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Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment

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Agile Montréal
Agile Montréal

There is no team more productive than a healthy, engaged team. Unfortunately, some organizations still use bottom line metrics to drive performance, which typically hurt more than they help. In this talk we’ll focus on an alternative approach to fostering a great working environment, looking at how we can leverage Spotify’s “Squad Health Check Model” and Patrick Hanlon’s “Primal Branding” to build strong foundations and feedback mechanisms that set the stage for high-performance Agile Teams. Daniel Tardif

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Measuring Team Happiness A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Daniel Tardif  Practice Agile Coach  Support over 100 professionals at TEKsystems Global Services’ Montreal Innovation Centre  B.Eng from the University of Ottawa in 2005  MBA from HEC Montréal in 2013  PMI-ACP, ICP-ACC, PSM, and ITIL  Military Brat  Lived in Québec, Ontario, Germany, Chile  Video Games  My Dog!
HenryFord The Cause Of -- And Solution To -- All Of Our Software Development Problems!
Invented the assembly line… “Hours upon hours of performing the same, mindless task was very difficult for the workers to accept. Morale was often low.” “Many workers faded mentally on the assembly line because the workplace allowed for no individuality or change.” Seemed to understand Agile… "Many people are busy trying to find better ways of doing things that should not have to be done at all.There is no progress in merely finding a better way to do a useless thing.“ “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”
WhatDoWe WantTo Talk AboutToday?  What about Team Happiness?  Our experiments - Some Tools for Team Happiness  eNPS  Start With Why  Squad Health Check  Primal Branding  The Secret Ingredient
What’s all this now about Team Happiness? I just want my team to get things done! Why is that so hard to understand?
Time Effort Sprint Backlog End of Sprint But…You can do more than that!
Time Effort Sprint Backlog End of Sprint Real Sprint Backlog But…You can do more than that!
Software Development IsNot Manufacturing… …nor is it a Jenga game!
Itdoesn't makesensetohire smart people andtellthem what todo;wehiresmart people sotheycantelluswhat todo.
Our Situation What is the lay of the land?
TEKsystems Global Services Montreal Innovation Centre  12+ projects  For customer in the US and Canada  Across variable business verticals  Across variable of technical stacks  120+ employees  Scrum Masters,Technical Architects, Business Analysts, Lead Developers, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Specialists, User Experience Analysts, Management and Leadership, and more…!
TEKsystems Global Services Montreal Innovation Centre  We want to enable our teams to perform at their best  We want to create unity across projects  We want to be a great place to work!
eNPS Employee Net Promoter Score
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 How likely would you be to recommend us as a workplace to a friend or acquaintance? Detractors Passives Promoters eNPS = % - %
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
eNPS LessonsLearned  Pros  Easy to complete for employees when compared to more traditional employment surveys  Is best done periodically (2 months)  Requires a little bit of overhead  Expect a cadence  Cons  Information produced by results is limited, you will not be able to go in depth  Is a bit difficult to explain the scale of the results  Need everyone at the same place at the same time  Expect some spoiled ballots
