“If you don’t have great teams, you’ll never have great ARTs” - Mark Richards

Mark Richards, Ali Hajou, and Niko Kaintantzis join Stephan Neck in the second ‘reprise’ episode after the initial reprise of SPC’s Unleashed with Lean Thinking People and Agile Teams from the Organizational Agility competency - we proceeded with the Dimension of Agile Teams in the Team and Technical Agility competency.

We start by sharing our passion, followed by a deep dive into agile practices to foster the right attitude using Scrum, Kanban, or a hybrid as the team’s core method. Mark reminds us about the giants whose shoulders SAFe’s team stands atop.

Next, we reflect on how “Legends are not made but emerge” by discussing finding the right Scrum Master/Team Coach, as they have a crucial role. We agree that naming or choosing them based on certification isn’t enough. Once you find them, you have to mentor and grow them.

The third topic includes “GOAT Teams”: Team Topologies opened up a fruitful discussion about team collaboration rather than “categorization” and avoiding the binary “Feature teams good, Component teams bad” trap.

Our final topic was the team responsibility wheel with the five focus areas. Our conclusion was that delivering value is the ultimate goal, and all other responsibilities lead to it.

Cast:
Stephan Neck (Moderator)

Niko Kaintantzis

Ali Hajou

Mark Richards

Links:

Team Topologies - Skelton and Pais