Cheat-Sheet for Developing Teams

Developing Teams does usually not require a great knowledge about Scrum, Project Management or Processes in general. Required are skills that are hardly ever mentioned. The good news is, you can condense those skills into a small cheat sheet. Still the hard part is applying those skills. But knowing about them is the first step.

Negotiation

Negotiations are constantly taking place in teams. Every difference of opinion, technology decision or prioritization of user stories is a negotiation. Note:

• Separate people and their interests
  (don’t take it personally that people want something different from you)
• Focus on interests and not on positions (not “I don’t want to pay more than 100,000”, but “I want to be able to finance it without any problems”)
• Creatively generate options
  (create win-win situations by inventing new possibilities)
• Demand objective criteria
  (do not judge according to sensitivities)

Learning

Learning new technologies, but also better social behaviors or new processes, is constantly necessary in teams. Pay attention when learning:

• Learning takes place through continuous practice, not through one-off listening.
• Practicing is only effective if it challenges you.
• For meaningful practice, you need immediate and good feedback.
• Stubborn repetition is useless. It is important to refine, optimize and reflect on what you have learned.
• Don’t just reproduce what you have learned, but really understand and grasp it:
  Build mental models.

Convincing

Changes in the team usually lead to resistance. To overcome this, you first need to understand what it is about:

• Reactance: General allergy to change → Allowing autonomy; invite instead of prescribe
• Habit: Old patterns are too strong → Train new habits (see Habits)
• Distance: New paths are too novel → take smaller steps
• Uncertainty: Unclear outcome → Try out instead of committing; develop exit strategies
• Evidence: Lack of credibility → Research or lead by example

Habits

High performance in teams is achieved through good habits (e.g. self-review before committing, updating tickets before clocking out, feedback from the customer after deployment, …). Please note:

• Attach new habits to old ones.
• Make good habits as easy as possible.
• Make bad habits as difficult as possible.
• Combine good habits with pleasure.
• Establish automatic reminders for good habits.
• Make good habits a social experience.

Responsibility

Every team member can take responsibility in any unpleasant situation, even if it is not their fault. Responsibility only means “responding” effectively. Try to get to the top level (see also “The Responsibility Process” by Christopher Avery):

• Responsibility: I try to actively shape the situation.
• Obligation: I feel compelled to solve the problem.
• Shame: I feel guilty for the problem.
• Justify: I blame the circumstances.
• Blame: I blame someone else.
• Ignore: I ignore the issue. It problably escalates some time in the future.
• Exit: I leave the situation. The issue remains unresolved, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.

Recognizing lies

In most teams, people lie (exaggerate efforts, downplay skills, cover up mistakes, …). You should watch out for these behaviours:

• Conspicuous changes in behavior.
• Inappropriate smiles.
• Unexpectedly sad face.
• Unusually anxious behavior.
• One-sided smile or “smirk” (= contempt).
• Unusually long pauses before answering.
• Unnecessary repetition of questions.
• Affirmative formulations.

Feedback

Feedback is essential for good teams. People who cannot give or receive feedback destroy the team culture. Taking feedback is more important. Keep this in mind:

• You’re not perfect and that’s okay.
• You may have a blind spot. If the feedback sounds implausible, there is something to learn.
• Your current self may have made a mistake, tomorrow’s self may already be better.
• Don’t look for the mistakes in the feedback, look for the truths.
• If you really want to improve, you also need negative feedback.
• Separate the person from the content.

Inspire

A message that sticks with people is

• simple,
• surprising (or unconventional)
• credible
• concrete and
• packaged in a story
• that appeals to the emotions.

Good stories consist of a protagonist, an obstacle and a solution.

Courage

To be successful, you have to take risks and allow uncertainty. There are no successes to be found in explored areas. To be courageous, you have to

• actively seek out risks and opportunities instead of just accepting them or hedging your bets.
• Lean into the fear instead of avoiding it. What scares you the most is what you should focus on the most.
• Be able to make decisions even without complete data.

Courageous people are not those who are not afraid, but those who act despite their fear.

Greatness

To become great, you have to actively work on it:

• What do great people, teams, organizations do?
• What can you copy from them?
• Vary and try things out instead of always following well-trodden paths.
• Take time to develop ideas.
• Many successful people simply produce an insane amount of new things. The large quantity inevitably leads to a few lucky hits.