I have a simple idea that I believe will facilitate greater self-organization within teams: Frame the work of the team in terms of activities rather than individual roles. By focusing on activities rather than roles, it becomes more obvious how team members can contribute to the success of their team thus facilitating greater self-organization within their team. When teams focus on roles they inherently and unconsciously limit tasks to specific people whereas focusing on activity opens that task up to any team member who has some ability to contribute to the completion of that task.

Some thoughts on my journey through the Superheroes Academy CTC/CEC Mentoring Program.

The Scrum Guide tells us: “The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team.” When discussing the characteristics of an excellent Scrum Master, we invariably include the idea that being a servant leader is one of the most important (and most often mentioned) characteristics that a person needs to embody if they are to excel in the role of Scrum Master. While generally accepted to be true, it’s not always clear what being a servant leader looks like for Scrum Masters. Who makes the best servant leaders and, therefore, Scrum Masters? What does it look like for a Scrum Master to truly embrace servant leadership?

In addition to working agreements, teams often benefit from having a set of shared values and a Definition of Done (DoD). It’s best if teams create these right from the start of their time together, but team values and a DoD can be created at any time. I use the following techniques when helping teams form, to engage them in a collaborative and creative process that sets them up for success - where the team truly owns the results.

When it comes to developing a coaching mindset we often think about what we do as coaches. While doing is important, it does not represent who we are as coaches. Our mindset becomes visible in what we do and how we approach coaching situations, however, our mindset exists more in who we are as coaches.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times…or so goes the famous Charles Dickens’ opening. Working with teams can feel the same way. It has moments of highs as we achieve together more than we could ever dream of achieving on our own, but also low points when we struggle as dysfunction emerges. Successfully working in teams means being able to successfully deal with dysfunction.

Recently, I had the opportunity to be part of a high-performing team, which is not something I get to do very often as an agile coach. I often work with teams, but this experience reminded me that I’m rarely on a team.