AgileDC - Team Culture and Social Contracts

Change is inevitable – let’s exploit it. For Agile/team-based engagements, people learn about their preferred ways of working through a variety of changes: time, team structure, aptitude, experience, and introspection. Many teams use a social contract as an artifact to document a desired set of values, behaviors, and social norms at a project kickoff; but often forget to refine and modernize their social contract through time. Join me to discuss the elements of creating, revisiting, and revising social contracts and the value they provide individuals on a team.

Transcript

1. What do you see? © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 1
2. Building Social Contracts Early, Revisiting Them Often, and Revising When Needed AgileDC 2019 — Elijah Biggs Lean-Agile Consultant, IBM Disclaimer: This presentation is my own and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies, or opinions.
3. • Get to know each other • Discuss my experience • Explain the elements of creating, revisiting, and refining a social contract • Provide the tools, knowledge, and value proposition to invest your organization’s energy and time into social contracts • Have fun Objectives © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 3
4. © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 4 • 4+ years experience in research and federal consulting • 2 years on agile teams • Lives in Washington, DC • UMD Alum – go Terps! • Why I’m here: Build relationships, gain exposure, learn from others Elijah Introductions • Sector (Public, Commercial, etc) • Agile Exposure (SM, PO, Transformation Coach) • What brought you to the conference? • What did you learn from the first session? You - Audience
5. Differing Perspectives (Object) © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 5 A close up of a logo Rabbit & Duck Hare Rabbit Duck
6. Differing Perspectives (Way of Working) © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 6 Iterative Pair Programming Sprint Planning How to do DevOps An approach & a mindset!
7. Differing Perspectives (Ceremony) © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 7 Without PO 9 AM Led by SM 15 minutes maximum With PO
8. The Cycle © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 8
9. Unlocking the Cycle © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 9 Implicit Implicit Social Contract Explicit
10. • What: An artifact to document a teams’ desired set of values, behaviors, and social norms • Who: Can be made by any group of individuals working together, recommended facilitator outside of team • When: On Day 1 and iterated through time • Where: In the team’s collocated area • How: Large notepad on easel, whiteboard wall (physical) or word processing program and printed Basics of a Social Contract © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 10 Got it? We’ll make one!
11. Theory • Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract • Naturalized and Normative Social Contracts • Agile Principle #5: Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. Practice • Managing Personalities • Managing Problems • Creating Policies and Best Practices In Theory and In Practice © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 11
12. Two teams of similar size, work complexity, experience • Different levels of churn – one high, one low • Discussed the root causes of churn with the high turnover team • Belongingness, growth, and recognition • Unwritten social contract changed as: • Team members joined or left • Retrospectives revealed preferences and best practices Scenarios: Forming vs Performing • “To change culture, change the organization” –SAFe House of Lean My Experience © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 12
13. Prework Hold a team building session • Egg Drop • “Yes, And” Improv Exercises Have a facilitator Begin with the end in mind • What does the end of the project look like? • Who outside of the team is involved? Constructing © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 13 • Communications • Meetings • Processes • Expectations • Norms • Ways of Working • Team-specific & location tailored • Compromises • Social Contracts for subsets of the team • Create dependencies • Create static documentation • Let voices not be heard Patterns and Antipatterns
14. • Establish time to revisit the social contract • Publish the social contract in a shared space (physical) and/or digital for distributed teams • Ask the following and more: • How have the ways of working shifted through time? • How are team members interacting with the contract? • What have we learned about our customer and how do our actions and interactions have downstream affects on them? • During retrospectives, what has been learned over the last iteration? Revisiting © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 14
15. Who: • Anyone on the team can signal for an update to the social contract When: • Team members joined or left • Retrospectives revealed preferences and best practices • Issues occur • Contract not being followed How: • Establish during social contract inception (recommend as soon as possible especially with issues or when contract isn’t being followed) Why: • To reach a (new) consensus • Reinforce teamwork and collaboration tactics Revising © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 15
16. Help Us Continuously Improve © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 16 I Like I Wish What If Questions
17. Social Contract: • What is it • How to construct • Why it is valuable • When to revisit and revise Today’s Outcomes © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 17 Many thanks to : • AgileDC • Phillip Manketo • IBM’s Public Service Lean-Agile CoE Email: Elijah.Biggs@ibm.com Twitter: @elipbig LinkedIn
19. Backup Slides © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 19
20. Social Contract © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 20
21. Iceberg © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 21
22. Bad Apple Research © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 22 Will Felp’s study suggests that bad apples spoil the barrel and lead to decreased productivity across a team
23. Yes, And Exercise © 2017 IBM Corporation / IBM Confidential 23 Ideo’s publication with 5 Second City activities here Check out the book here