The Art of Agile Development, 2nd Edition

Context

AUDIENCE

Product Managers, Coaches

We know who and what we have to work with.

Which skills are available to your team? What resources do you have? Who are your stakeholders?

These are all part of your team’s context: the larger system they’re embedded within. Understanding your context is important for reducing risk. If you don’t understand your context, it’s easy to get blindsided by people or expectations you weren’t even aware existed.

Chartering Context

Your team’s chartering session, discussed in “PLANNING YOUR CHARTERING SESSION”, is a good time to discuss your team’s context. You can also discuss context in a separate session, if that’s more convenient, but it’s best if you solidify your team’s purpose first. That will help everyone understand what your team is meant to do.

During the context discussion, you’ll work with key stakeholders to consider three aspects of your team’s context: the skills available to your team, the team’s boundaries and interactions, and the resources committed to your team. Afterward, you’ll review the results with your executive sponsor and get their commitment to supply anything that’s missing.¹²

Available skills

Start by reviewing the skills available to your team. Ask each team member to introduce themselves and describe the skills and experience they bring to the team. They can also describe any relevant connections or permissions they have. As each person speaks, the facilitator should scribe their answers onto a flip chart. ...