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Dynamic Reteaming, 2nd Edition

Name: Dynamic Reteaming, 2nd Edition
Author: Heidi Helfand
ISBN: 9781492061298

by Heidi Helfand

June 2020

Intermediate to advanced

284 pages

7h 56m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Foreword by John Cutler
Foreword by Diana Larsen
Preface
ApproachAudienceParticipantsO’Reilly Online LearningHow to Contact UsHow to Use This BookAcknowledgments
I. What Is Dynamic Reteaming?
1. The Evolution of Teams
Panarchy
2. Understanding Teams
What Is a Team?Dynamic ReteamingDoes Dynamic Reteaming Always Work Out?The Social Dynamic of a TeamAs Time Passes, Our Teams Change
3. The Power of Team Assignment
Someone “At the Top” Put Them on the TeamThe Managers Decide the Team MembershipThe People Take a Survey to See if They Want to Change TeamsManagers Encourage People to Volunteer for a TeamManagers Arrange Team Self-Selection EventsHow A Company Reorged with Self-SelectionTeams Strategize and Form Their Own Team StructuresReteaming as the Team’s Problem to SolveTeam Members Trade Places, Then Tell Managers
4. Reduce Risk and Encourage Sustainability
Reteaming Decreases the Development of Knowledge SilosReteaming Reduces Team Member Attrition by Providing Career Growth OpportunitiesReteaming Decreases Inter-Team Competition, Fostering a Whole-Team MentalityReteaming Yields Teams That Aren’t Ossified, Making It Potentially Easier to Integrate NewcomersReteaming Is Going to Happen
II. Dynamic Reteaming Patterns
5. One-by-One Pattern
Add People to Existing or New Teams?Seeding TeamsInclude Your People in the Organizational DesignHiring to Sustain Culture and Development PracticesPlan and Communicate about the Arrival of the New Team MemberGet Things Together for the New Hire Before They ArriveEncourage Managers to Pay Attention and Influence the New HireSupport the New Hire as Well as the People Around ThemAssign the New Person a MentorUse Pair Programming to Onboard New DevelopersEncourage ShadowingEncourage New Hires to Share About ThemselvesForm Bootcamps and Help New Hires Form NetworksWhen People Leave, You Have a New TeamFiring People—When You Reteam Someone OutWhen People Leave of Their Own AccordSaying Goodbye—Do We Announce Departures?Processing the Fact that Someone Left The TeamThe Evolution of People In Our TeamsPitfalls of the One-by-One PatternYou Realize You Have an Imbalance of Juniors to SeniorsMentor FatigueNot Visioning Out Career Paths from the Beginning

