Agile health barometer
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This document describes how to conduct a team health check based on Spotify's model. It involves discussing 11 topics related to team health using color-coded cards to indicate status. Teams discuss each topic, identify insights, and update a health check matrix. Actions are identified and added to iterations. Conducting regular health checks helps identify areas for improvement and ensures team alignment.
Agile health barometer
- 1. 1 Health Barometer Team Health Check by Amit Khanna, PMI – ACP, PMP, SMC, SPOC, SAMC & SA (SAFe Agilist) PMI Mumbai chapter volunteer Email me: amit.2503@gmail.com
- 2. 2 Agenda • Why team health check • What and How to conduct • Takeaway • Q&A
- 3. 3 Why Team health check • My Story • As a project manager and agile enthusiast, my immediate attention was to perform lesson learned or do retrospection.
- 5. 5 Solution
- 6. 6 What is Spotify health check • Spotify labs came out with this health check in 2014 • 11 topics (teamwork, fun, easy to release, learning, health of codebase) we discuss them in the how part • Visualizes the ‘health’ of a team • During discussion, the team builds up self-awareness about what’s working and what’s not
- 7. 7 How to conduct one? • Like any retrospection, health check is conducted in the following manner • Setting the stage • Gather data • Generate Insights • Act • Close
- 9. 9 Health Check – setting the stage & gather data (approx. 30 mins) Mission We know exactly why we are here and we’re really excited about it! We have no idea why we are here, there's no high lever picture or focus. Our so called mission is completely unclear and uninspiring. Pawns or Players We are in control of our own destiny! We decide what to build and how to build it. We are just pawns in a game of chess with no influence over what we build or how we build it. Speed We get stuff done really quickly! No waiting and no delays. We never seem to get anything done. We keep getting stuck or interrupted. Stories keep getting stuck on dependencies. • Briefly explain the format and instructions and shared the different topics we would cover • Example • Green doesn’t necessarily mean things are perfect. It just means the team is happy with this, and see no major need for improvement right now. • Yellow means there are some important problems that need addressing, but it’s not a disaster. • Red means this really sucks and needs to be improved. • For a few sample indicators, I shared the positive and negative description that’s is written down on every card • Ask the team to read all the cards and respond with questions if any.
- 10. 10 Health Check – setting the stage ...contd Delivering Value We deliver great stuff! We're proud of it and our stakeholders are really happy. We deliver crap. We feel ashamed to deliver it. Our stakeholders hate us. Easy to release Releasing is simple, safe, painless and mostly automated. Releasing is risky, painful, lots of manual work and takes forever. Fun We love going to work and have great fun working together! Boooooooring... Health of Codebase We're proud of the quality of our code! It is clean, easy to read and has great test coverage. Our code is a pile of dung and technical debt is raging out of control.
- 11. 11 Health Check – setting the stage ....contd Suitable Process Our way of working fits us perfectly! Our way of working sucks! Support We always get great support and help when we ask for it! We keep getting stuck because we can't get the support and help that we ask for. Teamwork We are a totally gelled super- team with awesome collaboration! We are a bunch of individuals that neither know nor care about what the other people in the squad are doing. Learning We're learning lots of interesting stuff all the time! We never have time to learn anything.
- 12. 12 Health Check – setting the stage ....contd
- 13. 13 Health Check – Generate insights (approx. 30 mins) • Based on the number of teams (groups), you ask them to discuss each topic • The insights were written down on sticky notes and placed on the whiteboard or use the whiteboard on the WebEx or skype • Every team presented their insights with each other and briefly discussed the questions and uniqueness
- 14. 14 Health Check – Act (45 mins) – Based on the insights, teams will now update the Health check matrix on the board – Once every team has shared their data, then we ask for an explanation on why they choose the color – Tip# 1 – Based on the number of groups, let everyone share their details with the facilitator first and then you can fill the board, this way you will get the first impression on the feedback. – Tip# 2 - Based on a number of groups, you may want to vote on the top 5 topics that the team decides to work upon during the upcoming quarter.
- 15. 15 Health Check – Act (45 mins) - Example
- 16. 16 • Comparison of project A team health check between October 2018 and March 2019 • Next health check planned on June-28th 2019 Example – Project A
- 17. 17 • Comparison of project B team health check between March 2019 and June 2019 Example – Project B
- 18. 18 Health Check – Close (15 mins) • Make sure that you have team buy-in on actions and next steps • Add them to your Iterations/Sprints as necessary • Always check on they felt after the Health check • Decide, how frequently you want to do it in the team (recommendation is once a quarter) • Appreciate your team’s attendance and efforts towards sharing their views
- 19. 19 Takeaway • You can perform this health check on any team at any point in the project; however, my recommendation would be to do it when – You are asked to lead an existing team (whether they are performing better or worst does not matter) – Your existing team has spent around 3-6 months on the project – You are managing different teams which could be linked to each other (SAFe way) • Conduct it within your project management group or account team or practice team • Customize it as per your need • Do not make this as Survey (Face to Face preferred, else get everyone on a call and use video mode) • Try not to compare teams • Make sure there is no incentive to game the model. There should be no reason for a team to want to “look good.”
- 20. 20
- 21. 21 Resources • https://www.agileandbeyond.co/portfolio/a-retrospective-of-spotifys-squad-health-check-todd- galloway/ • https://images.app.goo.gl/VWRkLDSjbFfeiLR66 • https://labs.spotify.com/2014/09/16/squad-health-check-model/ • http://www.barryovereem.com/how-i-used-the-spotify-squad-health-check-model/ • http://www.funretrospectives.com/category/retrospective/ • Book – The Art of Agile Development by James Shore • Images – https://images.app.goo.gl/fLFF4wbDdR8mvWZG9 – https://images.app.goo.gl/t1jsmtJU7f562Zze6