Viewing entries tagged
T-shaped

T-Shaped Agile Leaders

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T-Shaped Agile Leaders

Many agile folks have been talking about the dynamics and need for T-shaped skills when it comes to their agile teams. My colleague, Mary Thorn, has been a proponent, coach, and explainer of the notion for many years.

And, Kenny Rubin wrote a short and effective explanation in 2012 that you can find here - https://www.scrumexpert.com/knowledge/t-shaped-skills-and-swarming-make-for-flexible-scrum-and-agile-teams/

But, What about Leadership?

But rarely do we talk about T-shaped skills from leadership (or leadership team) perspective. So, I thought I’d spend a little time exploring what T-shaped leadership skills might look like…

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Do Skills Matter? Understanding Key Person Dependencies...

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Do Skills Matter? Understanding Key Person Dependencies...

One of the larger challenges facing many agile teams is having the requisite skills to deliver the goods. And it’s an insidious problem because it’s hidden by the very nature of cross-functional teams. 

When I coach agile teams, I usually emphasize a couple of things:

  • Becoming T-Shaped over time, and

  • Delivering as a Team

I often exaggerate the responsibility by saying – the team needs to “suck it up” and work together to deliver on their shared goals. Everyone chipping in and helping each other out. There are no lone wolfs in an agile team and folks often need to do work that may be beyond their skill comfort zone.

But that has a prerequisite supposition…

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