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How Does An Agile Introvert Work On An Agile Team?

Barbara A. Carkenord, CBAP®, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, PMI-PBA®

Director of Business Analysis Practice RMC Learning Solutions

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About Barbara Carkenord, CBAP®, PMP®, PMI-ACP®, PMI-PBA®

•  Best-Selling Author: –  Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis –  Managing Business Analysts (Contributing Author)

–  CBAP®/CCBA® Exam Prep

•  Actively involved in IIBA®; original contributor to A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide)

•  Proud Introvert!

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How Does an Introvert Work On an Agile Team?

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Recommended Reading

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Publisher Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. NY. 2012, 2013.

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The Success of Extroversion

•  Culture of personality

•  Cooperative teamwork

•  Culture of celebrity

•  Open office concept

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An Introvert …

•  Is energized by spending time alone

•  Prefers a lower level of outside stimulation

•  Works slowly with deep concentration

•  Listens more than talks

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Myths About Introverts

•  Shy •  Don’t like to talk •  Aloof •  Don’t have fun

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Not An “Either-Or” Characteristic

Introversion Extroversion

Anxious (shy)

Stable

Calm extroverts

Anxious or impulsive extroverts Anxious introverts

Calm introverts

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Characteristics of Introverts

•  Low tolerance of stimuli

•  Desire to think deeply

•  Desire to talk about complex topics

•  Love problem solving

•  Need time alone to recharge

•  Listen & observe intently

•  Risk averse

•  Sensitive

•  Work well with structured blocks of time

•  Not interested in small talk

•  Bookish

•  Serious

•  Contemplative

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Famous Introverts

•  Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi •  Warren Buffet •  Eleanor Roosevelt •  Charles Darwin •  Marie Curie •  Hillary Clinton •  Bill Gates

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Characteristics of Extroverts

•  Expansive •  Sociable, love to talk •  Energized in groups •  Gregarious •  Excitable •  Dominant, leadership

•  Assertive •  Active •  Risk taker

•  Being alone drains energy, may cause anxiety

•  Outer directed •  Lighthearted •  Bold

•  Comfortable in spotlight •  Persuasive •  Thick skinned

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Famous Extroverts

•  Franklin D. Roosevelt •  Bill Clinton •  George W. Bush •  Margaret Thatcher •  Muhammad Ali •  Marie Antoinette •  Winston Churchill

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Why We Need Both

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The Value of Working Alone

Creative people tend to be introverts

•  “Solitude can be a catalyst to innovation”

•  Developing new techniques

•  Creating new philosophies

•  Writing profound books

•  Scientific breakthroughs

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Studies Have Shown …

•  Musicians who practice alone are better

•  College students who study alone learn more over time

•  Elite athletes spend unusual amounts of time in solitary practice

•  Coding War Games*

*Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams[2, Tom Demarco and Timothy Lister, 1987. Study: Coding War Games. Identify characteristics of the best and worst computer programmers. The best programmers were 10 times better than the worst without any additional time. The winners worked for companies which gave them privacy, personal space, and control over their physical environments and freedom from interruption.

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Deliberate Practice

1.  Identify tasks or knowledge that is just out of your reach

2.  Strive to upgrade your performance

3.  Monitor your progress

4.  Revise accordingly

Source: The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Authors: K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer, Psychological Review 1993, Vol. 100. No. 3, 363-406 Copyright 1993 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

Key to exceptional achievement

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Is Agile for Introverts?

What characteristics of agile would challenge an introvert?

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Characteristics of Agile Teams

•  Shared workspace

•  Collaboration

•  Pair programming

•  Rhythm of the team

•  Fast decision making

•  Welcome changes

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Agile Guiding Principles

•  Most efficient and effective method of communication is face-to-face

•  Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project

•  Simplicity― only necessary features

•  Give the team autonomy and trust them to get the job done

Source: PMI-ACP® Exam Prep, Premier Edition, RMC Publications, Inc., 2012, page 25

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Teams Are Empowered to:

•  Create plans

•  Develop a product vision

•  Prioritize features

•  Review each other’s work

•  Hold each other to commitments

•  Help each other (generalizing specialists)

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How Does an Introvert Work On an Agile Team?

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Agile Characteristics That Support Introverts

•  Self organizing team

•  Commons and caves

•  Rolling wave planning

•  Focus on risk mitigation

•  Desire for innovation

•  Virtual tools

•  Retrospectives, process improvement

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If You’re An Introvert

Be your most productive self…

•  Embrace it! •  Talk about

“thinking time” •  Let your team

know your work preferences

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In an Agile Workplace

•  Find a quiet space to think

•  Balance your alone time and team time

•  Let others know when you are available to talk (e.g. shared calendar)

•  Use headphones

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Introverted Business Stakeholders

•  Nurture a personal relationship

•  Use social media, online collaboration

•  Interviews ― better than workshops

•  Surveys ― better than focus groups

•  Written requirements ― better than verbal

•  Give them time before asking for sign-off

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Introverted Technical Team Members

•  Nurture a personal relationship

•  Use social media, online collaboration

•  Written requirements are better than verbal

•  Allow time for complex conversations

•  Encourage questions via text

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Be an Extrovert When You Need To

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Business Analysis Work

Introverted •  Careful planning •  Don’t jump on the

first solution idea •  Risk analysis •  Listening •  Writing, modeling •  Reading, researching

complex systems •  Problem solving

Extroverted •  Facilitate group

discussions (leadership) •  Resolve requirements

conflicts •  Present solution ideas •  Work with executives

and sponsors •  Communicate

requirements to technical team

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Is Collaboration Better?

•  Successful collaborations – Open source software development

(Linux) – Wikipedia

•  They were asynchronous and anonymous

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Questions and Comments

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•  Connect on LinkedIn: Barbara Carkenord

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•  Visit us at ba.rmcls.com

info@rmcproject.com • 952.846.4484 www.rmcls.com