What are four different enablers to support team performance?
- appraise team member performance against key performance indicators (KPIs)
- support and recognize team member growth / development
- determine feedback approach
- verify performance improvements
Where does resistance to Agile stem from?
- general resistance to change
- people’s doubts about the benefits of agile when the methodologies they already follow work for them
What are the top challenges organizations cite for adopting and scaling agile?
- 53% - organizational culture at odds with agile values
- 46% - general organization resistant to change
- 42% - inadequate management support / sponsorship
- 41% - lack of skills or experience with agile methods
- 35% - insufficient training and education
- 34% - inconsistent processes / practices across teams
- 31% - lack of availability of business, customer, or product owner
- 30% - prevasiveness of traditional development methods
- 24% - fragmented tooling and project-related data / measurements
- 21% - minimal collaboration and knowledge sharing
What are ways organizations can encourage a culture of agile maturity?
- Executive Support
- Build a Network
- Require Leadership
What is “SMART” feedback?
A framework for generating performance improvements when it is time to deliver feedback:
Specific
* feedback should refer to specific events or situations
* the impact of the behaviour or incident must be explained
Measurable
* usually a number of some kind (time, dollars, etc)
* ties in with the specifics of the feedback
Achievable
* may require gradual improvement over a period of time
Realistic
* ties in closely with achievable
* underlying assumption is that the team member has the appropriate skills to do the necessary work
Time-Bound
* the time of the originating situation and the time period for corrective actions to occur
* one common mistake i snot getting to agreement before leaving feedback conversation
What are techniques that help mitigate poor performance?
- project roles / responsibilites & objectives
- responsibility matrix
- kick off meeting
- one on one discussions
What are the top things you should not do when delivering feedback?
- find excuses not to provide feedback
- wait too long after a situation to give feedback, pos or neg
- not being specific, not providing examples
- not practicing your delivery
- waiting for a pre-set time, such as annual appraisals
- become emotional
- downplay the feedback
- only give + feedback when you have to deliver - feedback
- not providing downstream impact of behavior/performance
- comparing to others
- not provide opportunities to give bi-directional feedback
- not getting buy-in/agreement on an action plan
What are the top things you should do when delivering feedback?
- practice & rehearse
- set expectations upfront
- discussing one on one
- giving positive feedback
- using a calm voice
- documenting situations for later reference
- think long term
- giving feedback immediately
- have a specific outcome in mind
- give feedback early and often at the start of a project or the start of a project phase
What are common mistakes when giving feedback?
1. not giving feedback at all - an lead to resentment, poor performance, non-communication
2. delaying feedback - deferring problems can make them grow, not go away
3. only giving negative feedback - positive feedback can be a big motivator to project team
4. being non-specific with feedback - give additional details and impacts
5. not practicing your delivery - poor delivery can potentially make things wore than what was started with
6. not getting an agreement on an outcome
* state what expected behaviour / performance is
* you and the team member must have an agreement before the discussion can be closed
* follow up on action plan
What are some tips for organizations looking to get employee innovatipon campaigns started?
- Kick off with an emphasis on a safe and encouraging workplace. An environment that embraces failure will also encourage valuable ideas. People need to know that they have a team behind them to support the experimentation
- Provide a portal for submitting ideas and for giving timely recognition and updates
- Create a form or checklist with open-ended questions to help innovators think outside the box
- Have a review board or program office to provide feedback and positive reinforcement
- Appoint a committee or a mentor to assist in the initial idea presentation to senior management
- Assign a project manager if the idea needs resources, funding or organizational communication
- Track up-to-date KPIs on the program to report successes or issues
Chapter Questions
A new project manager is developing a resource management plan but is unfamiliar with skill sets required by the project.
How would engaging SMEs help the project manager create a resource management plan?
By enabling the project manager to determine the required skill sets to meet project objectives
Expertise should be considered from individuals or groups with specialized knowledge or training in team and physical resource planning and estimating.
* showing - organizational assets, do not provide insight to the risk management plan (RMP)
* helping - there is no organization chart at this stage of the project
* enabling to manage - resource management plan does not enable PM
