We need to realise that although many groups are called “teams”, not every work group is a team. In Titansoft, through the adoption of the Agile mindset, our people work in self-organising teams to make their own commitments, organise and assign their own work. Working together, our people craft appropriate strategies to accomplish their goals, and make decisions with (again bounded) economic and organisational impact, producing a product or service that is valuable to the organisation and to our customers. But one should know that despite being in a self-organising team, they are not out there on their own, disconnected from the organisation.
When a team is self-organised, the team determines how it’s going to do its work within the constraints the business it is working in. Yes, in Titansoft we do have rules, standards, and procedures that affect how work is done, and the Team has to abide by them. However, being in self-organising teams, Titaners are empowered to choose what is the best way to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by the PO or Managers.
The term ‘self-organised’ could lead you to believe that each person determines what he or she should do, but that isn’t the case. It means that the team frequently re-organises itself for the work at hand. It’s not about individuals independently deciding what they will do – that would be utter chaos – and that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the team changing the way it does work, based on the work it’s doing in order to achieve the maximum results they can for that week’s sprint.
How did Titansoft come about having Self-Organising Teams?
With new changes brings new demands. In recent years, we realised that we are no longer able to choose whether we want to respond to these demands or not instead we have to respond swiftly to the rapid changes in the IT industry. Change has become mandatory and trying to hold onto status quo is like trying to keep leaves on the tree in autumn.
For Titansoft to be successful, we adequately deal with the risks and use the opportunities every change brings along. In other words, Titansoft must keep up with, or ideally be ever so slightly ahead of, the current market demands. So, what made Titansoft move towards self-organising teams?
- Organisational Shift: Titansoft moved from traditional (some may know it as the waterfall) to Agile since 2014. We have realised how much time was taken when using the traditional method and how the team coordination is limited.
- Ownership: In Titansoft, rather than holding the reins of the Titaners, we continuously build the trust with each staff and we believe that each of them are aware of the responsibility for seeing the task through completion. Generally the team is made up of a group of mature individuals which take initiatives and work for themselves and the team and don’t wait for their leader to assign work. This ensures a greater sense of ownership and commitment.
- Teamwork: We trust that the team can manage their own work with regards to task allocation, task estimation, story development and testing and delivery of a successful sprint as a group. They should work as a team rather than as a group of individuals. Teamwork is strongly encouraged here in Titansoft.
- Trust and respect: Reading through this article, you would have realised that I have used a lot of words like “Trust”. Well, team members should trust and respect each other. Being in a self-organising team, we believe in collective code ownership and testing and are ready to go the extra mile to help each other resolve issues.
- Coaching: Inside a self -organising team, there is no longer “command and control”. Basically, the team is left to do what they’re best at – delivery of software – but to continuously improve the team, they will go through some level of mentoring and coaching and facilitation by their Scrum Master.
- Collaboration: Sometimes being in a self-organising team may get pretty messy. To avoid such messiness, it is essential for the team works closely with the Product Owner. Through strong collaborating relationship with the Product Owner, each self-organising team in Titansoft understands that to deliver software successfully, they needs understand the requirements and aren’t afraid to ask questions to get their doubts clarified.
Interested to find out more about Self Organising Teams in Titansoft? Stay tuned for our next article!
T.8ytes by Titansoft 