” This approach recommends using a fixed-price contract with a “change-for-free”
clause. The fixed price includes time and resources for additional work.

The “money for nothing” clause is valid only if the customer is deeply engaged in the project. It
allows customers to terminate the project earlier than planned when they feel that the features
still left in the backlog don’t have enough ROI and can’t justify the need for further iterations. For
example, the supplier may allow the customer to terminate, or consider the project finished, after
it has reached 80% of the contracted value. Some of the benefits of terminating a project earlier
than planned are that the product reaches the market earlier; it doesn’t have unnecessary
Source: Sutherland, J. (2008, October 25).
features; and it’s lightweight, which can mean better performance. A lightweight product also
Agile contracts: Money for nothing and your
change for free. Scrum Inc. means that it would be cheaper to support and maintain as well as easier to learn compared to a
https://www.scruminc.com/agile-contracts- product with many features.
money-for-nothing-and/

Customers can use the “change-for-free” clause only if they work closely with the team during
each iteration. Failing to do so would nullify the clause, retaining only the fixed-price terms. But
what happens when the customer remains engaged throughout the project? How does the clause
work? The clause lets the product owner reprioritize the backlog at the end of an iteration at no
extra cost, if the total amount of contracted work remains the same. What’s great about this
option is that customers can replace lower priority items with features that have a higher business
value but require the same amount of time and effort.

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 Backlog refinement
Meeting the customer’s requirements and changing priorities is one of the basic tenets of agile. A
product backlog is one such tool that helps a team achieve this. The backlog is constantly
. . . . . . . . . .
evolving and should reflect the latest requirements and information all throughout the project. The
. . . . . . . . . .
process of updating the backlog and prioritizing its tasks is referred to as backlog refinement.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
As the backlog is refined, it should progressively include more detail, adjust priorities and
. . . . . . . . . .
estimates of existing tasks or items, add new items, and remove items that are no longer
. . . . . . . . . .
important.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Changes to the backlog include: new stories that should be added, removal or reprioritization of
. . . . . . . . . .
existing stories, and resizing or slicing stories into smaller chunks. The customer or value
. . . . . . . . . .
management team decides to add or remove user stories or reprioritize them. These decisions
. . . . . . . . . .
might be based on user feedback, changing business requirements, or testing outcomes. The
. . . . . . . . . .
development team typically decides whether to resize or slice stories into manageable chunks.
. . . . . . . . . .
But they never decide if user stories are to be added or reprioritized. That decision always rests
. . . . . . . . . .
with the customer or value management team to ensure customers receive the highest value.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 Encourage and
model T-shaped
skills

Section 3 of 3

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 Specialists
Agile teams are cross-functional, but the people often don’t start that way. Many successful agile
teams are made up of generalizing specialists, or “T-shaped" people.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
This means team members have both a focus specialty and a breadth of experience across
. . . . . . . . . .
multiple skills rather than a single specialization. Agile team members work to develop such
. . . . . . . . . .
characteristics due to intense collaboration and self-organization to swarm and finish work
. . . . . . . . . .
quickly. This requires them to routinely help each other.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
A single person’s throughput isn’t relevant. Focusing on such may even be harmful if it creates a
. . . . . . . . . .
bottleneck for the rest of the team. The goal is for the team to optimize the delivery of finished
. . . . . . . . . .
work to attain feedback.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
If the customer desires great results, the team can’t be structured just with specialist roles to
. . . . . . . . . .
maximize resource efficiency. The team’s objective is efficiency, optimizing the throughput of the
. . . . . . . . . .
entire team.
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. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
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. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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 T-shaped people
This graphic represents one of the members of your team. If the person were an I-shaped person,
maybe they would only be good at, say, quality assurance.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
But the person in the image is a T-shaped person. They’re a specialist in development but also
. . . . . . . . . .
complete work in analysis and quality assurance. As a result, they can provide more value for the
. . . . . . . . . .
team. If you have a team of three I-
. . . . . . . . . .
shaped people, each of them would
. . . . . . . . . .
specialize in one of the roles listed. If
. . . . . . . . . .
the team is T-shaped, the three would
. . . . . . . . . .
each specialize in one of the fields
. . . . . . . . . .
listed but also be able to assist with
. . . . . . . . . .
the other two.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Which team do you think is more
. . . . . . . . . .
valuable? That’s easy—it’s the T-
. . . . . . . . . .
shaped team, because such a team
. . . . . . . . . .
has more value and (arguably) may
. . . . . . . . . .
complete the work faster.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

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