As Agile becomes better known, many troubled teams are deciding to adopt Agile practices to help fix their problems. Most clients seeking our help in Agile adoption first pursue process and tools. The more dysfunctional their teams, the less tolerance they have for focusing on individuals and their interactions.

We have found that the most effective teams– those that show a tremendous improvement in productivity and value to their organizations – have individual team members who take ownership, act responsibly, and are disciplined in recognizing and responding to change at a personal level. These individuals adopt Agile practices because they have made a conscious decision to do so.

In this article we present a necessary skill that individual team members must have or acquire for Agile practices to be potent – to improve the team’s productivity and increase the value it gives the organization.

Look for the full article in the next issue of the Agile Journal. (July 14, 2007)