1. Michael Hall Three Beacons mike@threebeacons.com 214.783.3936 Performance Evaluation for Agile Team Members

2. The Chasm © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 2 www.synerzip.com

3. Chasm 3 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Chasm: 1. A deep, steep-sided opening in the earth's surface; an abyss or gorge. 2.A sudden interruption of continuity; a gap. 3.A pronounced difference of opinion, interests, or loyalty. www.synerzip.com

4. Traditional Projects 4 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 People Emphasis: Subject matter expertise (SME) Heroics “Individual Contributor” roles Individual training needs Performance Evaluation: Innate intellectual ability Subject matter expertise Individual performance ratings Ratings against others! www.synerzip.com

5. Agile Projects 5 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 People Emphasis: Generalizing specialists Collaboration skills Customer focus Teamwork – mentoring, helpfulness, approachability, personality, etc. Performance Evaluation: Innate intellectual ability Subject matter expertise Individual performance ratings Ratings against others! www.synerzip.com

6. Chasm 6 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Many companies shifting to Agile. But, most continue to use their existing performance evaluation methods! Why? This creates a “chasm”. www.synerzip.com

7. Role Play Example 1 7 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Listen closely for the “chasm”. Employee: Mike Director: Hemant www.synerzip.com

8. Understanding Measurement © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 8 www.synerzip.com

9. Measurements / Behaviors 9 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 “Tell me how you will measure me and I will tell you how I will behave.” – Eliyahu Goldratt www.synerzip.com

10. 10 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Measurements / Behaviors Measurements dictate behavior. Measuring the wrong things can cause unintended consequences. © Scott Adams, United Feature Syndicate, Inc. www.synerzip.com

11. Organizational Dysfunctions 11 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Agile organization w/ Traditional performance evaluation: Chasm Wrong things rewarded Individual stature Promote myself Desire to become an SME Me first, team second Me versus everyone else Worst: feeling like it is a ruse www.synerzip.com

12. Team Measurement 12 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Why measure the team? Deploy the business objectives down to the unit that can make it happen Team improvement Identify performance gaps Identify cross-functional training needed Morale Others? www.synerzip.com

13. Analogy 13 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Car Dashboard Speed RPMs Coolant temperature Battery charge Distance driven Fuel level Mechanical issues Running an organization without some basic measurements is like driving a car without a dashboard. www.synerzip.com

14. Techniques for Agile Performance Evaluations © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 14 www.synerzip.com

15. Good Agile Measurements 15 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 A good measurement should be: “Barely sufficient” Easy to collect and/or coalesce (<5 mins) Affirm the Agile principles Focused around delivering customer value Should not cause any “metrics dysfunction” www.synerzip.com

16. End of Sprint: Customer Report Card 16 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 www.synerzip.com

17. End of Sprint: Customer Report Card example 17 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 www.synerzip.com

18. End of Sprint: Diagnostics 18 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Some potential “diagnostics” to measure: User story points delivered ­ For velocity computation User stories carried over to the next sprint Defects carried over to the next sprint ­ Versus defects found Impediments carried over to the next sprint ­ Versus impediments resolved Average tests per user story Others? Be careful – only measure meaningful easy-to-collect items. www.synerzip.com

19. End of Sprint: Don’t Measure These! 19 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Avoid measuring: Individual velocity Sum of all task hours for a person ­ Compared to 40 hours/week Number of tasks/person Accuracy of task estimates Accuracy of story points estimates Many others Why? www.synerzip.com

20. A Word About Velocity 20 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 “Should we measure velocity?” Answer: Absolutely Yes! “Should we use velocity for release planning?” Answer: Absolutely Yes! “Should we use velocity to help gauge how much to choose in a sprint?” Answer: Absolutely Yes! “Should we use velocity for performance evaluation?” Answer: Definitely NO! Why not? www.synerzip.com

21. A Few Words About “Social Loafing” 21 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Social Loafing “I’m in a team, the team is getting evaluated, I can hide.” Agile/Scrum combats this with: Daily synchronization Team member peer pressure Team authority Transparency Honest retrospectives © Scott Adams, United Feature Syndicate, Inc. www.synerzip.com

22. End of Project: Customer Report Card 22 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 www.synerzip.com

23. End of Project: Customer Report Card example 23 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 www.synerzip.com

24. End of Project: Product Owner Report Card 24 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 www.synerzip.com

25. End of Project: Product Owner Report Card example 25 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 www.synerzip.com

