Delivery depends on talented people, but because skills are embedded on specific individuals, delivery isn’t scalable and success isn’t repeatable. A team at this stage of its agile journey is typically either just learning how to be agile, or hasn’t firmly committed to changing the way that they work. Choosing a framework and just doing the basics right is key to evolving to the next level.
Archetypal behaviours seen in this stage:
- Management direction and task delegation.
- Ad-hoc or waterfall practices.
- Optimisation for ultilisation.
Focus for growth:
- Managers must establish and promote guardrails for self-organisation.
- Transparency of work.
What do avoid:
- Don’t mistake self-organising teams for autonomous teams. Set the minimum set of rules, practices and roles to work within and let the team manage themselves to deliver within those boundaries.