Agile Book Club: Situational Awareness (with Jason Yip)

For a team to be more than just a conglomeration of people, they need to be able to work together effectively. Key to this collaboration is situational awareness: knowing what people are working on and when your assistance is needed. Stand-up meetings and informative workspaces are two ways of achieving situational awareness. Jason Yip joins us for an in-depth discussion.

Jason Yip is a Staff Agile Coach at Spotify, and formerly a Principal Consultant at ThoughtWorks. He specializes in applying Agile and Lean thinking, principles, and practices to the development software, teams, and organizations. He’s the author of the popular article, β€œIt’s Not Just Standing Up: Patterns for Daily Standup Meetings,” which may be found on martinfowler.com.

Reading:
πŸ“– Stand-Up Meetings
πŸ“– Informative Workspace

πŸŽ™ Discussion prompts:

  • What does situational awareness within a team mean to you, and what does it look like when it’s at its best?

  • How do stand-up meetings contribute to effective teamwork? How can they detract from it?

  • What can remote teams do to improve their situational awareness, or teamwork in general?

  • If a team is working as a collection of individuals, rather than a collaborative team, what can managers and coaches do to help?

About the Book Club

From October 2021 to August 2022, I hosted a call-in talk show based on the second edition of The Art of Agile Development. The series used the book as a jumping-off point for wide-ranging discussions about Agile ideas and practices, and had a star-studded guest list.

For an archive of past sessions, visit the book club index. For more about the book, visit the Art of Agile Development home page.

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