What foundational documents are helpful for Agile teams? with Buyi Kalala

Agile Coaches' Corner

This week, Dan Neumann is joined by Buyi Kalala to discuss Agile teams and the fundamental agreements that help to build a strong foundation. In this episode, Dan and Buyi talk about teams, how they operate, how they conduct themselves, and how they achieve consensus about the ultimate goal for the team. Listen to this episode and find a discussion on the Team working Agreement and the value of having a definition of ready and a definition of done.

Key Takeaways

• Team Working Agreement:

• When creating a Team, you have to consider that you are dealing with many personalities. Every member has to agree on how they will relate to one another and how the team intends to operate.

• The true intent of a Team Working Agreement is to make that team the most remarkable that it can be.

• It is a working document designed to help the team be the best it can be.

• Working agreements can be created for any group of people, including between teams and their stakeholders.

• The Working Agreement should evolve over time.

• What is the definition of ready?

• A checklist of characteristics for a refined Product Backlog Item (PBI) can help ensure that the work is defined enough to include in a Sprint.

• The team must have alignment and a shared understanding before backlog items are included in a Sprint.

• There needs to be a structure that identifies who they are doing the work for, why they are doing it, and what that work entails. Remember: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

• Revise your Team’s definition of ready as needed.

• Definition of Done:

• The Definition of Done is included in the Scrum Guide.

• This can be captured as a list of conditions that must be met before the PBI is accepted by the Product Owner.

• The Acceptance Criteria are entirely different from the Definition of Done.

• AC is specific to a User Story.

• Characteristics of a Definition of Done applies broadly

• What is done and what isn’t? New teams sometimes avoid drawing the line. Remember that 80% done isn’t done.

• Move from implicit to explicit understanding.

• We need to shift to value-based instead of activity-based.

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