Getting started with agile work - Agile Explorers
At first glance, the agile world can seem very overwhelming. You can hear Kanban, Scrum & Co. and ask yourself the question: How does it all fit together and what can I start with? In this article we want to give you an insight into how agility can be established in everyday life regardless of concrete frameworks like Scrum.
We have summarized the most important success factors for your mission in order to use agility profitably in your team. You should not only know these factors, but it is also best to regularly reflect them together in your team.
Echometer is a software tool to continuously develop as a team based on psychological findings. Our tool supports the moderation of varied retrospectives (What are retrospectives?). In this article we explain the content of one of our team templates.
Conflict & error culture
In order to be able to live agility in everyday work, the corresponding basic conditions must first be created in which agility can thrive. The number one in this regard is psychological safety, Because as many different studies have already shown: Psychological security is THE success factor for teamwork and agility (see Google’s Project Aristotle & Amy Edmondson).
Can everyone in the team express criticism and doubts openly? Do I have to fear negative consequences if I make a mistake? This feeling of security makes it possible to take calculated risks. The important thing is to quickly identify any errors, correct them and learn from them for the future, instead of categorically avoiding or hiding them.
Psychological security means not to insist on perfection with the crowbar, but to create a protected space for development and change so that the agility in it bears rich and fruitful results. So we feel safe, know what everyone is working on, check whether we are still on course and adjust it if necessary, instead of groping in the dark and driving the cart against the wall. The template serves to strengthen your psychological security.
Team communication
Good communication is also a prerequisite for a team to learn from mistakes and continuously optimize its course: Does everyone in the team know what the others are working on?
Communication is often based on “tried and tested” departmental routines and exchange formats. But do they offer enough space for creativity and new things? Communication can only develop its creative effect properly if the necessary prerequisites are created in meetings (such as the necessary energy level).
In combination with a good error culture, a good framework should be created if you share your challenges openly and offer each other help if necessary.
Regular, open and stimulating communication of successes and challenges within a project is a decisive factor for agile work.
Customer proximity & decision making
Of course, good teams are also characterized by good decisions. How do you make decisions? Are your (internal) customers an integral part of your decision-making processes? Do you give everyone the opportunity to influence the decisions that affect them or even to make them themselves? #Selbstbestimmung
The more customer feedback reaches everyone in the team, the more each team member can bring in their perspective and strengths to develop answers to customer problems.
Now make these success factors part of your retros!
We are convinced of the concept of agile working. That is why we have developed a tool that helps you as a team from a psychological perspective to establish a continuous improvement process in the team by reflecting on the factors described above.
Just give it a try and be surprised how psychology can advance your team!
