Part 8: Unleash Your Scrum with Multi-Skilled Professionals — Creating Personal Motivation and Ability

19 min readFeb 24, 2024

Setting a powerful goal for change is a strong motivator. In the previous article, we explored how organizational goals drive the need for specific optimization goals and the capabilities required to achieve them. This alignment creates a sense of tension with the status quo, fueling a sense of urgency for transformation. We also identified crucial behaviors that help teams progress toward those goals.

But this may not be enough. If the goals don’t align with team members’ personal motivations and aspirations, the drive for change may falter. Additionally, we may lack the necessary skills even with the desire to change. Dedicated learning is essential to acquire the expertise needed to work and operate differently.

Let’s dive into experiments designed to connect higher-order goals with the team’s personal aspirations and create a collaborative learning space where everyone can acquire the skills to embrace new behaviors. These experiments will focus on harnessing the power of personal motivation and personal ability, the first two sources of influence in the Influencer Change Model.

If you’re joining me for the first time, I recommend reading the previous parts for context:

Unleash Your Scrum with Multi-Skilled Professionals — Series Outline

Chapter 10

10.3. Creating Personal Motivation

Try … Making Change Goals, Values, and Principles Tangible and Relatable

People are more inclined to embrace change when they comprehend the higher-order goals, values, and principles propelling it, as this understanding often resonates with their personal aspirations on a similar abstract level. Exploring and acknowledging the driving higher-order facets personally and at a team level is crucial.

Making these abstract goals tangible and relatable is pivotal. This can be achieved by illustrating how behavioral adjustments contribute to discernible improvements in customers’ lives or broader organizational or societal objectives.

A practical step to kickstart this exploration is by organizing a workshop. In this setting, team members can collaboratively map out how transitioning to a multi-skilled paradigm would enhance their capabilities, significantly impact customers, and align with broader organizational or societal goals. The article “Unlocking a Trove of Benefits With The Multi-Skilled Paradigm” in this series could be an inspiration for this activity. By drawing clear connections between the personal, team, and broader impacts, the workshop can help make the abstract goals of the change more tangible and relatable, promoting a deeper understanding and willingness to adapt.

Try … Aligning Team Members’ Values and Motivators

Understanding and aligning shared values, motivators, and associated behaviors can significantly propel the desired change. Engaging the team in exploring these elements together is beneficial. In “Creating Agile Organization,” Cesário Ramos and Ilia Pavlichenko offer detailed advice for aligning shared values and behavior. This exploration can be integrated into the previously mentioned workshop or conducted separately.

Clarify the goals and values driving the change towards a multi-skilled paradigm.
Discover individual team members’ values and motivators.
Identify common values and motivators within the team.
Draw connections between the team’s shared values, motivators, and the overarching goals of the change.
Discuss how these values and motivators can manifest in everyday behaviors.
List behaviors crucial for nurturing personal values and motivators and emphasizing a multi-skilled approach.
Agree on a commitment to mutual accountability and feedback mechanisms to support adherence to the identified behaviors.

For more detailed planning of specific workshop activities, consider exploring the Liberating Structures facilitation techniques that can help structure these essential conversations and explorations.

Try … One-on-Ones to Uncover Team Members’ Aspirations Beyond Core Skills

One-on-ones are an intimate conduit for sharing personal goals, values, and aspirations behind day-to-day work, developing a mutual understanding between you and each team member. These sessions may unveil that some team members already resonate with the change you aim to introduce. They could already be ready to participate as volunteers or suggest alternatives that align with or enhance change plans.

Understanding what motivates a team member can help you reframe the proposed change to link it directly to their aspirations, connecting them to the higher-order goals driving the change. These discussions may also reveal hidden skills or interests that could be instrumental in transitioning to a multi-skilled paradigm.

Consider a semi-structured format for these one-on-ones, having a general outline or set of topics to discuss while leaving ample room for open-ended conversation, thus ensuring a thorough exploration of personal aspirations and organizational change goals. This way, you can identify potential multi-skilled paradigm advocates or champions within the team that can create an atmosphere more receptive to the change.

Try … Star Map for Exploring Team-Needed Skills of Interest

A Star Map is a visual competency matrix spotlighting the cross-functionality within your team, unveiling knowledge gaps and potential bottlenecks. The rows list team members, while the columns enumerate competencies and skills crucial for delivering value. Symbols like a “Star” for expertise, a “Dot” for intermediate skill, a “Book” for desired learning, and a “Skull” for disinterest fill the matrix.