We NowHaveSomething We CanUseAsA Baseline! So… what’s next?
StartWithWhy, SimonSinek “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!” We needed to find our why… Make an Impact!
StartWithWhy LessonsLearned  Pros  Provides clarity and vision one defined  Can serve to unite teams/customers under one banner when defined properly  Cons  Forces a challenging introspection for everyone involved in defining the Why  Requires good facilitation to avoid circular conversations, to encourage continued participation
The Spotify Squad Health Check Model Aka.The Happiness Boards
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
SquadHealth Check LessonsLearned  Pros  Excitement for everyone when getting a new board  Provides very granular information about your teams  Provides data you can leverage to improve your workspace and resolve issues that impact multiple teams  Respects individual anonymity  Cons  Demands a lot of overhead  Risks being a “fad” if not constantly used  Some teams/individuals may ignore it, votes might not change for long periods of time  Buy-in will drop if people do not see outcomes
NextSteps? DigitalBoards!
Primal Branding ByPatrick Hanlon Fundamental Paradigm Shift: A Brand is a Belief System
PrimalBranding Elements 1. Creation Story  Where do you come from? 2. Creed  What do you believe in? 3. Icons  What Symbols represent you? 4. Rituals  What ceremonies do you perform? 5. Pagans  Who are the non-believers? 6. Sacred Words  What words do you use that no one else does? 7. Leader  Who is your Leader?
AnExample withApple 1. Creation Story  Two guys named Steve who started building personal computers in their parent’s garage. 2. Creed  Think Different 3. Icons 4. Rituals  Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 5. Pagans  Those weird PC and Android People 6. Sacred Words  iPhone, iPad, iTunes, iMac, iEverything 7. Leader  Steve Jobs,Tim Cook
AnExample withScrum 1. Creation Story  Kick your team off with a strong team-building event 2. Creed  Make one up while defining your Ways of Working 3. Icons  Make something up while defining your Ways of Working 4. Rituals  Scrum Ceremonies: Planning, Retro, Stand-up 5. Pagans  Those weird Waterfall People 6. Sacred Words  Product Backlog Item, User Story, Story Point, Burn Down, Sprint, Agile 7. Leader  Your Scrum Master? Your PO?Your Sponsor?
Whataboutour Centre?  Agile methodologies naturally tends to align with Primal Branding Principles  This is good, in that it creates strong teams that can focus on getting the job done  This is bad, in that it creates siloes between teams that are working for different customers/goals  Your company therefore needs to strongly align with these principles, in a way that complements them  Otherwise you risk being nothing more than a group of teams, instead of a team of teams
The Secret Ingredient None of this will work unless
YouMustBeAuthentic, Credible, and Genuine About What YouWant ToAchieve
“The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard…” Think about it this way, would you rather… a) be the world’s greatest Coach, Scrum Master,Team Leader, or Manager, but have everyone think you’re the worst OR… b) be the world’s worst Coach, Scrum Master,Team Leader, or Manager, but have everyone think you’re the best
WhatDidWe TalkAbout Today?  Why Team Happiness Is Important?  Our experiments - Some Tools for Team Happiness  eNPS  Start With Why  Squad Health Check  Primal Branding  The Secret Ingredient  Be Authentic and Genuine
Thank You! Questions?

