Agile team at work

Few things we see and experience on a daily basis and that make us blind or ignorant about them. We start taking them for granted. We never think about gravity every time. We just know that whatever goes up is bound to come down. We slowly forget cause and remember only effect. 

I had some work with another team working in my office. As part of my job I interact with different teams and people on a daily basis. So today I approached a person from this team for work. He was occupied with some client work and it was not possible for him to help me with my task. He then asked his teammate a favor. A 'favor' because his teammate was not bound to help him on this request. His teammate nodded and my task was passed on to him. Such a simple thing. But wait. 

Things that appear simple have complex systems working behind them silently. I am sure this kind of experience is not new for many of us. But we have become ignorant about the great spirit that goes in to building these agile and connected. Let’s dissect. 

  • The team members had respect for each other. And hence respect for each other’s commitment. 
  • There was no reason for a guy to take shoulder some other guy’s responsibility. Could be an investment for return favor but I can pass that as a positive sign. 
  • The guy who offered help was not proficient at task I was asking for but he agreed to jump in. He demonstrated risk taking ability. 
  • The first guy had courage to give the task to another guy when he knew that other guy is not as good as him at it. And even if another guy was doing the job his name would be tagged with the deliverable. This shows faith in ability of fellow team members. 
  • One guy takes job and understands the concept and another guy works on it calls for same vocabulary. Unless they interpret things in right way they can’t deliver the output. 

So many things are at play here. So next time you see any cohesive team give it a thought. Unless you understand what makes a great team you can’t build yours. 

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