CIS 525 Week8

Who Deals With Team Issues?

Johanna Rothman

So, when you have team issues, first the team deals with the team. Right? So if you have team members who are not playing well with each other, first you give each other feedback. So, if you have team members who are not checking in their code all the time, each person on the team who is affected by that team member gives that team member feedback. Right? So if John is not checking in his code, and I’m affected by John, I say, “John, when you don’t check in your code every day, it hurts me in this way. Please check in your code.” If John does not change his behavior, then I somehow talk to other team members. I work with the team. If that still doesn’t change his behavior, then I have to go to the manager because we still have managers in Agile. And then I ask for help.

Now, I want to ask for help from the manager only when I have not been successful at resolving this, and the kinds of help I ask from the manager is first in the form of coaching. Can I do anything about my relationship with John–can I get some coaching first? But if I’m having trouble with John, and other team members are also having trouble with John, maybe it’s time for the manager to take some action about John. Right? If John is not working as a team member on the team, it’s time for us to vote John off the island.

This is not a good thing for the team, but it’s better than having John not participate on the team. If you have people who are not participating as a full member of the Agile team, we have to get them off the team because he’s dragging us down. He’s not helping us. And this is where the manager and the manager’s authority is what’s necessary. So the manager has to take action, and this is where the manager comes into play. So, if a manager does nothing else, the manager can remove John from the team and then take whatever action to move John, possibly, out of the organization, but at least get John off the team.