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| <sections xmi:id="_oNuxsWE-EdqnIZeW8YpHcA" name="General " guid="_oNuxsWE-EdqnIZeW8YpHcA"> |
| <sectionDescription><a id="Prep" name="Prep"></a> |
| <p> |
| Teams are made up of individuals with an imperfect balance of technical expertise, domain or customer awareness, and |
| people skills. The team must continually identify and improve those skill areas that are lacking. The XP Coach helps |
| ensure that this happens. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| The coach must always be aware of what difficulties the team is having in succeeding on their project. Some of these |
| will be evident, often communicated directly by the team. Some will be subtle with little awareness on the team that |
| there is a problem. To maintain this awareness, the coach must balance time spent in the trenches with the team, |
| observing specific use of the practices, with time spent reflecting on the team's capabilities, unencumbered by the |
| direct pressures of the project. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| With an awareness of where the team needs improvement, the coach must help the team integrate improvement activities |
| into their work. Improvement activities need to be prioritized just as User Stories do. Different options will exist to |
| address skill improvement needs. The coach should be familiar with a wide variety of activities, courses, and games to |
| help people further their skills in a given practice. The coach acts as a conduit that connects the team with the |
| expertise required to improve a skill whether that other resource is in the organization or is an external resource. |
| </p> |
| <p> |
| One of the most effective tools to help the team identify areas for improvement is the Retrospective, a form of project |
| review. Techniques for this are described in Norm Kerth's book, <i>Project Retrospectives</i> [<a |
| class="elementLinkWithUserText" |
| href="./../../xp/guidances/supportingmaterials/xp_and_agile_process_references,6.191633934532389E-306.html#KER01" |
| guid="6.191633934532389E-306">KER01</a>]. Many teams have adapted the tools from the book to perform abbreviated |
| retrospectives after each iteration in addition to the more comprehensive session held at the completion of a full |
| project. |
| </p></sectionDescription> |
| </sections> |
| <purpose><a id="XE_improve_team_skills__activity_definition" name="XE_improve_team_skills__activity_definition"></a> 
 |
| <ul>
 |
| <li>
 |
| Help the team members identify skills that need improvement and implement activities to improve those skills.
 |
| </li>
 |
| </ul></purpose> |
| </org.eclipse.epf.uma:TaskDescription> |