What is more important to you? Building a team? Or, building a product? It is my belief that this simple question can determine the level of understanding you have of Agile. If you are in the majority and answer, “building a product,” I begin assessing the likelihood of changing your mind, by asking directing questions. If you are one of the special few that answer, “building a team,” I am immediately excited and would likely start a twenty minute rant about how amazing it is to meet someone with the same vision. Did I mention that I am an Agile Coach?
Whether you are working at a start-up that was built on Agile Principles and Practices or a long standing company that is in it’s infancy of transitioning to Agile, building great teams is the single most important thing you can do to be successful. Agile is about people and teams, not about products. The amazing products that agile teams produce are a bi-product of the agile culture, that fosters and grows amazing teams and the individuals therein. Too often, people focus on processes, practices, and products. Instead, they should spend their time focusing on their people, and more importantly, focus on creating great teams with those people. Don’t misinterpret my statement of the importance of building teams over focusing on people. You cannot have one without the other. Without great people, you will never create great teams. Without great teams, you will never reap the full benefits of Agile. Not to say that products are not important. That’s why we need these great people and teams in the first place. But, the product should remain a distant third when being prioritized against people and teams.
Agile Sean 
Patrick
January 12, 2011
If I am reading this correctly, the thesis for this would be “building great teams is the single most important thing you can do to be successful [with Agile]”.
Am I correct in my understanding that you are arguing that creating successful products is valuable (they are in fact the reason individuals and teams are needed), but that you see building great teams as the best enabler for creating successful products?
My understanding about the Hawthorne Effect was that employee productivity improved because employees were being studied in an experiment (a psychological effect). During a transformation to Agile, Agile itself is an experiment, but implying that there is a Hawthorne Effect I believe could lead to the conclusion that the benefits of Agile could disappear when the transformation is complete (ie: when Agile is no longer an experiment). Would it be clearer to state that there is a symbiotic relationship between great teams and great products whereas each (ideally) makes the other stronger through a feedback loop?
For what it is worth, here is a reference to another recent article also commenting on how the Hawthorne Effect relates to agile. Unfortunately I don’t have a subscription so can’t read the article to see if it agrees or disagrees with your argument.
http://www.emergingtechnologypartners.com/e-lounge/the-hawthorne-effect/
Long live great teams!
agileSean
January 12, 2011
@Patrick
Thanks for your comment!
Yes, the basic premise is that without great teams, you will not build great products. Another way of stating this, your products reflect your teams. If you have a great team with a focus on quality, you will end up with a great product with a high level of quality. If you have a weak team with no unifying focus, your product will end up scattered, with an inconsistent flow; not to mention unsupportable (if you find a way to complete it). But, this is a whole new topic, not necessarily related to Agile. Simply put, if you want to be successful with Agile, you must focus on building great teams. Great teams find a way to be successful and when faced with an unrealistic goal, have the courage to say so. That being said, you are correct that they are only an enabler, albeit, they are the single most important enabler. Great teams have the highest impact on products and organizational success, especially when implementing Agile.
You definitely caught me on the Hawthorne Effect. For some reason, I had a completely different definition floating in my head. Thanks for bringing some clarity.
Also, this post may have combined three topics into one. How well do you understand agile, What is the most important thing you can do to be successful with agile, and what are the benefits of being agile. Not bad for my first post 😉
Inspect and Adapt!