Using Ground Rules to Improve Engagement and Run Excellent Team Meetings

Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day. As they further review the list, team members may notice apparent contradictions among norms. For example, in a team that had set norms for a major project, one person said that when he appeared upset, he wanted others to be forthcoming and offer help. Upon hearing this, another person quickly responded that when she was upset, she preferred to be left alone, and if she needed help, she’d ask for it.

A great facilitator can assess this decision sometime later. Also, facilitation saves time and creates a positive atmosphere in the group. Every person listens to each other, all thoughts are important, people help other members of this group.

How the 12 principles in the Agile Manifesto work in real life

However, the facilitator must implement the Agile facilitation in the right manner. Only the facilitator of the Agile team can fulfill the requirements of present Project Managers and other members of the team. The facilitators have been trained to run meetings effectively to produce better results in the very end. Therefore, if you want to become a good facilitator of Agile, you should pursue an Agile facilitation course so that you can be equipped with potential Agile skills and abilities.

agile team facilitation basic rules

ART Planning – PI Planning is the event where each Agile Team gains alignment with the rest of the train and creates their backlog for the upcoming PI. PI Planning provides the larger, system view that is necessary to achieve a shared goal. As a result of PI Planning, the team creates a set of PI Objectives and a story-level outline of the planned progression of their work across iterations. However, the work of some teams is better suited to respond to frequent and less plannable events.

Who benefits from this certification?

The five guiding principles of The Agile Team Facilitation Stance form the foundation upon what we believe about groups and teams and how those beliefs might show up in the room. Several start ups and technology companies have prominent Meeting Rules posters in their conference rooms to both remind their employees and impress outsiders with their professionalism. Quickly check in with everyone and refresh the group on the purpose for this meeting. Then, discuss what people found during their preparatory research for the meeting.

  • Let us check out the other facts of Agile facilitation in detail below.
  • It will also build confidence in the industry around the future profession of any job roles that involve the use of agile coaching skills.
  • The Art & Science of Facilitation is your guide to moving your team further forward using the groundbreaking Five Guiding Principles of the Facilitation Stance.
  • An Agile team facilitator should have a good understanding of Agile principles and practices, as well as a solid understanding of team dynamics and how to create a positive and productive team environment.
  • But the very process of having agreed to abide by them enables team members to remind each other of the behavior they’d like to strive towards.

If you’re looking for ways to become a more effective leader, consider leading with a coaching mindset. Coaching is about helping people achieve their goals and reach their full potential. Leading with a coaching mindset can inspire and motivate your team to achieve… As a part of this effort, a team must be able to define, build, and test their stories. Many teams can also directly deploy new functionality into production or release them directly to the customer. This is the core process that takes place in the Development Value Stream to which the team contributes.

Each guiding principle offers its own complex, rich lessons and dynamics. In future posts, we’ll take deeper dives into these complexities with specific examples of each principle in action. We’ll show what they are in action…and what they aren’t too. The term “storm” can look, feel and behave differently in each team. This is about seeking out and really listening to differing stances, perspectives, options, solutions, and paths.

Posting the finalized list of norms in project work areas creates a handy reminder as the project proceeds. Of course, even with the norms readily visible, people sometimes forget or unintentionally violate them. But the very process of having agreed to abide by them enables team members to remind each other of the behavior they’d like to strive towards. Out of such efforts, trust grows and the team strengthens.

Facilitation in Agile: What It Is, How It Works, and Why You Need It

Here are some sample ground rules that we’ve used to reinforce those behaviors the research indicates contribute most directly to meeting quality. You can find many other examples online and linked in the resources below. Ground rules detail the code of conduct for a meeting and the team, explaining the behavior that’s expected of all participants. Team ground rules should be created and agreed to by everyone in the team together, because groups more easily accept and abide by rules they’ve set themselves.

