{"id":18312,"date":"2015-05-08T10:54:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T17:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?p=18312"},"modified":"2023-01-12T16:55:53","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T00:55:53","slug":"keeping-teams-aligned-with-agile-workflow-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/blog\/2015\/05\/08\/keeping-teams-aligned-with-agile-workflow-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Teams Aligned with Agile Workflow Design"},"content":{"rendered":"
When you hear the word \u201cworkflow\u201d do you get excited, like you can\u2019t wait to spend a day in front of a white board with a cross-departmental team and map out how you will all work together happily ever after?<\/p>\n
Or, are you like most people and dread the thought of going through the process of designing and implementing a new workflow, no matter how badly you know your organization needs to change the way it works?<\/p>\n
Anyone who\u2019s been through an organizational change in how teams are to work together already knows this process is never easy. Just thinking about this may trigger thoughts of:<\/p>\n
\n
Heavy, unmaintainable process that doesn\u2019t scale<\/li>\n
Wasted time going around in circles trying to get buy-in from everyone involved<\/li>\n
Rigid rules that lead to impersonal interactions<\/li>\n
And maybe some overwhelming diagrams or documentation just to add salt to the wound<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
When the Product and Engineering teams here at Jama set out to establish a workflow between our two groups we had some of the same concerns. We were already productive, but we were growing quickly (and still are!) and we knew we needed to establish a formal way of communicating, one that would scale over time.<\/p>\n
What makes a good workflow?<\/b><\/p>\n
So the first question we had to answer for ourselves was, \u201cWhat makes a good workflow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Simply put, the intent of any workflow is to help people better work together.<\/p>\n
But people aren\u2019t simple. And moreover, the products they produce aren\u2019t simple, either. As a society we now rely on critical software and technology to run our economy, our military and to save lives. These products are, by definition, complex.<\/p>\n
So as we developed our workflow at Jama we focused on the aspects that we knew would make us not only work faster, but better. Our Engineering and Product teams were already committed to Agile practices for its focus on people first, and even have an in-house coach. What we needed to improve was our communication to the Business, and also aligning all three groups around common goals\u2014the \u201cwhy\u201d of what we\u2019re building. So we decided to document and formalize our commitment to Agile by designing a workflow around these tenets:<\/p>\n
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Facilitate fluid communications without a heavy-handed process<\/li>\n
Enable quick and confident decision-making<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Getting Down to the Science (Behavioral Science, that is)<\/b> \n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n
But we didn\u2019t stop there. With my educational background in neuroscience and human behavior, I knew that groups can agree to a new workflow on paper and still fail to maintain it, especially in growth periods, which we were (and are!) definitely in.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d need something more than a beautiful flow chart. We needed to know what makes teams adopt new ways of working and stick with them.<\/p>\n
I started investigating some of the latest research in how people work in teams and how they adapt to change. I found some gems that applied to workflows, as well as other struggles in my life, because really, what part of life isn\u2019t about dealing with people and adapting to change?<\/p>\n
There were two theories that I found particularly applicable to our team:<\/p>\n
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Status Quo Bias<\/b><\/b><\/li>\n
Choice Overload<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
According to The Behavioral Economics Guide 2014, Status Quo Bias<\/b> refers to the fact that \u201c\u2026people feel greater regret for bad outcomes that result from new actions taken than for bad consequences that are the consequence of inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
People don\u2019t like change. Not surprising. But what this research also says is that people are especially averse to change in work processes, even if what they\u2019re currently doing isn\u2019t working, because they\u2019re worried that if the change leads to failure they\u2019ll be liable and life will be worse than it is today.<\/p>\n
Also, people will say that they like choices, but if they\u2019re presented with too many options they become confused and overwhelmed and get choice overload<\/b>. \u00a0They need to have the right amount of information, at the right time, so they can evaluate and make a decision on a purposefully limited amount of criteria with just the right amount of, and right type, of data.<\/p>\n
The Agile Workflow Design<\/b><\/p>\n
Like I said above, a good workflow supports the people within it and improves their working relationships. So the first thing we did was get clear on who are the people who make up product development teams, what are they each responsible for in the process, and how can we support their communication with each other.<\/p>\n
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