Team Assessment
From OpenAgile
There are two parts to this assessment tool. The first part is the Assessment Guide and the second part is the actual spreadsheet used to track assessment over time.
Assessment Guide
Purpose – To track the adoption of OpenAgile practices and principles in a single team:
This assessment is used to find out which rules of OpenAgile are currently being practiced. It is used to track the team's progress over time. This list also helps us track the development of a team through the stages of Formed, Launched, Stable, Performing, Sustainable, and Innovating.
Running the workshop:
This assessment tool is designed to be used by an individual who is deeply familiar with the moment-to-moment activities of a team. This may be a Team Member, or someone serving to do Process Facilitation. It may also be done by a person acting as a Catalyst within an organization or community. The person who is using the tool will go through item by item through all the listed practices and evaluate the team's actions relative to the practice. Practices are listed in order of which level of team development they are normally found. There are also a number of OpenAgile practices which are not part of a particular level. Instead, these practices are adopted by the team as they see fit.
Scoring
Each item in the list is either scored from 0 to 1 or from 0 to 4. Scoring must be whole numbers (0.5 is not allowed). An item with a 0 to 1 scoring is essentially True or False, or On and Off. Zero is false or off. One is true or on. An item with a 0 to 4 scoring gives a bit of range and subtlety so that a Zero still means a complete lack of the item and a four means that that practice is being done perfectly. Please note that the scores do not include weighting!
What follows is a summary explanation of each practice in the order in which they occur in the evaluation spreadsheet.
Formed (Level 1):
Description of this level: the team is ready to start working on a project together or they have already been working together and are using OpenAgile to begin the process of getting better at delivering, learning and working together.
Team agrees to learn and practice Truthfulness
Team members understand the basic idea of Truthfulness including both honesty and integrity. Based on that understanding, all team members verbally acknowledge that they will learn more about Truthfulness and will try to apply it to the team environment.
Team agrees to learn and practice Consultative Decision-Making
Team members understand the basic idea of Consultative Decision-Making as a method for reaching united action. Based on that understanding, all team members verbally acknowledge that they will learn more about Consultative Decision-Making and will try to use it to make decisions in the team environment.
Team goes through a process of Reflection, Learning, Planning and Action in short Cycle
Team members regularly and systematically recall events, processes and outcomes, learn from them, and then plan future action that is informed by that learning. At this level, this is simply a rating about if this is happening, not if it is done as part of, for example, an Engagement Meeting.
Team is aware of the broad goal
Team members know enough about why they are working together to actually get a start on doing some work to deliver value to stakeholders. At this level, this does not require a clear goal, nor actual measurement of results.
Prospective Team membership determined
Individuals know if they are on the team, but details such as start dates, time commitment, overall duration, and starting role may not be established. There may also be a number of individuals who may be on the team, but a final decision has not yet been reached.
Team agrees to work towards Launched (Level 2)
All the individuals on the team are aware of the requirements for the Launched level and are in verbal agreement that they would like to work on satisfying those requirements. This does not require a specific plan or timeline.
Launched (Level 2):
Description of this level: the team is systematically applying OpenAgile to their work by putting in place some basic processes and practices.
Work Cycle is a consistent length
The team has agreed to and implemented a Cycle duration. It does not need to be reasonable, but rather the decision on the length should have taken into considerations about creating a regular rhythm in the team's work processes.
Team is committed to a single clearly-articulated and well-defined project or operational Goal
The team may call this a “vision statement”, “purpose” or “objective” instead of a Goal. A single team should have one and only one Goal. Every team member verbally agrees to work towards this Goal. The goal is written down and everyone on the team as well as all the stakeholders of the team understand it in its written form.
Team has Cycle Engagement meetings
Most of the members of the Team get together at the start of most Cycles for an Engagement meeting. At this meeting, discussion need not be structured. At this level, it is the creation of a space in the schedule for everyone to recognize that a Cycle has come to a close and share what is in store for the next Cycle.
Team has Progress meetings
Most of the members of the Team get together several times in a Cycle for a quick status update. At this meeting, discussion need not be structured. At this level, it is the creation of a space in the schedule for everyone to systematically communicate with each other, to promote visibility and reduce errors or re-work.
