Building an agile team is one of the best ways to increase productivity and ensure greater efficiency and speed in delivering projects.
Agile teams are cross-functional and self-contained, which allows them to deliver a product or complete a project without requiring the input of individuals from outside the group.
The truth is that there is no magic formula for creating an agile and top-notch team. However, this article explains 5 highly effective ideas for building an agile team that can work for any business.
Let’s jump straight in!
1. Start with the Hiring Process
The hiring process is the first point of contact with would-be employees, and it should also be the first step when creating an agile team.
When hiring to create these teams, you have to identify the strengths and capabilities you think will work best for your team. And remember that the team will be a close-knit group, so every member should add something to the group that will help make it agile.
Besides looking at strengths and capabilities, you also need to plan the team dynamics at this stage and make sure you get individuals that will be the perfect fit.
Here is a list of key team members that you should look for when recruiting an agile team:
- Team lead – Is responsible for gathering resources for the team and protecting members from external influence.
- Product owner – Represents the interests of the stakeholders or client.
- Team members – They do most of the work, and each has a specific role and responsibility.
- Tester – An agile team should include someone to act as a tester for the final product.
2.Build a Culture
A team culture encourages collaboration and development, which helps ensure members of the agile team can work together well. A good culture will benefit both the team and business, ensuring the team accomplishes more together.
With team culture, everyone on the team will know the strengths of the other members and their potential shortcomings. This way, they can support each other and ensure everyone realizes their maximum potential to ensure the team’s success.
Creating a team culture will take time, and you must plan it carefully. There are several steps involved in building a team culture, from creating a team vision to providing constructive feedback for the team members.
3.Ensure Proper Communication
Proper communication is key to the creation of an agile team. The leadership needs to be open about the goals and reasoning behind its creation.
Showing the team the big picture and what they are working for encourages them to collaborate and put in more effort. This also helps create shared values that encourage the team members to work together to achieve the goals.
It is also a good idea to offer opportunities for the staff to provide their input, which is more so for those affected by the process.
Surveys and Q&As are suitable modes of communication as they will make it easy to get the views of the entire organization as you make the changes.
4.Measure Agile Team Performance
Knowing how to measure the performance of your agile team is crucial for ensuring it is working effectively.
While there are several metrics you can use to measure the performance, it is essential that whatever you use means something and can help improve the process.
Here are some examples of metrics you can use:
- Predictability (planned-to-done ratio) – For example, if the team planned to deliver 100 projects within the year and delivers 80, then the planned-to-done rate is 80%.
- Quality (escaped defect rate) – This metric tracks the quality of the deliverables the team is working on using the number of problems the customers find in the products.
- Productivity – This metric measuresteam performance by looking at the work completed within a particular cycle.
5. Empower Team Members
Members of an agile team need to be empowered to make decisions without waiting for top management to make them.
Making decisions on things that directly affect the delivery of the projects can help improve the entire process and eliminate unnecessary delays.
6. Bring in Best Practices
Agile teams are more productive compared to traditional ones. However, it is always good to bring in some best practices to ensure maximum effectiveness.
While the actual best practices you can use depend on the actual goals and functions of the team, there are a few overall ones you should keep in mind.
- Ensure the team works with the customers
- Encourage face to face communication
- Allow the team to be self-organizing
- Work together daily
- Build the teams around motivated individuals
7. Recognize and Reward Team Efforts
Ultimate success is the goal of every team, but you should recognize and reward the effort that the team makes towards achieving it.
By appreciating the team effort with recognition and small rewards and the promise of even bigger ones to come in the future, the good work will continue.
Conclusion
Organizing individuals into agile teams can help your business realize its full potential by increasing productivity and efficiency while also speeding up project delivery.
While it is not always easy to create an agile team, using the points above will make things less hectic for you. Also, remember that just creating one can have a ripple effect across your organization and transform it into a powerhouse over time.
About AccSource
AccSource is an outsourcing platform primarily for Businesses in Accounting, Compliance and Finance. The services have been developed to support and deliver value creation and cost improvement all along the Accounting, Compliance and Finance value chain.
At AccSource, we are happy to talk through any hesitations you may have about outsourcing and understanding how it may assist your business. We offer a free trial service to help with overcoming any concerns you may have and to showcase just how effective it can be for you.
Contact our team to discuss today.
Boobalan Madhavan | Accsource | www.accsource.com.au
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