One of the great things about presenting a set of ideas at a conference rather than as a blog post is getting interactive questions. Here as some of the ones I can remember from Agile Aus 2011 from my session on Space, Communication and Distraction.
How do you keep physical and electronic Agile boards in sync ?
My short answer to this would be that you don’t. Invariable you end up with one or two people, often a project manager who diligently updates the electronic system to match up with the physical board. The trouble is most of the time nobody, not even the threatened auditor is ever looking at the electronic system. There is also something very powerful about the cheap, quick and democratic nature of paper cards. Anyone from the CEO to an intern can understand, update and engage without needing a login, or remembering to look. Also even with the largest screens available a physical wall can always be bigger.
What about distributed teams?
Yes, with a distributed team you’re going to have to go electronic, and change your habits to make it work. Physical or electronic boards can both work, my point I guess is really just pick one – don’t sit on the fence.
Do people need individual desks?
Yes, even in highly collaborative environments, or development teams where much of the work is done at pairing stations it’s important people feel like they have some space which is their own. Good teams, tend to decorate and customise their space the more they bond as a unit. The same behaviour is true of individuals – we spend a huge number of our waking hours at work, shouldn’t it be a bit personal ?
Do people need their own computer workstation (in the context of a photo showing lots of pairing stations) ?
Again, I think the answer is yes. Even if you are working at a pairing station, a small laptop to check emails, lookup reference online or write documents etc is still important. Often good pairing station setups are reset each night back to a known configuration to create a stable development platform, that’s not very conducive to a personal computer environment.
Where do the testers sit ?
With the developers.
Where do the ops guys sit ? (Ok I’ll admit nobody asked this one, but it’s a good question none the less).
With the developers.
Do you think the lack of personalisation in open plan is a problem ?
Yes. There is nothing worse than coming to work and feeling like a resource, not a person.
So what IS the ideal environment ?
Individual workspaces around the outside of collaborative workspaces (pairing stations and small meeting / workshop spaces plus a larger collaborative / social meeting space. I need to get some LEGO men and build a model of this.
How do you sell changing the environment ?
Happy, efficient teams are productive. Good environments are a draw card for existing and potential employees. But really, it’s about making your staff happy. Happy people want to work hard.