Our past blogs have discussed the importance of culture transformation in DevOps. After all, organizations looking to change the direction of innovation also must take their employees with them. Being able to do so requires a general mastery of soft skills in communication and collaboration.
There are numerous ways to facilitate soft skills within a technical team. On a day-to-day basis, our consultants and management make several recommendations, and we share them in this blog post.
- Standup: Common in many startups and larger organizations, the standup is a very powerful method to share knowledge about a wide range of issues. During the standup process, team members share any roadblocks, goals, and priorities that must be addressed between that meeting and the next. To make the most of a standup, assign one person to facilitate and ensure that time is respected, goals are communicated, and focus is maintained. A more visualized version of this is known as the KanBan.
- Retrospective: DevOps is all about continuously learning and experimenting. The act of retrospective explores the past round of work and reviews both wins and needing of improvement. In this process, a facilitator ensures that all group members understands the improvements being made, records any discoveries, and tests any improvements before they are made permanent.
- Andon: During the course of innovation, there will be roadblocks that stops the entire flow of innovation. The Andon collaboration process occurs when all team members investigate any errors and attempt to keep the flow of innovation moving. During this process, facilitators should manage time closely, ensure group participation, and work collaboratively to ensure the error does not repeat.
- Post-Mortem: Similar to a standup, a post-mortem occurs upon the conclusion of a project. During the post-mortem, a facilitator should use a round table format and gather information from all team members to understand what went right and wrong, and what can be improved on the next cycle.
Do any of these collaboration tactics describe the work of your team? Let us know in the comments section below.
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