We entered the loop at speed. We went up, over and down and came out the other side faster and stronger for the shared experience.
All teams have blips. Gus and I had sensed growing frustration in our team over the last few iterations - sniping, bickering, moaning, negative comments. Morale was starting to be affected. We opted to hold off for a couple of iterations and tried to coax out the root causes indirectly through the retrospectives, hoping that the team would become more aware and take remedial action. In the end, when the team norms were breaking down and a lack of respect started to emerge, we quickly decided to tackle the problem head-on. We canceled the next retrospective and informed the team that instead we'd be holding one-to-one sessions. (This upset the team further because they love their weekly retrospective but we held firm.)
The one-to-ones proved very effective and were just what the doctor ordered for the team members and for us. We realised that actually things weren't really as bad as they appeared. The general frustrations were around learning a new technology (Grails), people perceiving others to be not as committed, people cutting corners and not being held accountable, ambiguous information sharing and story myopia leading to a lack of teamwork, especially around preventing slop. Chatting about it all reminded people of their responsibilities to the team and helped people generate some great yet simple ideas for making things better and getting the team back of track.
The one-to-ones cleared the air and we've made some small changes that have completely transformed the team. The small changes so far include:
A more conscious effort to vertically slice stories to create opportunities for collaboration with (and obtain feedback) from QA, the graphics designer and the Product Owner). The rule of thumb is at least one slice a day. People are taking a little time now to think how they will build the story out using slices before jumping in.
In the daily stand-up when story owners talk about their card, they now mention their pairing partner and speak only in terms of the acceptance tests:
"So far x out of y acceptance tests have been satisfied. Yesterday, so and so and I completed acceptance tests a and b. Today, I will pair with someone to complete acceptance tests d, e and f"
Again, in the daily stand-up story owners request any specific expertise they might require during the day and when they think they will need it. At the end of the stand-up when we form pairs, the team organizes itself so that the right skills can get to the coalface on each card.
Pairing is more promiscuous. The Grails expertise and styling (CSS) expertise are now being transferred more effectively spreading the knowledge and building skills redundancy into the team.
These are simple changes we've made many times before with other teams. Sometimes blips happen because we take our eye off the team.
With respect and trust restored, the team norms have returned. There's a stronger sense of team. Everyone is asking for help and offering help. Collaboration has gone through the roof. The net results: The team is happy, healthy and hustling, and the velocity has doubled.
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