Improving Team Cohesion & Communication with Applied Improvisational Techniques Presented by Arlen Bankston & Jessie Shternshus AgileDC 2012

1. BuildingCollaborative
BehaviorinAgileTeams
Presented by Arlen Bankston & Jessie Shternshus
Improving Team Cohesion & Communication with
Applied Improvisational Techniques

2. Arlen Bankston
• Managing Partner & Co-Founder of
LitheSpeed, LLC
o Agile & Lean Coaching, Training, Development
o Specializing in large-scale Agile adoption
• User Experience expert
• Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
• 16 years in the industry, 12 doing Agile
Meet Arlen Bankston
2

3. Meet Jessie Shternshus
Jessie Shternshus
Interactive Improv Shows and Creative Training Solutions.
Diverse work experience that includes companies such as:
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield
• Fidelity Investments
• Living Social
• Expedia
• Group Dynamics
• Innovative Leadership
• Creative Problem Solving
• Communication through Improvisation
• Presentation Skills and Public Speaking Coaching
3

4. Agenda
Today, we will discuss (and experience):
• Impediments to Effective Collaboration
• Solving Impediments Experientially
(Improvisational Exercises)
4

5. Impediments
toCollaboration

6. The frequent feedback loops in Agile projects make
many problematic patterns obvious, such as:
• Lack of focus & discipline (lack of visible progress,
vague statuses, overlong meetings)
• Lack of clear role definitions (missing pigs, talking
chickens, assigning ScrumMaster)
• Lack of collaboration (no blockers, no huddles
afterwards, no shared tasks)
How might we address the “soft” problems?
Patterns of Misbehavior
7

7. What are the top impediments in your group?
• Brainstorm problems you’ve seen with
team communication or collaboration
• Prioritize the top two issues by dot voting
(a dot is a vote, and each person gets three to
distribute as they see fit)
We’re going to experience ways to address these
top impediments.
Exercise – Top Impediments
8

8. SolvingImpediments
Experientially

9. Taking the Daily Scrum as an example, sometimes
facilitation techniques can help:
• Speaking tokens – Pass around a stuffed animal,
pomodoro timer or other visible item to designate
who can talk.
• Facing the task board – Focus on the tasks in
process, rather than addressing people serially.
However, while useful, these aren’t solutions to
underlying problems of collaboration.
Common Facilitation Tricks
10

10. Insight gained from personal experience is one of the
best ways to help your team members realize:
• Personal communication traits & idiosyncrasies
• How these traits impact the effectiveness of their
communication with others
• How to improve team collaboration (in the Daily
Standup or elsewhere) by addressing root causes of
dysfunction
Exercise Goals
11

11. Process:
• Teams will create wheels with their names arrayed around it
on paper wedges.
• The wheel is spun and the selected person has to…
Debrief:
• Pay attention to what others are saying, rather than forming
your own thoughts
• Prepare your own message beforehand so you don’t have to
be distracted during others’
Wheel of Fortune
12

12. Thankyou!

13. 15
Contact Me for Further Information
Arlen Bankston
Executive Vice President
Arlen.Bankston@lithespeed.com
Jessie Shternshus
Owner, The Improv Effect
jessie@improveffect.com
On the Web:
http://www.lithespeed.com
http://www.improveffect.com
http://www.sanjivaugustine.com
"I only wish I had read this book when I started my career in
software product management, or even better yet, when I was
given my first project to manage. In addition to providing an
excellent handbook for managing with agile software development
methodologies, Managing Agile Projects offers a guide to more
effective project management in many business settings."
John P. Barnes, former Vice President of Product Management at
Emergis, Inc.