Agile2014

### Mob Programming - Enabling The Self Organizing Team



>Leadership is “the process of creating an environment in which people become empowered.” -- Gerald M. Weinberg.





"Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done." -- From the Principles behind the Agile Manifesto. This is fundamental to the Agile approach: Individuals, Environment, Trust.



**Leadership: Self-Organizing Teams.**

This presentation will focus on the nature of "Self-Organizing teams" as a leadership approach for "empowering people". We'll introduce and discuss the concept of "Self-Organizing teams" from the Agile Principles, and explore how the team I am part of embodies this concept.



**Leadership: Provide an environment of excellence**

We'll discuss the conditions that must be present to enable "self-organizing teams", and explore the idea that leadership must provide an environment where people can excel in their work, and excel in their life. We'll see how the specific approach we follow at my workplace (Mob Programming) both enables and enhances self-organizing.



**Leadership: Individuals and Interactions**

We discovered and developed our Mob Programming approach based on the Agile idea "We Value Individuals and Interactions". We believe this is a critical aspect of Agile Software Development (and software development in general.) There will be a brief introduction to the concept of Mob Programming, and I'll share a few key practices we've adopted that allow a team of developers, QA, and business people to communicate well and work together productively.



Mob Programming is a "whole team approach" to software development. Similar to pair programming, but with more folks. We've been Mob Programming in our daily work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for almost 3 years. You can read more about it here: [Mob Programming Site](http://bit.ly/12oS1j6). We think of it as "All the brilliant people working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same place, and on the same computer." It might sound a bit extreme, but we have found it to be a powerful way to interact and remain productive and highly effective in a sustainable manner.



**Leadership: Identify/Solve Problems at the Source**

Additionally, we have found our Self-Organizing Mob Programming approach helps eliminate (or at least lessen the effects of) many problems that typically plague software development efforts. I'll draw from some of the common problems seen in software development and teams to explore how our Mob Programming approach has lessened or eliminated them for us.



**Leadership: Reflect, Tune, Adjust frequently**

We'll wrap up by sharing an effective approach to retrospectives that we follow and which has worked nicely for us.