20. ROLES
1. People have strong tendencies to take a certain archetypal
role
2. Nevertheless roles are mobile & will adjust according to the
needs of the group
3. Conscious awareness of which task roles are needed helps
the group
4. Explicit agreement on roles and degrees of delegation
enhances team power
#5: Does anyone know their Myers-Briggs?
People can be classed loosely into different types
Different skills, competencies, strengths
Family roles
#6: Does anyone know their Meyers-Briggs?
People can be classed loosely into different types
Different skills, competencies, strengths
Family roles
#7: Does anyone know their Meyers-Briggs?
People can be classed loosely into different types
Different skills, competencies, strengths
Family roles
#8: Each relationship has unique chemistry
Conflicts & synchrony
None is better than any other
Every profile has a positive and a neg polarity
Understand from them, and be ready to take some time to tease out what drives them, what drives them nuts
Diversity is essential
Groupthink is bad for making good products
#9: Splitting, signs of things being taken too seriously, out of balance, etc
Dysfunctional emotional/interactional roles:
victimizer vs victim
blocker vs pusher
intense vs withdrawn
joker vs too serious
eeyore vs pollyanna
bad kid vs disciplinarian
What to do?
revisit practices that produce team health (build trust, encourage healthy conflict, share commitment, enforce accountability, & practice continuous improvement of the what (product) as well as the how (team functioning). more later in Team Dynamix Part 2
get help! Coaching from Holly & HR, talk to you other in-house allies (people you worked with before, etc)
#10: At least 10% of people grew up in a dysfunctional home leaves big imprint & may cause people to behave dysfunctionally later on in life
Dysfunctional home means: with an addict, verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, trauma from the environment
#11: Roles are interdependent
Changes shifts everything
The system seeks balance
Much like a biological organism, take stuff in, balance it, eliminate it, etc, - its alive
Natural tendencies can be enhanced by role
People may take on unusual roles if the chemistry of the team needs it (4 introverted people together, one likely to take a more extraverted role)
#12: Set up team using figurines
One person with a relatively small team choose a figurine for each, and set it up?
Demonstrate team dynamics (& roles) using sandtray
#13: Map each person and the relationships between them
role plus something about the relationship between them
Trust/mistrust etc
Use yourself at the center
#14: understand which kinds of task roles you need in your team, and to understand clearly the capacities of your people in this regard
helps in hiring
aim for the right balance
discuss openly with your team
lots of wooga probz come from role confusion
Consider Belbins role theory
#15: What do we need to put on this play? someone to play dorothy, someone to play the lion
Based on the role you play, you behave/perform accordingly
-conscious role fulfillment
Being aware of what is needed
Conscious agreement to provide that function
-role clarity exercises
(handouts?)
#16: As a group brainstorm - what are task roles or abilities that we may want and need
-someone to create new ideas
-someone to test those ideas against the market
-someone to help people get along with each other
Inside the circle things you want
Outside the circle things you dont need/dont want
What kinds of roles do we need to make a game or a product?
Creative ideas
Critiquing the ideas
Passion
Distance
Builders
Critiquers
Inspirers
#17: Not just who does what, but how you agree to interact
Example of this is:
-in baseball, the position you play
-what area you cover, & how you are to interact with the others
In roles you may agree, the way we do this is you fulfill needs x,y, and z, this is what we need, this is what we are trying to do, and why
-agreement on how this works
Probably wouldnt make sense to do it the other way around but try to have awareness of the function you play
-agree beforehand on how they will work together, each one needs each other -
#18: Reference Decision-Making Worksheet
Example of this is:
what area you cover, & how you are to interact with the others
In roles you may agree, the way we do this is you fulfill needs x,y, and z, this is what we need, this is what we are trying to do, and why
-agreement on how this worksTypes of decisions:
Direction for the game
Audience for the game
How much time to spend on a refactoring
Whether or not to pair program
Which technology to use to build the game
Generate a list of the types of decisions:
Types of decisions:
Direction for the game
Audience for the game
How much time to spend on a refactoring
Whether or not to pair program
What goes in the sprint
Priority of features
Team tee shirts
#19: Reference Decision-Making Worksheet
Example of this is:
what area you cover, & how you are to interact with the others
In roles you may agree, the way we do this is you fulfill needs x,y, and z, this is what we need, this is what we are trying to do, and why
-agreement on how this worksTypes of decisions:
Direction for the game
Audience for the game
How much time to spend on a refactoring
Whether or not to pair program
Generate a list of the types of decisions:
Types of decisions:
Direction for the game
Audience for the game
How much time to spend on a refactoring
Whether or not to pair program
What goes in the sprint
Priority of features
Team tee shirts
#20: Generate types of decisions
Play poker on degree of delegation, as one big group
Generate with the group, then play
Priority of the backlog
Deadlines
Decision to cancel the game
Stage changes - when to go from prototyping to production
Look and feel of the art
Whos the audience
Whats the budget
Decision whether or not the soft launch numbers are good enough to keep the game going
#22: Think about the character you chose, what does it indicate about roles in your team