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Interview: William E. Perry - Author iTeams – Putting the “I” Back Into Team

In his book, iTeams – Putting the “I” Back Into Team, author William E. Perry demolishes the cliché - "There is no ‘I’ in team." As Perry explains, the phrase is nonsense because it is the individual differences in team members that make teams great. In this interview, Ben Linders explores with the author the motivations for writing the book as well as some of the key thoughts.

Ben Linders
on May 23, 2011
Are You a Whole Team?

Key to the success of Agile is a "Whole Team", a cross functional team of generalizing specialists. A group that works across boundaries. Matthew Philip diagnoses some of their common problems, such as "Emphasis on Titles", the "Hero Culture" and more. Matthew looks at the root causes and possible cures.

Matthew Philip
on May 12, 2011
A Process for Managing Risks in Distributed Teams

In this IEEE article, John Stouby Persson and Lars Mathiassen discuss a process for managing risks associated in managing the distributed software projects. The process includes identifying and analyzing distributed-team risks in the areas of task distribution, geographical and cultural distribution, stakeholder relations and communication infrastructure.

Lars Mathiassen John Stouby Persson
on May 10, 2011
The Art of Creating Whole Teams: how agile has changed the way we work with our customers

Angela Martin earned her PhD examining how agile methods work in practice and what is different about this way of working. She shares some of the key practices which organisations can implement to increase their likelihood of successful cultural change through creating Whole Teams - truly cross functional collaborative teams working well together to deliver products which meet customer's needs

Angela Martin
on Mar 15, 2011
Breaking Down Walls, Building Bridges, and Takin’ Out the Trash

Agile Team Rooms can help double the productivity of an Agile Team. Most people are familiar with the Caves and Commons approach where the team has a common area on the inside of the room and private desks on the outside. Some teams dispense with the private spaces in the room, but few go as far as Menlo dispensing with the rooms altogether.

Richard Sheridan Lisamarie Babik
on Dec 22, 2010
Use of Kanban in the Operations Team at Spotify

In this article, InfoQ spoke with Mattias Jansson, Operations Engineer at Spotify (an online music streaming service) about the adoption of Kanban by the Spotify Operations team. Jansson offered a lot of detail about the choice to adopt Kanban as well as the experiences that the Operations team at Spotify has gained while implementing a Kanban-based approach to dealing with their workload.

Michael Prokop Mattias Jansson
on Sep 14, 2010
Skills for Scrum Agile Teams

The skills required to be hyper-productive in agile projects are different from those required by a traditional one. This article identifies behavioral and technical skills required for a team to have that edge. Anyone who acquires these "delta" traits should be equipped with the right set of behavioral and technical skills, which enable them to work effectively in an agile project.

Prasad Prabhakaran
on Jul 26, 2010
Fred Brooks on The Design of Design: Interview and Excerpt

A review of Frederick P. Brooks' latest book, The Design of Design. Few individuals have had as much influence on the 'practice' of software development and this book of loosely coupled essays on the essence of design, design process, and the development and nurturing of great designers extends and enhances previous contributions to the field. The review is enhanced with an interview and excerpt.

Dave West
on Jun 30, 2010
Book Excerpt: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins

Very little in our education or experience properly prepares a ScrumMaster or project manager for the role of agile coach. This leaves most wondering, "What is my role in a self-organized team? How do I help the team yet stay hands-off?" This chapter, excerpted from the book Coaching Agile Teams, shows you how to activate the journey toward high performance in both provocative and practical ways.

Lyssa Adkins
on Jun 15, 2010
Learnings from Five Years as a Skype Architect

Too often in our work as architects and designers we focus on the task at hand, seldom reflecting on the past. We should really know better, how else do we improve? This article by Andres Kutt summarizes six learnings from 55 months as an architecture team lead at Skype. Some of them are technical while some focus upon the softer aspects of an architect's work.

Andres Kutt
on Apr 28, 2010
Agile and SOA, Hand in Glove?

Agile is the hand that works in the glove. SOA is the glove, the scope is enterprise wide. Most principles of SOA and Agile are not in conflict. When they are, they keep each other sane. Agile development without a clear vision of the goals and objectives of the company is futile. SOA without a clear vision how to make it real using agile development principles is a waste of time and money.

Mary Beijleveld
on Feb 02, 2010
Agile Teamwork: The Leadership - Self-management Dilemma

Self-managed teams are unstable and are successful when the ‘Leadership – Self-Management’ dilemma is understood and dealt with. Too much central control destroys agility, inhibits creativity and resists change. Too much self-management leads to chaos and anarchy and destroys a team. A successful Agile Team operates as far along self-management as it can, without tipping over into chaos.

Rowan McCann
on Jan 05, 2010