Once again, we are looking at a very uncertain and unsettling future. But it comes on the back of the global COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented public health crisis and its implications. Improve some things immediately – Some problems should be addressed as they occur, without waiting for the next improvement event. Addressing issues as they emerge is an integral part of a culture of continuous improvement. SAFe provides a comprehensive approach for measuring competency, flow, and outcomes, the three primary measures that predict business results .

agile team facilitation basic rules

The blue lines represent Scrum, which is the most popular agile framework. By engaging with stakeholders more frequently, agile teams provide greater visibility into product delivery. Whereas traditional teams rely upon infrequent progress or status reports to provide visibility, Scrum teams rely upon frequent inspection of Done, usable work at the Sprint Review. To me, this principle generates the most noticeable changes in the day-to-day experience of an agile team compared to a waterfall or traditional team.

You should praise them well and often thereby encourage them to work more actively on the project. Workflow Management Use custom statuses and automate your team workflows. Creative & Design Create high-quality assets and get them approved in record time. In practice, this looks like bridging competing ideas, sharing what you see in the process with facts, and without judgment.

What is Facilitation?

Agile leadership should possess the skills to plan and conduct efficient team meetings to make sure that the team is working together with full dedication. The good facilitation abilities of the Agile team facilitator decide the right collaboration between the team to bring value and higher levels of performance to the organization. The Agile team facilitator role is beyond the activities like conducting meetings agile team facilitation basic rules as they have to guide the whole Agile team about the paradigm shifts needed in Agile team environments. It thereby results in self-organization and collaboration. However, all of these facilitation skills cannot be developed alone. Therefore, it is recommended to take an ICP-ATF course to obtain enough skills to plan and conduct collaborative meetings to produce effective results within the company.

agile team facilitation basic rules

This is certainly what happens with me and my middle child. He’s at that age where he doesn’t talk to his parents much, so I find myself just jabbering on to fill the vacuum. Ground rules give everyone a chance to manage Fred-including Fred! When you work with your team to establish an expectation that everyone in meetings will keep their comments brief and relevant, you can all hold each other to it.

Agile Team Facilitation

Each person in turn describes a norm that the facilitator posts on a flip chart, going around the circle until no one has any others to suggest. This method works well when team members already know each other and feel comfortable voicing their views. Team norms concern how team members will interact, communicate, and conduct themselves as members of the team. Norms express intentions; they help team members agree on how they’d like to get along before situations emerge that might otherwise prevent them from getting along.

Agile Alliance Resources

Several registrants asked about how to deal with the person who won’t stop talking,making it hard for anyone else to get a word in. Several others asked about how to get people to show up on time, or even to show up at all. The accumulation of technical debt can erode product quality and make frequent, incremental delivery impossible, therefore impacting agility. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. The creation of the Growth Wheel is an interactive process of inspecting and adaptation. We are committed to further developing the Growth Wheel and need your feedback to make the tool better and more usable.

What Is Agile Coaching?

Meeting facilitation techniques are used to help the audience acquire, retain, and apply knowledge and skills. Participants are introduced to content and then ask questions while the facilitator fosters the discussion, takes steps to enhance the experience for the team members, and gives suggestions. The facilitator’s aim is to organize the process and create an environment that helps participants to reach the desired outcome. Since Agile is more about a mindset and change in culture, the Agile Team Facilitation is about bringing in that change. Agile team facilitation is the process of leading and guiding an Agile team to achieve its goals and objectives. It involves creating an environment that supports collaboration, communication, and continuous improvement.

Characteristics of Agile Teams

The desire to do something that has meaning and is important. Businesses that only focus on profits without valuing purpose will end up with poor customer service and unhappy employees. The skills of a good facilitator include maintaining an open mind and not criticizing ideas and suggestions offered by group members. The responsibilities of a facilitator are to understand that conflict among group members is natural and, as long as it’s expressed politely, does not need to be suppressed. Conflict should be expected and dealt with constructively.