program selection system

Self-organization is a key concept in agile software development, but teams are often more used to taking orders than making their own decisions. Touchstones Discussion Project prepares participants to take responsibility for their own future by applying structured discussion techniques that encourage them to examine and adapt their own behavior, their peer relationships, and their culture. Those who join us in this interactive Touchstones session will experience the power of group learning in a setting that emphasizes respectful participation, collaborative skill-building, active listening, and participative leadership.

Self-organization of human beings is a tricky thing. Agile coaches, especially ScrumMasters, are constantly challenged with how to motivate/persuade/trick their teams into self-organizing and doing things, without telling them what to do, but there is very little information or training on this topic. Allowing a team to self-organize along the lines of “oh well, they’re all adults, they’ll figure it out” is just as irresponsible as reverting to the command-and control school of management. So, how should one go about it? This tutorial presents an approach utilizing leading-edge research and techniques from social complexity science and team dynamics to change the dynamics of a team with the aim of optimizing their work together.