What makes the difference between a good agile team and a great agile one?
This question has been at the minds of leaders in the software industry for years. It is well recognised that building high performing teams have always required careful consideration and it is no different when building agile teams.
While technical skills are 50% of the equation when considering team selection, of equal importance is the personalities in the team and how these individuals interact with each other and any prospective new member. The best agile teams are able to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of their members and make effective decisions to deliver stories as a team instead of the completion of individual tasks.
When you are going through the hiring process what techniques do you use to reduce your natural bias to hire people that are similar to you? Or people that fit the technical expertise, and that you feel that you can get on with?
There is a natural tendency to choose new team members based on technical expertise and whether the team ‘likes’ them?
While this method will certainly provide happy teams, it may not deliver productive teams.
Here at Stratigence, we have been looking at a number of psychometric tools to boost a teams understanding of their potential new hire’s behavioural tendencies and also gauge what ‘type’ of person they need to help make an agile team great.
We have settled on Belbin as our tool of choice and would be happy to have a chat about how this suite can help you better understand your existing team members, aid communication and improve your chances of building great agile teams.
Belbin helps you understand individuals preferred behavioural tendencies, giving them a better understanding of where they naturally fit within a team while also providing the team a better understand of how the individual can best add value. Having an overall picture of a team’s DNA provides you with the best opportunity to identify what is missing and where you are best able to hire the right person to make your agile team great.
Any questions? We’d love to chat.
