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| <mainDescription><p>
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| A "self-organizing team" has the authority to choose the work that it will perform and the responsibility to do that
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| work in the way that it chooses.&nbsp; These are important aspects of a self-organizing team:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <b>The team selects its own work.</b> At the beginning of a work cycle, the team collectively selects the work from
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| the prioritized <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../core.mgmt.slot.base/workproducts/project_work_slot_F12BAC46.html"
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| guid="_1QZI8EfUEdyiPI8btkmvmw">[Project Work]</a>. Work selection is performed within given constraints, including
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| the priorities set by stakeholders, time (such as the length of the current work cycle, iteration or project
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| increment), the budget, and the skills of team members.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Individuals select their own work.</b> Someone will choose to do something because they are good at it and know
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| that they can do the work effectively, because they want to gain more experience at something and hope to improve
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| their skills by working with someone with such experience, or because they know that the work needs to be done and
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| that it's their turn to do so. Although an individual fulfills one or more roles on a project team, that doesn't
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| imply that the person is constrained to doing only specific types of work.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>The team determines how to perform the work.</b> At the beginning of a work cycle, the team holds an "all hands"
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| planning meeting where it determines the general strategy for doing the work and the tasks required for that. More
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| detailed planning, if required, will be done on a just-in-time&nbsp;basis by the individuals doing the work. Notice
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| that the team is still constrained by your organization's standards, technical infrastructure, regulations, and so
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| on.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Everyone commits to the work.</b> The team commits to accomplishing the work that it has agreed to do by the end
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| of the&nbsp;work cycle. Individuals also commit to doing the work that they say they will do in that cycle,
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| although as the&nbsp;time progresses, various tasks may be renegotiated as required.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>The team coordinates regularly.</b> To ensure that the work is accomplished, the team must coordinate its
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| efforts effectively. This is typically done through daily standup (scrum) meetings of the team and impromptu
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| discussions between individuals.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <p>
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| This is a participatory approach to decision-making, where everyone has the opportunity to provide input and to listen
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| to the decision-making process. The goals are to make decisions at the right place within the organizational structure
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| and to empower teams by giving them both the responsibility and the authority to get the job done. Giving them control
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| over their work improves motivation among team members and, thereby, their productivity.
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| </p>
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| <h3>
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| Project manager responsibilities
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| There is still work for the project manager on self-organizing teams:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li>
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| <b>Provide leadership.</b> Team culture and project vision must be nurtured and must evolve throughout the project,
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| and direction must be provided to the team.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Mediate disagreements.</b> The manager must be prepared to step in and make a decision when other team members
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| are unable to reach a decision.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Ensure that team members increase their skill sets.</b> From time to time, the manager may need to motivate
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| individuals to take on new tasks that are outside of their comfort zones or to work with others to help those
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| people gain new skills.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Ensure that the team respects their limits.</b> Self-organizing teams have the authority to make decisions
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| within the scope of their responsibility, but that doesn't mean that they get to rethink everything that they feel
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| like changing. For example, the development team must still conform to the technical infrastructure and to the
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| business strategy of your organization; they probably do not have the authority to change these things even though
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| they may not fully agree with them. When an issue falls outside of their scope of responsibility, the team must
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| either accept it or collaborate with the people with the appropriate authority.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| <b>Summarize the project plan.</b> External stakeholders, such as senior management or business representatives not
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| actively involved with the team, will want to know the current status of the project and the team's current plans.
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| The project manager may be required to summarize and communicate this information to those people.
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| </li>
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| </ul>
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| <h3>
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| What "self-organizing" does not mean
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| </h3>
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| <p>
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| The concept of self-organizing teams often sounds like anarchy or non-management to traditional IT professionals, but
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| this is not true. Although self-organization relies on team members being responsible and mature, it is tempered by the
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| guiding hand of a good project manager. It is also tempered by organizational standards, infrastructure, and external
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| regulations. "Self-organizing" doesn't mean that you have complete freedom to do what you want.
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| </p>
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| <p>
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| Self-organization isn't necessarily a consensus-based approach either. Sometimes, individuals will disagree with a
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| decision but will choose to go along with the will of the team. Consensus decision-making isn't ruled out by this
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| approach. but it certainly isn't required.
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| </p></mainDescription> |
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