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| <org.eclipse.epf.uma:PracticeDescription xmi:version="2.0" |
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| version="7.5.0"> |
| <mainDescription><p> Whole teams are self-organizing, cross-functional, fluid, and highly collaborative.&nbsp;</p>
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| <p><i>Self-organization </i>means&nbsp;that&nbsp;everyone on the team works together 
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| to determine the best way to perform the&nbsp;work required fulfilling the goals 
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| of the team.&nbsp;</p>
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| <p>A <i>whole team </i>is cross-functional, containing people with the combined 
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| expertise to perform the work.&nbsp;This includes people with modeling skills, 
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| testing skills, management skills, and programming skills. It also includes 
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| stakeholders with the required domain knowledge.&nbsp;</p>
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| <p><i>Fluidity</i> refers to the idea that the team composition will vary over 
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| time.&nbsp;For example, at the beginning of the project, you may need someone 
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| with deep build experience to help organize the team's build strategy, but after 
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| this work is finished, this person leaves the team.&nbsp;Whole teams work in&nbsp;a 
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| highly collaborative manner, adopting the most effective communication techniques 
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| for their situations and striving to work together as closely as possible. It 
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| is through collaboration that people make each other better. </p>
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| <p>
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| The goal of the&nbsp;Whole Team&nbsp;practice is to ensure that:
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| </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li> <strong>Everyone has a sense of belonging on the team, of being in it together.</strong>&nbsp;There 
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| should be no "outsiders," no "them" but only "us.&quot;&nbsp;When everyone 
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| is on the team,&nbsp;people&nbsp;avoid&nbsp;blaming others. Instead, there 
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| is&nbsp;a sense of&nbsp;collective ownership. </li>
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| <li> <strong>The team includes everyone required to build the system.</strong>&nbsp;Ideally, 
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| you want a self-contained team that has the skills and knowledge to get the 
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| job done.&nbsp;Realistically, this is not&nbsp;always possible at all points, 
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| and sometimes you will need to bring in outside experts for brief periods 
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| of time for specific goals.&nbsp;For example, you might need someone with 
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| experience at setting up the database at the beginning of the project or, 
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| in the middle of the project, someone with specific expertise in a certain 
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| aspect of the domain. </li>
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| <li> <strong>Everyone on the team contributes any way that they can.</strong>&nbsp;With 
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| a whole team approach there is a move&nbsp;away from specialists who focus 
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| on a specific category of work, such as&nbsp;analysis or&nbsp;database administration,&nbsp;towards 
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| generalizing specialists who may have that expertise&nbsp;but will also work 
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| outside of their specialty to help&nbsp;address the current need.&nbsp; &nbsp; 
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| </li>
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| <li> <strong>The team is self-organizing.</strong>&nbsp;The people best-suited 
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| to plan and organize the work are the ones who do the work. This results in&nbsp;better 
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| estimates (particularly when people know that they'll be held to those estimates), 
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| more realistic schedules, and increased acceptance of the plan by the team. 
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| </li>
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| <li> <strong><strong>The team maintains a sustainable pace.</strong></strong>&nbsp; 
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| Just as you don't sprint throughout a marathon, you can't go for weeks or 
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| months at a time working unrealistic levels of overtime.&nbsp;Tired people 
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| are not productive people. </li>
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| <li> <strong>Everyone works together closely.&nbsp;</strong>Not only is it safer, 
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| it is better to ask others for help when you need it.&nbsp;Another&nbsp;strategy 
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| for improving collaboration within the team is to have daily standup (scrum) 
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| meetings where you share your current status and explain any problems that 
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| you might have.&nbsp;Non-solo development practices, such as pair programming 
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| and modeling with others, are also common in the Whole Team approach. </li>
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| </ul></mainDescription> |
| <additionalInfo><p> For more information on the Whole Team approach: </p>
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| <ul>
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| <li> 
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| <p class="parseasinTitle"> <span id="btAsinTitle"><i>Extreme Programming Explained: 
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| Embrace Change</i> (2nd Edition)</span> by Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres 
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| (Addison-Wesley Professional, 2004)</p>
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| </li>
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| <li> 
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| <p class="parseasinTitle"> <a href="http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/generalizingSpecialists.htm" target="_blank">Generalizing 
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| Specialists</a> by Scott W. Ambler </p>
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| </li>
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| </ul></additionalInfo> |
| <problem><p> The single most important productivity factor is the people on the team and 
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| the way that they interact.&nbsp;The Whole Team practice describes strategies 
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| to increase overall productivity through streamlining the organization structure 
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| of the team and through streamlining collaboration within the team. </p></problem> |
| <application><p>
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| These are the three best ways to understand this practice:
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| </p>
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| <ol>
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| <li>
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| Familiarize yourself with its overall structure -- what it is in it and how it is organized.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| Read the main description to understand the thinking behind the practice.
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| </li>
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| <li>
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| As appropriate, read these detailed guidelines: <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.whole_team.base/guidances/guidelines/maintain_a_sustainable_pace_A132240B.html"
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| guid="_KzYHYMLmEdysDsQChI42QQ">Maintain a Sustainable Pace</a>, <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.whole_team.base/guidances/guidelines/daily_meetings_3690A7AD.html"
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| guid="_251UMCmREdyy6Oss2-0s1g">Daily Meetings</a>, and <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.whole_team.base/guidances/guidelines/self_organize_work_assignments_F47FC314.html"
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| guid="_rmBEkJjsEduad8I_c-ogIA">Self-Organize Work Assignments</a>.
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| </li>
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| </ol>
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| <p>
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| For more instructions on how to adopt this practice, see <a class="elementLink"
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| href="./../../../practice.mgmt.whole_team.base/guidances/roadmaps/how_to_adopt_F55EBFB2.html"
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| guid="_oHdNYOMPEdyM47cGD2jiaQ">How to Adopt the Whole Team Practice</a>.
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| </p></application> |
| </org.eclipse.epf.uma:PracticeDescription> |
