Classic situation that tests our agile thinking… Team
Neptune and Team Saturn are two mature agile teams. Team Neptune has a sizable
chunk of upcoming work that centres around “System/Framework/Technology X” for
which, one particular member of Team Saturn is the expert. The involvement of
this expert will be crucial to the success of Team Neptune’s work. The
challenge comes in how we can achieve the chunk of work without damaging /
disrupting one or both teams.
“System/Framework/Technology X” It could be an ancient
system that the expert helped to design and build with everyone else who worked
on it now departed from the company. It could be a framework that the expert
has deep experience in, etc, etc.
Generally what I see is that the expert is not needed for
all of the work, however there is a central and crucial piece of work that they
need to be involved in. You can see that in the diagrams below as the gray
square “crucial piece” within the blue chunk of work.
I have seen three approaches used to handle this situation:
Approach A. For the duration of the chunk of work, the
expert becomes a temporary member of Team Neptune and takes a leading hand in
the work. They leave Team Saturn for the duration, attending none of their
ceremonies.
Approach B. For the duration of the chunk of work, the
expert takes a leading hand in the work; attending both teams ceremonies for
the duration of the chunk of work. The expert remains a permanent member of
Team Saturn. With a foot in both teams the expert is able to progress the work
of both teams, with a focus on the Team Neptune work.
Approach C. Part of the work is allocated to Team Saturn who
completes the work and hands it back to Team Neptune. The expert remains a
permanent member of Team Saturn. Team Saturn also takes on a piece of work to provide
knowledge transfer / training to Team Neptune. The expert attends design /
planning ceremonies for Team Neptune and all of his Team Saturn ceremonies.
All three approaches involve sharing, helping each other,
cross skilling and a big effort from the expert. Approach C has regularly proven
to be the best approach when this situation has arisen. The reasons I believe
delivers a good result are:
- Both teams remain unchanged in regards to people; keeping their sense of team.
- Clear focus for both teams, and especially for the expert.
- No duplication of ceremonies eating into the experts’ time.
- Keeps management mindset on split up the work to match the teams; i.e. promoting Stable teams.
- Improved opportunities for members of Team Saturn to contribute to the work, hence improving the cross skilling.
How have you handled similar situations? What worked well
for you?