As a technology professional I find the idea intriguing, as a Facebook user I feel somewhat uneasy, and as a standard web browser and online shopper I see time spent browsing for products or content significantly diminishing. It’s certainly a topic that I don’t see quickly fading off into the sunset and sides are already being taken…..I’m curious if Vegas has an over/under on the number of days before the Supreme Court begins their involvement in the debate.

In the spirit of the topic, I’m making some predictions or more throwing out some ideas…….(Ok, some may be a little far fetched however you never know)

- Will google quickly jump on the opportunity to better customize search results and integrate your “Graph” data into your search results?…..we’re getting closer to not even having to type what you want to search for. Eventually google will know exactly what you’re thinking!
- Shopping online is going to get WAY easier, now every online retailer will have the ability to display sophisticated personalized product suggestions. Shortly to follow, don’t be surprised if Facebook credits take off and you can then PAY for the products at any online retailer’s site using those Facebook credits….bye bye paypal!
- You will never get away from those Facebook “friends” who already monopolize your news feed but worse yet now you get to see EVERYTHING they do online, not just when they spin up a farmville game.
- Sorry eHarmony, you may have been the first to match based on compatibility surveys but you may have to raise the bar if you want to remain the #1 Trusted dating site. Checkmate Facebook….Facebook will do it without any survey. Facebook has the luxury of having access to your network of friends, friends of friends, and interests. Your friends won’t have to worry about setting you up anymore! What will they do with their time (hopefully not engage in farmville)?? Enter, the Facebook dating app.

This could be a very interesting shift in online experiences or the end to any personal privacy. I’ll let you decide which side you’re on.

When a team outgrows individual performance and learns team confidence, excellence becomes a reality.
– Joe Paterno

I immediately thought of the fifth dysfunction of a team, Inattention to results. Teams that are able to set aside personal accomplishment, individual needs and personal agendas are able to focus exclusively on the results that will define excellence.

Patrick Lencioni, a consultant and speaker, explores the fundamental issues of team failures in his book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”. The book describes the many pitfalls that teams face as they seek to establish their cadence for success.

Patrick defines the five dysfunctions as follows:
– Absence of Trust
– Fear of Conflict
– Lack of Commitment
– Avoidance of Accountability
– Inattention to Results

Traditionally many corporate leaders have tried to borrow lessons and strategies from professional sporting teams.  However the tides have turned and professional coaches are looking for every opportunity or advantage they can find in order to be successful.  That success may lie in overcoming the same dysfunctions as your team at work.  So you too have more in common with your professional sporting team than you originally thought.  The challenges you face at work plague all teams and overcoming the five dysfunctions that Patrick has identified will help turn your team into that championship team that everyone dreams of being a part of.

http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/Hot/11-28-05.htm

Jean Tabaka and Ryan Martens of Rally Software (www.rallydev.com) have offered their perspective on how to successfully adopt Agile in an organization.  I attended one of Jean’s sessions at a conference in 2009 where she presented the idea of “Flow, Pull, and Innovate”.  The idea…phenomenal.  The basic concepts are start small allow a team to self-organize and let the success speak for itself.  The excitement/success will soon spread and others will want to jump on-board.

Every team is different so there is no magic recipe or steps to follow to create a successful team…..enter the “flow”.  It may take some time, again each team is different, but eventually they’ll get into that “Flow” state the Jean and Ryan talk about.  The team almost will seem as if they are on cruise control, successfully delivering high value features to the product owners and creating value!  This is the “demonstrate success” that I referred to above.  The “Pull” state has now begun, management and teams will notice this success and you’ll begin pulling in new product team and building multi-team programs and establishing your agile program management teams.  Each team will develop their own unique styles which I encourage.  Don’t restrict teams by trying to prescribe a standard set of tools/processes, allow the team to define and establish that all important social contract and trust.  Eventually without notice or warning, you’ll have matured to the “innovation” state where you’ll be meticulously tuning your teams thus continually reducing waste through innovation and providing more value each iteration.

I’ve read and heard many success stories with each case having its own unique twists however one thing which is always present is executive support.  Find a sponsor and encourage them to be part of the initial team as they learn to crawl through agile development and eventually walking and then running.

Agile development refers to a group of methodologies based on iterative development with its functioning principles being borrowed from lean manufacturing. Agile primarily focuses on the reduction of waste, the creation of flow, empowering the workers, and continuous improvement and evaluation. Agile methodologies differ from the traditional waterfall methodology by rewarding value delivery over illusion of control. Waterfall requires early commitments of scope, which is what is used to drive cost and estimated schedules. The waterfall approach doesn’t very easily account for the ever-changing business needs or climate during the typically long project timelines. Agile projects, on the other hand, build software incrementally traditionally in short iterations with the scope being estimated and allowed to evolve in order to stay aligned with the always changing business needs. Agile teams commit to features (User Stories) and continually work on the highest value features first.

According to a study conducted by QSMA, The Agile Impact Report, found that development teams utilizing agile principles where on average quicker to market, more productive and had comparable quality metrics compared to the traditional waterfall projects. That all sounds great and it’s hard to not be a proponent of anything other than delivering business value quicker with a more productive team and no negative impacts to product quality! If nothing else, it’s enough of a reason to continue learning more!!

This topic came about after some recent discussions with a couple of my co-workers and prompted me to develop my “Team Trait Manifesto”. I was also inspired by the Agile manifesto and have since decided that I need my own manifesto (as I think everyone should) so here it is:

Desire to learn over advanced degrees
Desire for continuous improvement over years of experience
Pride in work over previous accomplishments
Desire to collaborate over expertise ranking/status

While there is value in the items on the right, I value the items on the left more.

As I had mentioned earlier in this post, many factors contribute to a successful team. Here are the four ingredients I feel are critical to being a true “team player” and that help build that successful team.

Trust – Trust your team members will follow through on commitments they’ve made to the team. Trust the leader of your team and that decisions being made are in the best interest of the team.

Encourage – Encourage continuous improvement.

Accept – Accept adversity and adapt to it.

Mentor – Mentor other team members and lead by example in terms of attitude and work ethic.