26. End of Project: Peer Review 26 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 … for each team member www.synerzip.com

27. End of Project: Peer Review example 27 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 … for each team member www.synerzip.com

28. Annual “Agile Performance Review” (1 of 2) 28 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 1-on-1 because of personal nature and team member likely worked multiple projects Performed by Agile manager, director, etc. ­ Gather and coalesce the data! ­Average team score for all customer sprint report cards ­Average team score for all customer project report cards ­Average team score for all PO project report cards ­ Average scores from project peer reviews ­Query key co-workers, POs, ScrumMasters for additional insights on the person Discuss what these measurements show www.synerzip.com

29. Annual “Agile Performance Review” (2 of 2) 29 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Identify how to improve the teams Identify training needed to make teams more cross-functional Honest and transparent discussion Both positive and constructive www.synerzip.com

30. Role Play Example 2 30 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Chasm or not? Employee: Mike Director: Hemant www.synerzip.com

31. Caveats & Warnings © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 31 www.synerzip.com

32. Caveats and Warnings 32 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 As with any new approach, introducing an Agile performance evaluation system will have its challenges: Resistance to change Fear – too revealing Deflates the general optimism Loss of control Cheese mover comfort zone Etc. “Measurement systems are difficult because unlike mechanisms and organisms, organizations have subcomponents that realize they are being measured.” – Robert D. Austin www.synerzip.com

33. Conclusion © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 33 www.synerzip.com

34. Take-Aways 34 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 It is human nature for people to modify their behaviors to match the evaluation system. A very important part of any Agile rollout is to align the performance evaluation system (and other HR practices) with what Agile emphasizes. Not doing so causes dysfunction that will erode the team’s effectiveness. www.synerzip.com

35. Recap of 6 Tangible Techniques 35 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 Sprint: Customer report card Sprint: a few diagnostics to measure and a few not to Project: Customer report card Project: Product Owner report card Project: Peer review Annual “agile performance review” www.synerzip.com

36. Good References 36 © Three Beacons LLC, 2011 “Designing performance measurement systems for teams: theory and practice” – Jill MacBryde and Kepa Mendibil “Appropriate Agile Measurement: Using Metrics and Diagnostics to Deliver Business Value” - Deborah Hartmann and Robin Dymond “Designing the Lean Enterprise Performance Measurement System” - Vikram Mahidhar “Management Challenges to Implementing Agile Processes in Traditional Development Organizations” – Barry Boehm “Assessing Personality Profiles of Software Developers in Agile Development Teams” - VenuGopal Balijepally, RadhaKanta Mahapatra, and Sridhar P. Nerur “An Adaptive Performance Management System” – Jim Highsmith www.synerzip.com

37. Questions? www.synerzip.com Hemant Elhence, hemant@synerzip.com 469.322.0349 Agile Software Product Development Partner 37 www.threebeacons.com Short/Long term Agile coaching Facilitated improvement Agile Methods training: Scrum Team Training Agile / Scrum User Stories – Requirements w/ Agility Product Owner Role ScrumMaster Role Etc. All courses can be delivered onsite at your location Michael Hall, mike@threebeacons.com 214.783.3936 www.synerzip.com © Three Beacons LLC, 2011

38. Confidential Synerzip in a Nut-shell 1. Software product development partner for small/mid- sized technology companies Exclusive focus on small/mid-sized technology companies, typically venture-backed companies in growth phase By definition, all Synerzip work is the IP of its respective clients Deep experience in full SDLC – design, dev, QA/testing, deployment 2. Dedicated team of high caliber software professionals for each client Seamlessly extends client’s local team, offering full transparency Stable teams with very low turn-over NOT just “staff augmentation”, but provide full mgmt support 3. Actually reduces risk of development/delivery Experienced team - uses appropriate level of engineering discipline Practices Agile development – responsive, yet disciplined 4. Reduces cost – dual-shore team, 50% cost advantage 5. Offers long term flexibility – allows (facilitates) taking offshore team captive – aka “BOT” option www.synerzip.com © Three Beacons LLC, 2011

39. Confidential Synerzip Clients www.synerzip.com © Three Beacons LLC, 2011

40. Thank You! www.threebeacons.com Michael Hall mike@threebeacons.com 214.783.3936 www.synerzip.com Hemant Elhence hemant@synerzip.com 469.322.0349 Agile Software Product Development Partner Call Us for a Free Consultation! 40 www.synerzip.com © Three Beacons LLC, 2011