Team members are all at “Readiness” level
Team members have read the OpenAgile Primer and scored 100% on the OpenAgile Readiness Knowledge Test (both available online for free at http://www.openagile.com). Does not require certification.
Team agrees to work towards Stable (Level 3)
All the individuals on the team are aware of the requirements for the Stable level and are in verbal agreement that they would like to work on satisfying those requirements. This does not require a specific plan or timeline.
Stable (Level 3):
Description of this level: the team has developed a comfortable rhythm so that the basic practices of OpenAgile are done consistently and without effort or anxiety.
Ten Cycles completed (at least)
The team needs at least ten Cycles to prove that it is stable. Stability indicates that the team has put in place and maintained all the rules from the Formed and Launched levels, as well as built capacity to understand the process, apply it with discipline, and use the process to grow.
Key performance metric for Goal is defined and measured
The team implements one metric that will give them a clear way of seeing their progress towards their goal. This metric may combine a number of measurements (e.g. ROI is a metric that includes measures of both costs and returns). This performance metric should be updated at least once every Cycle.
All Team members are at the “Team Member” level
Team members have read the Team Member manual, attended a Team Member training, scored 100% on the OpenAgile Team Member test, confirmed their references, received mentoring, and agreed to the OpenAgile code of ethics (all details available online at http://www.openagile.com). Does not require certification.
One Team member is at the “Process Facilitation” level
Process Facilitation requires strong knowledge and understanding of OpenAgile as well as excellent facilitation skills. Building these capacities requires reading, training and mentoring, similar to the Team Member level (details available online at http://www.openagile.com). Does not require certification.
One Team member is at the “Growth Facilitation” level==== Growth Facilitation requires strong knowledge and understanding of capacity-building and of value vs. waste, as well as excellent facilitation skills. Building these capacities requires reading, training and mentoring, similar to the Team Member level (details available online at http://www.openagile.com). Does not require certification.
For “projects”, Work Cycle is at most 1/5th duration of overall effort
Projects have a definite start and end. Not all work done with OpenAgile will be project work. This item is not applicable to teams doing ongoing management or operations.
Cycle Engagement Meeting is timeboxed
Every Cycle, a fixed amount of time is set aside for the Engagement Meeting whose outcome is a Cycle Plan. Timeboxing is a discipline where regardless of the state of the meeting, it is closed at the end of the time allocated for it. For example, a meeting that is timeboxed to 2 hours, will end at the 2 hour point even if there are unresolved items on the agenda.
Engagement meeting includes Reflection
Inside the Engagement Meeting, the team sets aside time to deliberately review events, feelings and results from the Cycle that just concluded. Reflection is participatory and may include stakeholders. Participants in reflection are aware that the capacity for detachment helps make reflection more effective.
Engagement meeting includes Learning
Inside the Engagement Meeting, the team sets aside time to deliberately identify what has been learned over the past Cycle, including skills, concepts, and feedback from outside the team. Learning is participatory and may include stakeholders. Participants in learning are aware that the capacity for search helps make learning more effective.
Engagement meeting includes Planning (choosing Value Drivers to work on)
Inside the Engagement Meeting, the team sets aside time to deliberately create a plan that is based on learning. The plan includes Value Drivers and Tasks. Planning is participatory and may include stakeholders. Participants in planning are aware that the capacity for love helps make planning more effective.
The whole Team commits to the Cycle Plan
All the members of the Team are aware of the details of the Cycle Plan and both individually and collectively agree to execute the plan. Stakeholders cannot exert pressure on the Team Members to either limit their commitment or over-commit.
Team holds Progress Meeting at regular intervals at least four times per Cycle
The members of the Team get together to verbally share their status with each other. At this level, no particular structure is required for Progress Meetings. However, there must be at least four Progress Meetings every Cycle, and they must be evenly spaced.
Non-leveled OpenAgile rules adoption level at 50% for at least 3 Cycles in a row
There are several details of OpenAgile that must eventually be adopted. However, these “non-leveled” items can be adopted by a team based on need, comfort and capacity. For this level, half of those items must have been evaluated at full score collectively for at least 3 Cycles in a row.
Team agrees to work towards Performing (Level 4)
All the individuals on the team are aware of the requirements for the Performing level and are in verbal agreement that they would like to work on satisfying those requirements. This does not require a specific plan or timeline.
