Of Teams and Trusts

I was told/asked today... "Trust Me, I can do a Good job"
I said "We Do"
He said "Thanks, do you mean the whole Team trusts in Me?"
I said "We do"

A Happy man goes out and on his desk to create innovations, those innovations that can change our lives. So does the word has so much weight in it, that it can make a sad face Happy? Yes it does...specially when it is being used beyond friends, families and loved ones.


In a Team, this ultimately diversified and complex subject has a lot of importance.. made of :


1. Mutual Respect and Understanding
2. Knowing each others strengths and weaknesses
3. Attitude to accept wins and losses
4. Arrogance to strive success at any costs


Many many more... such elements makes a Trust.. probably whoever added this word in the dictionary as TEAM.. thought of all T's together...


As in TRUST , TOGETHER, TIME, TASK, TEMPERAMENT....


So how does your Team build this trust?


Well since it is about a group of people trying to achieve a common goal.. trust is a factor what comes during the execution process of achieving this goal.


1. They speak to each other about their likes and dislikes
2. They try to understand what each one of them is capable of
3. They Help and get helped by each other.
4. They sit in the Pantry room and talk about how Yankees are good then Red Sox.
5. They sit desk to desk and greet each other with smile when they see each other.
6. They are open to each other not only to share what they can easily do, but also to share what they cannot do
7. They think together
8. They agree and they Disagree.. and when there is a disagreement they put their points forth for discussion.


Well there are many things the Team members do to turn general functions into Trust.... Usually when a team is formed new.. every one is just a Role.. "A Project Manager" , "A Tech Lead" "A Developer" "A QA Member" "A Business Analyst"... when people start to look each other beyond the role they start building the Trust... and how do they Start to look at each other beyond role?


"Yogesh is a fan of Cricket"
"Raj , likes movies "
"David has an amazing collections of games"
"Sidd Loves romantic poems"
"Rob is a Sports Fan"


All of this makes the team members know about each other and that is where they start to think more than just a role.. "Step to build Trust - 1" - Know Each other well


Once they start knowing each other there is a test of commitment... When people start seeing each other with the level of commitment they give to the Team, builds the second stage ....I have seen teams going negative ways when any of the members starts to think that he is over commited while other isnt at all. "Step to build Trust - 2" - The Commitment to the Team


"I think I am not the right guy to do this"
"I think I messed it up"
"I should have done it like this"
"I failed, but I think I learnt my lessons"
"I was scared if I can achieve this or not, but I did not know how to say this"


If you hear this within the Team (Flowing from the leaders) its a step in building trust... when people are open and open enough to accept mistakes it means they trust that their counter part or Teams are going to help them . "Step to build Trust - 3 - Openness"


Love, Hatred and Trust doesnt come on day 1... The entire process takes time.. so when you trust that with time things will improve, it means you go in the right direction. Trust is built with time.. so let it have its own foundation.... dont enforce trust on Teams. "Step to build Trust - 4 - Take time"


You have your own timelines, yet you are there to help the other... That helping attitude wins a lot of trust and builds a lot of it within the Team... if you dont have troubles sorted by groups in the Team it means that you need to rethink on the trust factor. "Step to build Trust - 5 - Help and Get helped"


Team building is another way to build trust, slowly but steadily... Ask people to speak to each other when they are not connected. Get them involved so they can work out their issues. Have Team building games. Let people come with suggestions and let the groups give suggestions.
Step to build Trust - 6 - Team Building Exercises"

So what are you waiting for? Isnt it the time to build Trust? Go on Mate... choose your path to build trust for your team....
See the Step 1

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Do your Team have a workspace?

Well! If you are a Team then you definitely have a workplace... but do you have a workspace? In the last few years of my career I have relaised the more productive and creative Team you have the more you need to facilitate the workspace... and this workspace is not necessarily the space they need to move around but also the space they need to be agile all together and utilise the best of their Ideas with the Team.

As an Agile Team We always feel the need for:

1. Projectors : Now what a silly thing to ask for... but Yes projector plays a major role as the Agile Team always want to come together and collectively find answers to the solutions and problems.

2. Whiteboards : A Board that displays the status, emotional progress, Team Ideas, backlogs and so many other things that should be taken care across the project or organisation lifecycle for any team member.

3. BullPen Sitting arrangements : A Sitting structure that allows everyone to freely access everyone in the Team. Visibility and reachability been a core Idea a bullpen structure allows the agile Teams to be real close. Lot of times I read the cubicles to be blockers as they dont let free movements for the Team.

4. Post its / Color pens and Markers : We usually fall short of it no? Postits around , color pen to mark legends and markers around can make life easier as you dont need pen and papers but instead can use the boards and markers to draw better Ideas and answer questions effectively.

