Labs Live: Agile 2 - This time it's Rituals was designed to further explore how to complete HR projects using Agile methodologies. As well as re-visiting some of the Agile fundamentals, our facilitators and participants embarked upon a practical run-through of Rituals and Ceremonies.
Once again, we partnered with People and Transformational HR to take HR Leaders on a collaborative adventure into Agile.
Our collaborative session was designed for HR teams who…
Have a foundation level understanding of Agile Principles (Roles, Kick-off, Roadmap).
Are eager to take a deep dive into Rituals and Ceremonies.
Agile methodologies are nothing new, but we wanted to explore how they could be used by HR teams.
The impact of the pandemic has required HR teams to be agile. They've had to be responsive, adaptive and creative.
But there’s more to Agile than creative crisis management.
There’s a well-crafted philosophy of Agile put to work for inventive, iterative and inclusive ways to solve problems and deliver projects.
Agile working creates more innovative ways to solve problems and deliver projects. It promotes flexibility, responsiveness, and inclusion in working patterns.
We would build on a foundation level understanding of Agile methodologies and take a deep dive into Rituals and Ceremonies. In other words, we wanted to examine how work gets done using Agile principles and explore how these can be applied to completing HR projects.
Building on these fundamentals, we would then move towards breaking down tasks and prioritising them for planned Sprints.
Following an Agile process, tasks were appropriately 'sized'. And we would use Rituals and Ceremonies to plot the milestones towards creating our Minimum Viable Product.
In attendance were senior HR professionals from the disruptive and fast-growing digital workplace sector.
Our expert facilitators
What we covered
How does it all work?
Firstly, Agile teams are formed of people who WANT to be there.
The Product Owner (foreperson) holds responsibility for the demand/need (the project) and will own the vision. Meanwhile, the team itself will be self-selected and self-directed. This can be a challenge as the entire business needs to buy-in to this philosophy. There needs to be an understanding that teams are brought together for the benefit of the organisation, with parameters set for much how much commitment will be required.
Finally, the team will be disassembled on completion of the project. Every project must have a defined endpoint.
The maximum project term is typically three months, with the average timescale being six weeks.
You can have simultaneous sub-teams working on a project, provided they each have an Agile Coach to guide them.
Practical tip: HR teams should start to think in terms of ‘product’. E.g – a new policy is a product.
Once an Agile team - or squad - has been assembled, they'll work through the Agile fundamentals with the aim of creating a list of tasks (Product Backlog) that will contribute to the creation of the end product. These will be organised into iterative Sprints (packages of work) and eventually turned into a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for review.
During this process, a variety of Rituals and Ceremonies will take place.
Agile Cycles and Rituals allow for iteration and punctuation. After all, the Agile methodology is designed to keep energy and focus optimal.
Practical tip: People can move in and out of Agile teams, but the onus is on the leaver to find a replacement. This breeds accountability and ensures momentum.
At this stage it's time to organise the Product Backlog into manageable sprints.
Practical tip: Get granular about each task from the Product Backlog. Ask yourself: “how long will this actually take?”
Kanban/Scrum boards are used as visual aids for managing tasks and ensuring accountability.
Practical tip: Put names to tasks. Each person should only be working on one task at any given time. Share responsibilities and appeal to the team’s spirit. One person can’t hoard all of the ‘glamorous’ tasks.
Work Sizing is important for defining the estimated time it will take to complete each task.
Practical tip: Define the size of tasks by agreed definitions, e.g Small (S), Medium (M), Large (L), Extra Large (XL), or use a scale between 1-10.
1. Sprint set-up meeting (what will happen?)
Practical tip: Start moving your backlog of tasks into the Kanban/Scrum board at this stage. Play with tasks – are they too big, or too small?
2. The Stand-Up meeting (what is happening?)
What it’s NOT:
Practical tip: The Stand-Up is a tiny narration of what’s been found and learnt. It’s NOT an update on workload, that much should be clear by looking at your Kanban/Scrum board.
3. The Review meeting (what has been done?)
This happens at the end of each sprint:
Practical tip: Take the opportunity to congratulate each other. Be specific when mentioning achievements and individual contributions.
4. Show and Tell (review of your MVP)
The Minimum Viable Product is:
Your Show and Tell will be:
Practical tip: Invite Users to ask: “what will this help us do?” Also, invite team members to share and put something forward. This doesn’t have to relate to the MVP. Get people to co-create what something looks like.
5. The Retrospective (how it has been done)
At the end of a sprint, it’s time evaluate:
Practical tip: Think about and discuss what was good about how you’ve worked as a team.
We’d like to extend a huge thanks to our participants for their full involvement.
This is merely a snapshot of the session. Check out the full Results and keep an eye out for future events.
We'll be holding regular events aimed at empowering the HR community through education and knowledge sharing. If you're interested in attending future sessions then email me directly at william.geldart@bps-world.com or click here to sign-up.