Articles & Perspectives
A Collection of Reflections and Practical Insights - Where Knowledge Meets Real-World Practice
by Berrin Akvardar
Establishing High-Performing Scrum Teams: A Practical Guide
Creating a high-performing Scrum team is a journey that requires commitment, collaboration, and continuous improvement. One effective approach to achieving this is by establishing a team working agreement and using a Team Self-Assessment Survey to guide the team for improvement actions. This article outlines how to implement these strategies by leveraging Scrum values to foster a high-performing team.
The Importance of a Team Working Agreement
A team working agreement is a set of guidelines that the team collectively agrees upon to enhance collaboration and productivity. It sets the foundation for how the team will work together, resolve conflicts, and support each other. Establishing this agreement early on helps in aligning the team’s expectations and behaviors with the core values of Scrum: Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, and Respect.
If we explain briefly what each value means;
- Commitment: Team members are dedicated to achieving the goals and supporting each other.
- Courage: The team has the bravery to tackle tough problems and voice their ideas.
- Focus: Everyone concentrates on the work of the Sprint and the goals of the Scrum team.
- Openness: The team and its stakeholders are transparent about their work and challenges.
- Respect: Team members value each other's contributions and work together harmoniously.
This was exactly my start point to let the team members give their feedback on how they are working together and brainstorm on a working agreement to collaborate as a team better.
Using a Team Self-Assessment Survey
To gauge the team’s performance and identify areas for improvement, I prepared and sent out a Team Self-Assessment Survey each quarter. This survey is particularly useful in environments where a DX style survey is not possible, by which it is also possible to compare the team level results with the overall industry.
The survey focuses on key aspects that contribute to a high-performing team, including:
- Work Focus
- Care for Each Other
- Cross-Functionality
- Willingness to Pick Up Work
- Technical Debt Management
- Consistent Delivery Pace
- Conflict Resolution
- Constructive Feedback
- Continuous Improvement
- Impact of Our Actions
Additionally, the survey includes a question to determine the percentage of pair work within the team.
Analyzing Survey Results
After gathering the survey responses, I created a Team Radar chart to illustrate our performance in various focus areas. This visual tool helped us easily pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement. By comparing these results with previous surveys, we could monitor our progress over time.
I also included a legend to clarify the values on the graph, and by linking the mean values with a line, the radar chart clearly showed our current standing and highlighted the areas where further improvement is needed.
Discussing Outcomes in Retrospectives
The survey results were discussed during our retrospectives, providing a structured way to reflect on our performance. This discussion was crucial for understanding the underlying issues and brainstorming solutions. We used the insights gained to define SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) action items aimed at continuous improvement.
Throughout this process, we emphasized the importance of Scrum values:
- Commitment: Ensuring everyone is dedicated to the team’s goals.
- Courage: Encouraging team members to speak up and take risks.
- Focus: Maintaining attention on the sprint goals and priorities.
- Openness: Fostering a culture of transparency and honesty.
- Respect: Valuing each team member’s contributions and perspectives.
Which in the end directed us to define tour working agreement to become a high-performing team, like "If we struggle for a topic for more than 1 hour, then it is time to ask this to the team". We used some metaphors to give us more courage and energy during this journey, like;
- We can grow if we strengthen our roots
- We are a tree; we can bend
- The wind may shake us, but it will not break us
Most importantly we agreed on how we should work together as a team, so that we can be performing high by using Scrum values.
There are some structures that can be used when establishing a Team Working Agreement, but we have used our own style and did not follow some pre-defined structures. It is important to highlight the current gaps in the team and draft a team working template accordingly.
Conclusion
By establishing a team working agreement and regularly using a Team Self-Assessment Survey, we created a structured approach to becoming a high-performing Scrum team. This method not only helped us identify and address issues but also reinforced the Scrum values that are essential for our success. Continuous reflection and improvement are key to maintaining high performance and achieving our goals.
The team working agreement helped us to resolve differences between each other and establish a common understanding within the team before conflicts happen. It is a living document (in my case presented on our Miro Board), which we do changes when something does not work as agreed. And such cases can be brought to light through team self-assessment surveys.
Other than Team Radar, I also prepared a graph for the feedback results of Pair Work question, which showed the percentage amount of pair work the team is doing in each sprint.
Pair work is crucial for a scrum team, which lets team members to easily collaborate on the same code, like when one developer writes the code, the other developer reviews the code at the same time and gives constructive feedback about the code.
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