6. Grow-and-Split Pattern
Signs That You Might Want to Split Your TeamAre Your Meetings Getting Longer?Is Decision Making Becoming More Difficult?Has the Work of the Team Become Unrelated?Are You Forgetting Who Is on Your Distributed Team?You’ve Decided to Split, Here’s How to Do ItInclude the Team in the DecisionArticulate Why You Are Splitting the TeamFigure Out the Missions of the New TeamsDetermine Who Will Go on Each TeamCome Up with a New Seating Plan for the Resulting TeamsFigure out the Team NamesTell Others About the Resulting Team AssignmentFormally Kick Off the New TeamsPitfalls of the Grow-and-Split PatternShared People Across TeamsDealing with Dependencies Between Teams as a Result of the SplitDragging Out the SplitNot Involving Your Facilities and Technology Groups Early EnoughThe Emotional Challenge of Splitting TeamsLarger-Scale SplitsGrow and Split at the Tribe LevelGrow and Split to Drive Code OwnershipWhat It Means When You’re Asked, “How Do We Maintain Our Culture?”
7. Isolation Pattern
Isolation to Pivot the Company from FailureIsolation for New Product DevelopmentIsolation to Spawn New Innovations in an EnterpriseIsolation for Solving Technical EmergenciesScaling the Isolation PatternGeneral Recommendations for the Isolation PatternInvite Entrepreneurial People to Join the TeamTell the Team That It Can Work How It ChoosesMove the Team to Its Own SpaceTell Other Teams to Leave Them AloneDetermine Whether the Team Will Live On, or Fold Back into Other TeamsPitfalls of the Isolation PatternElitismWhat About Maintenance of the Code?The Thrilling Ride That Comes to an End
8. Merging Pattern
Merging Teams to Enable Pair Programming VarietyMerging Tribes Together to Form AlliancesMerging at the Company LevelPitfalls of the Merging Pattern at the Team LevelWhen You Don’t Calibrate the New, Larger TeamWhen You Don’t Reset or Facilitate Your New, Larger MeetingsWhen You Don’t Figure Out How You Will Make Decisions as a Larger TeamPitfalls of the Merging Pattern at the Company LevelDrawing Out the LayoffsAmbiguity Around LayoffsChaotic Takeovers
9. Switching Pattern
Switching Pairs Within a TeamSwitching Pairs Out Completely for Problem SolvingSwitching Teams to Share Knowledge and Support a FeatureDeliberate Switching at a Cadence to Share KnowledgeRotating Developers for Friendship and PairingSwitching for Personal Growth and LearningPitfalls of the Switching PatternThe Desire to Hoard Good Team MembersIt Can Be Challenging When a Team Member is “On Loan” to Another TeamWith Teams Comprised of Single-Specialist Roles, Your Switching Is Limited
10. Anti-Patterns
Reteaming to Spread “High Performance”The Percentage Anti-PatternDisrupting a Productive Team to Conform to a Standard or Best PracticeReteaming by Abstraction with Poor CommunicationThe Impact of Toxic Team MembersKeeping the Toxic Team Together
III. Tactics for Mastering Dynamic Reteaming
11. Adapt Your Organization for Dynamic Reteaming
Explore Where You Are on the Dynamic Reteaming EcocycleOrganizational Constraints and Enablers to ReteamingCollaboration Dynamics that Restrict and Enable ReteamingVariables That Impact Dynamic ReteamingPrime the People for Dynamic ReteamingIncorporate Dynamic Reteaming Into Your HiringCultivate CommunityAlign on Roles Across Your Teams
12. Plan Your Dynamic Reteaming Initiative
Create Your Dynamic Reteaming FAQWhat Are the Problems Solved by This Reteaming?How Will People Get Assigned to Teams?How Will People Find Out Whether They Have a New Team Assignment?How Are Existing Teams Impacted in Particular?How Is Existing Work Impacted?What Is the Composition of the New Teams?What Does the Organization Look Like Before and After the Reteaming?What Technology Systems or Other Equipment Needs to be Updated or Acquired with the Reteaming Initiative?What Seating or Office Changes Will Take Place Along with the Reteaming?What Training or Education is Needed with the Reteaming?What Is the Communication Plan for the Reteaming Initiative?What Is the Schedule for the Reteaming Initiative?What is the Feedback Plan for the Reteaming Initiative?
13. After Dynamic Reteaming: Transitions and Team Calibrations
Coping with Unexpected Dynamic ReteamingNotice the Triggering, Then Channel Your ThoughtsTalk One-on-One With Leaders About the ChangeGet Some Distance—Physically or MentallyEmpathy is Essential when Catalyzing Dynamic ReteamingTransitions—Coaching People Through Dynamic ReteamingTalk About the EndingMark the Ending with a RitualSuggest What to Bring ForwardTeam Calibration SessionsCalibrate on HistoryCalibrate on People and RolesCalibrate on WorkCalibrate on WorkflowAfter Your Team Doubles in SizeHelp People “See” the Organizational Growth and Know Each Others’ NamesHelp People Find Shared Causes and Form GuildsHelp People Get a Sense of Shared HistoryTalking about Culture Change Directly
14. Reflect and Determine How to Shift
Team RetrospectivesMultiteam RetrospectivesInitiative RetrospectivesResources for Running RetrospectivesOne-on-OnesSurvey ToolsMetrics
IV. Conclusion
A. Whiteboards to Enable Open Dynamic Reteaming
Supplies and Artifacts NeededHow to Do It
B. Team Choice Marketplace
Supplies and ArtifactsLocationHow to Do ItVariationsResources
C. Survey Template
Bibliography
Index

Content preview from Dynamic Reteaming, 2nd Edition

Appendix C. Survey Template

After your reteaming initiative, I recommend that you collect feedback on how it went. So often I see companies reteam and then they just “move on,” and don’t learn from what happened. I think it is critical to collect feedback in order to iterate and learn. You can do this via a survey, and you can also do it by having an open retrospective, as discussed in Chapter 14.

Here is a short example survey for you to build on and customize for your context.

Reteaming Survey

Please take a minute to fill out this survey so that we can improve our reteaming initiatives in the future. If you have any questions or would like to discuss in person in more detail, please reach out to <insert name here>.

Please rate your level of satisfaction with our communication about the reteaming.

Very dissatisfied 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Very satisfied
Please rate your level of satisfaction with our use of whiteboards as a tool during this reteaming.

Very dissatisfied 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Very satisfied
Please rate your level of satisfaction with our new organizational structure.

Very dissatisfied 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Very satisfied

Did you take the opportunity to change squads? Why or why not?

<text box>
We will continue to grow the company in the coming year. What advice do you have about how we conduct future reteaming initiatives?

<text box>
General feedback and comments:

<text box>

After you circulate this survey and remind people to actually fill it out, report back ...

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Dynamic Reteaming, 2nd Edition

by Heidi Helfand

Appendix C. Survey Template

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