There are a few questions I get asked in convoluted form. This is one of them. In this safe haven I’ll try to explain what an agile software team is in the most straightforward way I can. Aiming this at customers, clients and interested parties not industry experts is the purpose.
Despite the rhetoric and industry hype, truly agile software teams are rare. A team with a task board and a daily stand-up isn’t necessarily agile (or Lean, or doing Scrum, or whatever). Being agile is emergent. By behaving in particular ways and doing particular things agility comes to a team. The business benefit will also emerge. If everyone in the business thinks and acts in lean and agile ways it will emerge more. Agile teams respond to the business very quickly. They organise themselves to do so. That’s why they are so effective.
A twitchers guide to spotting an agile software team would say something like:
Good agile team members have traits that compliment traditional software development skills. You might spot them:
When a software team looks at reducing their overheads they start to question established practice. Without a safe working environment the courage to question and make changes will be absent. Safety comes from trust and respect. Trust and respect emerge from a willingness to take responsibility and support colleagues. Supporting colleagues, working lean and exploring new ideas requires T-shaped people with knowledge and experience of current agile practice. Everything depends on courageous, knowledgeable leadership. With the right leadership the rewards are rich.
Solomon Hykes is probably most famous for being the founder and former CTO of Docker. Docker revolutionised the way we package, run and distribute server applications, so when Hykes starts a new venture, it's worth checking out.
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