5. Scrum Halls : Husssssshhh.. these are not the usual meeting rooms with a phone and projector and table and seats .... a scrum is like a open lobby where the Team can meet ... these halls come handy when you have to play agile games, manage scrums have interactive sessions and debates...

6. Cameras : Last I know in a Lifecycle module when Savio , Me and Rama had a long long conversation... along with the Team... we really had to call Ani to take a snap shot using his cell phone of the user board we made.... whoa it took 3 months for him to get the pic onto to a machine (honestly I was lazy)....

7. A Kickass Entertainer : Yes... every Team should have one entertainer who keep everyone on the toes... its not only Agile Team its any sort of Team.... I remember we had many in our Team.... one always was active all the time :) which made things easier for us .... Be it Shaik or Laxmana or Natwar or Saket... or Amit Jathar or Diptajeet.... if none are awake be it Savio or Samee....

Now would you PM mind going back and check out some space for your Teams?

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Outsourcing sucks since there are not many co-located teams

Well Yes Yes..... I still work for a company that works on outsourced projects and that's why my post comes into action.. since when you do more you know more.... The misery of outsourcing always had been the domain knowledge and product understanding... and for the time been lets not use words like product vision or product UVP's... The more of technical teams I have dealt with, the more I realised that with the on-site - offshore model the understanding between the teams work but doest work that great.....

Reasons? in one of the Project kick off meetings earlier Sarah who was our Customer Services Director said that because of one small functionality lapse in the product a major security threat could have occured... and Yes the team sitting offshore could not understand this becuase it was never told on what is the IMPACT of not doing something... moreon sometimes the teams developing the softwares really really do not understand the business or functional use of what they develop...

Now lets get back to the basics.... Why Outsourcing sucks when the teams are not co-located...

A. The whole world talks and implements the distributed global development and enjoys the perks and benefits that come from cost reductions... Now what they dont understand is "DOES THE THING MEAN THE SAME TO YOU AS IT DOES TO THE PERSON SITTING 10,000 MILES AWAY FROM YOU?" geez... sometimes it does most of the times it doesnt.... Remember Project Management is a biggest challenge here .... Managing distributed Teams have their own problems from communication to conversions.

B. One Point of Contact
My previous company believed in ON-SITE - CORDINATOR concept.. one person who knows the team well stays with the Product Owners and co-ordinates with the development teams to realese what is expected..... Geez what a misery it is now I understand how things can be screwed with this approach... I am sure you would want to know WHY? and I am going to write it out sometime .....

C. I was waiting on this...
Recently something of much importance happened with the current developments that I am involved in.... There is a much awaited , Big cost , predominantly important project that needs to be kicked of.... however there are Teams waiting out here to begin... Why? We are waiting for something from the other end? Yes .... this is what you hear when you walk pass the development teams that are doing offshore development with the Business Analysts and Product Owners including the sponsors are sitting out of the location somewhere in the world...

Anyways I dont want the count to reach Z and then I have to put up a new numbering to tell you the issues .... the point of this post is to understand the importance of co-located team...

So when I say co-located teams I really mean that the Dev, QA, Product Owner , Product Manager and sponsors.... all sit in a place where the eyes can meet the eyes.... Now why this is important?

1. Teams can be involved in ad hoc discussions which can change the drive and path of the product and development... And if you think that it can still work by people involving offshores in scheduled meetings you are the one to come out and think out of what you are doing always.... The Idea of bringing the iPod did not come in a shceudled meeting ;) The Yahoo citations were not happening when development was talking to product owners... and so on.... ad hoc discussions happenings across desks bring innovations.... and you have to agree that many a times ideas trigger when you are not at work ;)

2. Teams know who and how .... meaning which customers want what and when and how they will use it and HOW it will affect the world.... in such cases you can trust that you will not build something that was NOT urgent and was just built becuase someone thought it should be like that...morever the bigger part of the story that is visibility in the development activity and the product vision is provided to everyone that is a part of it and not just one few...

3. Catch the responsible and Hold the accountable....
Many a times I have seen that NON Direct access to owners and champions along with sponsors or customers lead to a lot of mediation and hierarchies.... which causes a lot of trouble in the end.... remember he said that we have to do this? Or do you know who can get the answer for me? Or He told me that you should do this? Or I had a word and this is how it should be? Or I am working on it? grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... these make it look sick...

4. Eureka .....
The call is not very common for dislocated (THIS IS A DELIBERATE USE INSTEAD OF DISTRIBUTED)... majorly I havent seen someone saying Eureka ..... "Hey Russ .. see what we can get here" Something I heard a long ago from James our developer who told Russ our Product manager who was sitting opposite his desk to show him that he has developed a very light weight User selection interface....

Now you want me to go Hundred dont you? Well I would want to continue..... but time is the key and so is work.... I could steal this time out specially today because I see when the product manager is not present .... outsourcing sucks...

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