Swarming - The Birds and the Bees and Agile
More and more teams find themselves working in an incredibly chaotic environment. How the team reacts to the stimuli in that environment can mean the difference between success and failure. Discovering and applying the rules that will best guide us to success in this complex ecosystem is a daunting task. Where else can we look for examples of this kind of complex group behavior?
In the animal world there is a fascinating set of behaviors that are self organizing, emergent, have simple rules, no central control, etc. These ideas resonate strongly with some of the central tenets of Agile development. These patterns of behavior exhibited by animals are very reminiscent of the team behavior we are seeking in Agile development teams. What can the behavior of groups of animals teach us about working on Agile teams?
In this presentation we will discuss the definition and characteristics of swarming behavior and how it applies to the work of Agile teams. Through a combination of hands on exercises and discussion, we will explore the rules that seem to work well in the natural world and the Agile development world.
The presentation will be organized in the following fashion:
1) An Introduction to Swarming 20 minutes
Go over the basics
Review animal models (ethology)
Distinguish between working on one thing and Swarming
Examples of rules for swarming
2) Swarming exercise 10 minutes
Exercise with the whole group - the swarming exercise
3) Applying Swarming to Development 20 minutes
Outline a set of rules that might be applied to a development team
Describe how Scrum/Agile methods create a system that provides a framework for swarming
4) Team Swarming Exercise 10 minutes
Split group into smaller teams - Do the role mapping game
5) Critical Factors for Swarming 20 minutes
Environmental influences
What environments support swarming?
6) Q&A 10 minutes