The New Cross Functional Team Dynamic

However, out of all of the projects I have worked on

, one still stands out today as the most exhilarating experience, and is the best example of Drucker's philosophy coming to fruition.

While consulting on a software integration platform for a multi-billion pharmaceutical giant in San Diego, CA, I was given the opportunity to be part of an agile Scrum team for the project. Scrum (a term generally used in rugby) is the name they use for describing small-cross collaborative teams that are designed to add energy, focus, clarity, and transparency to project planning and implementation for lean software programming projects. Through a process of inspection and adaptation to the continuous quality improvement approach, Scrum teams are able to prioritize and redesign processes as the project evolves. The key differentiator of the Scrum project versus previous experiences was the flexibility and equality afforded to every team member, and that each process must be designed to be changed or manipulated in real time. Rather than having a designated project manager that typically has his/her hands in the pot at all phases and tends to micro-manage daily progress, the team organizes itself and the work ahead. It was the duty of each team member to share what they accomplished the day before, what they would accomplish today, and any issues or road blocks that may prevent them from accomplishing the days task. Although the team had a high level of autonomy, we did have oversight from a ScrumMaster who would lead short 15 minute meetings every morning to allow each member to reveal progress, ensure cooperation and shield the team from outside interferences. This approach to team dynamics made the work environment challenging and exciting. The experience quickly made me reassess the way our organizations should model cross-functional team dynamics.

Although many businesses cannot design their processes to change in real time, I do believe that there are hidden weaknesses within the organization that can be strengthened through inspection and adaptation techniques which is the cornerstone of daily SCRUM activities. Throughout my career, I have been able to identify certain business units, individuals, or entire company cultures that create unnecessary headaches for procurement departments and the organizations suppliers. I call these occurrences "Blind Spots" due to the inability to see those unnecessary additives during initial process design. Blind spots occur when information is distributed compartmentally through management teams to their collective staff or post hard-implementations of products. We must be mindful that each individual in the company has their own set of processes and habits that they perform day to day and when we impact them with change, many times they will protest by making a supplier or employee(s) look incompetent. This is a double edged sword because it causes the purchasing or other business groups additional time investments to investigate the matter. Looking to the Scrum may provide the solution.

Make your top choice supplier part of a Scrum team. Before you engage in any vendor contracts, look deeper into the solution and walk around and speak with individual departments as a whole. Many blind spots can be avoided by introducing the prospective supplier and helping to integrate them into company cultures. Allow the supplier to engage employees and discover the needs of each individual. Work with your suppliers to design process models, work and information flows, and communication channels for each unit. Also, incorporate a member of your IT department into your scrum team whenever possible in order to understand what changes may be needed prior to third party implementations. Be prepared to make adjustments throughout the process and give each team member equal say and you will start to discover the true benefits of the Scrum.

Jim Sirokman

http://www.JimSirokman.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Sirokman

The New Cross Functional Team Dynamic

By: Jean Helme

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