Primer on the Participants of OpenAgile

Concepts and information to be included

 * Introduction: Purpose of the primer on this topic; goal or problem that it addresses

Draft for Publication
So far, we have focused on describing the OpenAgile process without focusing on who is responsible for what in the OpenAgile system. Because OpenAgile can be applied to the work of individuals, teams, and organizations, it is important to have a flexible system for how people participate. There is, in fact, only one role: the Team Member. Everyone who is involved in the work being done as part of the Cycle Plan is a Team Member, by definition. Likewise, if you are not doing work that is part of the Cycle Plan, then you are not a Team Member for that Cycle.

Paths of Service
There are many additional ways in which people can be engaged participants and serve a team or organization in OpenAgile. Depending on the needs of the Team Members, and the capacities they have built, people may arise to serve in the following ways:

Process Facilitation
Process Facilitation is a dynamic responsibility. We recognize that early in adopting OpenAgile it is often helpful to identify an individual (or a group of people) to facilitate the OpenAgile process. Whoever facilitates the process has two responsibilities. First, they help the team follow the rules of OpenAgile. Second, they develop the team's capacity to apply the OpenAgile process by themselves. Once the team is comfortable applying the process itself, the responsibility for facilitating the process decreases.

Growth Facilitation
Organic Growth sometimes needs assistance. A team using OpenAgile is delivering value organically. Growth Facilitation helps the team grow in its capacity to deliver value, and helps the delivered value to support the growth of the capacity of the team.

Growth Facilitation

Advanced Capacities
Individuals, teams, and organizations sometimes need to get Guidance from a committed person working outside of a single OpenAgile Team. There are three advanced paths of service: Tutor, Mentor, and Catalyst. These tend to be followed by people who prefer to work in support of multiple teams, a community or an organization. For more information, visit www.openagile.com.

OpenAgile Teams
The word “team” is used in many contexts and means many things. OpenAgile uses the word in a precise and specific way. An OpenAgile Team is a self-organizing group of people committed to working together to deliver value to Stakeholders. Here are some of the details about OpenAgile teams.

Self-Organizing Behaviour
Self-organizing is about making individual choices about how one can best contribute to delivering value. In OpenAgile, self-organizing means that we volunteer for tasks instead of doing them based on a tightly defined role or having our boss or manager tell us what to do. The Cycle Plan is created by the OpenAgile Team, and every Team Member is responsible for completing the whole Cycle Plan. Sometimes that means taking a task that we might not be totally comfortable with.

Even in OpenAgile there are limits to self-organization. The Learning Circle tells us that we need Guidance. It goes without saying that we should be open to following the Guidance we receive. Moreover, a team may give up some authority to self-organize in order to have a strong Process Facilitator or Growth Facilitator.

OpenAgile is most often used with small groups of people. Of course, OpenAgile can be used for goals where less or more people are involved. Naturally, when an individual uses OpenAgile for a goal where they are the only person working, then they must be completely self-organizing. Likewise, with very large groups, it may be better to form many teams.

Success Factors for Productive OpenAgile Teams
There are several factors to consider when creating an OpenAgile Team in order for it to have the best chance of being highly productive.

1) Small number of people. We usually have less than twelve team members.

2) Complementary skills. We support each other.

3) Common purpose. In OpenAgile this is the overall Goal as well as the details of the Cycle Plan.

4) Specific performance objectives. We should be able to measure our results.

5) Common agreed upon working approach. The OpenAgile system is the heart of this working approach.

6) Team members hold each other mutually accountable. As a team we make and keep commitments, and adjust our behaviour as we learn.

Large Groups
OpenAgile can be applied to communities and organizations to achieve goals beyond the ability of small teams. Large groups use longer Cycles and may have teams within the group that use many shorter Cycles. For more details, visit www.openagile.com.

Stakeholders
We recognize that there are people other than Team Members who are affected by OpenAgile. Stakeholders are the recipients of the value that is being delivered; however, they do not necessarily have a role on the OpenAgile Team. Examples include owners, customers, employees, family members, trusted advisers, and the community.

Value is defined in relation to the stakeholders.

Value is defined as a characteristic deemed desirable by stakeholders that is measured in relation to a goal and verified by achieving the intended results by the end of a Cycle.