by Guest Author and Intertech Agile Instructor Stevie Borne

1. Establish a common vision
Have you ever seen a group of 5 year olds play soccer?  They all run around the field sort of headed to the goal.  Now fast forward to the World cup play-offs and you'll see something quite different.  Yes, there are many years of experience that differentiate the two teams, but that's not all.  The world cup team is playing with a common vision or goal.  They want to become the world champions.  The 5 year olds are out there to have fun.  It's amazing what a difference it makes when a team, whether software or sports, is working together toward a common goal.  One of the most important activities you can do with your agile team is to establish a common vision at the start.  Every team member should be able to answer these three questions:

• What are they building?
• Why is it important?
• How will someone use it? 

Knowing these will keep your team focused on the most important parts of the project.  If you're already part way into your project, it's not too late to pause for a couple of hours and establish a common vision.
 
2. Choose electronic tools wisely
Electronic tools are helpful and some argue necessary but don't let them lead your team.  Before introducing an electronic tool, make sure your team understands what and why they are doing certain activities.  Don't make the mistake of thinking the tool will teach your team how to 'be agile'.  People should teach your team how to appropriately apply agile principles and techniques.  There are many terrific tools out there to help your team, but if your team can't do something well with note cards first, the tool may only get in their way.  Working with note cards helps the team learn the process without being concerned about how to navigate an electronic tool.  If you have to use an electronic tool, make sure your team understands agile principles and practices before using the tool.

3.  Introduce process changes one at a time
Once your agile team is off and running, you may realize they need to make a few process tweaks. The stand-ups are becoming mundane, people no longer speak up at the retrospectives, the user stories are a little vague, and the list goes on.  You may be tempted to change a variety of things all at once in order to help your team improve.  A better approach is to suggest one change and try it out for at least two iterations.  This gives the team a chance to try the new technique for a little while and see if it helps solve the problem.  Changing too many things at once prevents you and the team from knowing which change had the desired effect.  Too many changes at once can also leave the team feeling a bit chaotic.  So carefully choose one technique or ceremony to address at a time and watch how your team responds.