More Related Content

Measuring Team Happiness – A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment

  • 1. Measuring Team Happiness A Real-Life Journey of Fostering an Engaging Working Environment
  • 2. Daniel Tardif  Practice Agile Coach  Support over 100 professionals at TEKsystems Global Services’ Montreal Innovation Centre  B.Eng from the University of Ottawa in 2005  MBA from HEC Montréal in 2013  PMI-ACP, ICP-ACC, PSM, and ITIL  Military Brat  Lived in Québec, Ontario, Germany, Chile  Video Games  My Dog!
  • 3. HenryFord The Cause Of -- And Solution To -- All Of Our Software Development Problems!
  • 4. Invented the assembly line… “Hours upon hours of performing the same, mindless task was very difficult for the workers to accept. Morale was often low.” “Many workers faded mentally on the assembly line because the workplace allowed for no individuality or change.” Seemed to understand Agile… "Many people are busy trying to find better ways of doing things that should not have to be done at all.There is no progress in merely finding a better way to do a useless thing.“ “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse.”
  • 5. WhatDoWe WantTo Talk AboutToday?  What about Team Happiness?  Our experiments - Some Tools for Team Happiness  eNPS  Start With Why  Squad Health Check  Primal Branding  The Secret Ingredient
  • 6. What’s all this now about Team Happiness? I just want my team to get things done! Why is that so hard to understand?
  • 7. Time Effort Sprint Backlog End of Sprint But…You can do more than that!
  • 8. Time Effort Sprint Backlog End of Sprint Real Sprint Backlog But…You can do more than that!
  • 10. Itdoesn't makesensetohire smart people andtellthem what todo;wehiresmart people sotheycantelluswhat todo.
  • 11. Our Situation What is the lay of the land?
  • 12. TEKsystems Global Services Montreal Innovation Centre  12+ projects  For customer in the US and Canada  Across variable business verticals  Across variable of technical stacks  120+ employees  Scrum Masters,Technical Architects, Business Analysts, Lead Developers, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Specialists, User Experience Analysts, Management and Leadership, and more…!
  • 13. TEKsystems Global Services Montreal Innovation Centre  We want to enable our teams to perform at their best  We want to create unity across projects  We want to be a great place to work!
  • 15. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 How likely would you be to recommend us as a workplace to a friend or acquaintance? Detractors Passives Promoters eNPS = % - %
  • 20. eNPS LessonsLearned  Pros  Easy to complete for employees when compared to more traditional employment surveys  Is best done periodically (2 months)  Requires a little bit of overhead  Expect a cadence  Cons  Information produced by results is limited, you will not be able to go in depth  Is a bit difficult to explain the scale of the results  Need everyone at the same place at the same time  Expect some spoiled ballots
  • 21. We NowHaveSomething We CanUseAsA Baseline! So… what’s next?
  • 22. StartWithWhy, SimonSinek “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it!” We needed to find our why… Make an Impact!
  • 23. StartWithWhy LessonsLearned  Pros  Provides clarity and vision one defined  Can serve to unite teams/customers under one banner when defined properly  Cons  Forces a challenging introspection for everyone involved in defining the Why  Requires good facilitation to avoid circular conversations, to encourage continued participation
  • 24. The Spotify Squad Health Check Model Aka.The Happiness Boards
  • 30. SquadHealth Check LessonsLearned  Pros  Excitement for everyone when getting a new board  Provides very granular information about your teams  Provides data you can leverage to improve your workspace and resolve issues that impact multiple teams  Respects individual anonymity  Cons  Demands a lot of overhead  Risks being a “fad” if not constantly used  Some teams/individuals may ignore it, votes might not change for long periods of time  Buy-in will drop if people do not see outcomes
  • 32. Primal Branding ByPatrick Hanlon Fundamental Paradigm Shift: A Brand is a Belief System
  • 33. PrimalBranding Elements 1. Creation Story  Where do you come from? 2. Creed  What do you believe in? 3. Icons  What Symbols represent you? 4. Rituals  What ceremonies do you perform? 5. Pagans  Who are the non-believers? 6. Sacred Words  What words do you use that no one else does? 7. Leader  Who is your Leader?
  • 34. AnExample withApple 1. Creation Story  Two guys named Steve who started building personal computers in their parent’s garage. 2. Creed  Think Different 3. Icons 4. Rituals  Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 5. Pagans  Those weird PC and Android People 6. Sacred Words  iPhone, iPad, iTunes, iMac, iEverything 7. Leader  Steve Jobs,Tim Cook
  • 35. AnExample withScrum 1. Creation Story  Kick your team off with a strong team-building event 2. Creed  Make one up while defining your Ways of Working 3. Icons  Make something up while defining your Ways of Working 4. Rituals  Scrum Ceremonies: Planning, Retro, Stand-up 5. Pagans  Those weird Waterfall People 6. Sacred Words  Product Backlog Item, User Story, Story Point, Burn Down, Sprint, Agile 7. Leader  Your Scrum Master? Your PO?Your Sponsor?
  • 36. Whataboutour Centre?  Agile methodologies naturally tends to align with Primal Branding Principles  This is good, in that it creates strong teams that can focus on getting the job done  This is bad, in that it creates siloes between teams that are working for different customers/goals  Your company therefore needs to strongly align with these principles, in a way that complements them  Otherwise you risk being nothing more than a group of teams, instead of a team of teams
  • 37. The Secret Ingredient None of this will work unless
  • 38. YouMustBeAuthentic, Credible, and Genuine About What YouWant ToAchieve
  • 39. “The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard…” Think about it this way, would you rather… a) be the world’s greatest Coach, Scrum Master,Team Leader, or Manager, but have everyone think you’re the worst OR… b) be the world’s worst Coach, Scrum Master,Team Leader, or Manager, but have everyone think you’re the best
  • 40. WhatDidWe TalkAbout Today?  Why Team Happiness Is Important?  Our experiments - Some Tools for Team Happiness  eNPS  Start With Why  Squad Health Check  Primal Branding  The Secret Ingredient  Be Authentic and Genuine