*“Creating Agile Organizations”: A Star Map Example*

Initiate a workshop to craft this matrix, guiding the team to acknowledge their present skills and identify skills they aspire to learn. This process uncovers individuals’ intrinsic motivation to grow and align with the multi-skilled paradigm, catalyzing personal and collective advancement toward achieving broader organizational objectives.

“Creating Agile Organizations” shares an excellent outline for the Star Map workshop:

Introduction to Star Map: Briefly explain the concept, purpose, and symbols used in the Star Map.
Identifying Necessary Skills and Competencies: Use group brainstorming to list the skills and competencies needed to deliver value.
Self-Assessment and Aspiration Marking: Ask team members to mark their current competencies and learning aspirations on the Star Map.
Discussion and Reflection: Discuss the observed patterns, knowledge gaps, and learning aspirations.
Setting Learning Goals: Encourage the team members to set personal learning goals based on the Star Map insights.
Action Planning: Discuss how the team will support each other in achieving these learning goals and plan follow-up sessions to track progress.

Try … Presenting Desired Changes as Multiple Options or Steps

Meeting the team where they are is essential for fostering change acceptance, as individuals inherently value their autonomy and are likely to resist imposed change. The more force is applied, the stronger the resistance encountered.

Real change is achievable when individuals have a stake in the decision-making process. Having explored the higher-level ‘why’ behind the change in the previous experiments, you can now transition to outlining ‘how’ the change could occur, respecting the team’s readiness and preferences.

Moreover, individuals tend to overestimate the losses and underestimate the gains associated with change, as it often comes with a sense of loss and uncertainty. By offering multiple pathways or gradual steps toward the desired change, you can help alleviate these concerns, allowing for a more manageable transition.

Providing various options and a phased approach can accommodate varying readiness levels within the team. For instance, a sudden shift to mob or pair programming might feel overwhelming. Instead, consider a phased approach:

Exploration Phase: Introduce the concepts through discussions, watching videos of other teams practicing these techniques, or inviting external experts for a talk.
Trial Phase: Encourage voluntary participation in short trial sessions, allowing the team to experience the benefits firsthand.
Evaluation Phase: Reflect on the trials, discussing what worked, what didn’t, and how the new practices align with personal and team values or goals.
Integration Phase: Based on feedback, tailor the practices to suit your team’s dynamics better and gradually integrate them into your regular workflow.

This approach can help you uphold individual autonomy and align the changes with personal and team values.

Try … Encouraging Volunteers to Adopt Desired Behaviors First

Following exploring higher-level goals and potential pathways to change, engaging volunteers to adopt the desired behaviors first can transition the team from hypothetical understanding to empirical experience. Volunteers eager to embrace the change can pioneer the transition, providing firsthand insights into the practicalities and benefits.

Their experiences serve a dual purpose:

Firstly, they navigate the initial path of change, making necessary adjustments based on real-world feedback.
Secondly, their shared stories provide vicarious learning opportunities for hesitant team members, reducing uncertainty and portraying a tangible change narrative.

This proactive volunteer involvement bridges the gap between conceptual understanding and practical application, nudging the team towards the multi-skilled paradigm through a blend of direct and vicarious experiences.

Try … Crafting Vicarious Experiences and Sharing Stories

Change can be bolstered by crafting vicarious experiences and sharing stories that resonate with the team.

Consider inviting speakers or arranging visits to organizations that embody the desired behaviors.
Attending external events can offer a broader perspective and expose the team to success stories from different settings.
Additionally, role-playing activities can provide a reflective mirror, helping the team visualize current behaviors juxtaposed against the desired ones.

By engaging in these activities, you provide a model for the desired change and create a narrative demonstrating the practical feasibility and benefits of transitioning to a multi-skilled paradigm.

Try … Gamifying the Change Process

As part of the experiment, we can develop game elements, like points, badges, and prizes, that are meaningful and aligned with the team’s values and objectives, promoting the multi-skilled paradigm shift in a fun, engaging manner.

Let’s consider three practices as an example.

Mob programming

We can introduce “Mob Points” for the team to score for collaborative problem-solving, creativity, and efficiency. “Mob Master” badges can help the team celebrate achieving certain milestones or tackling complex challenges together.

Pair programming

“Pair Bonds” can be earned for diverse pairings, encouraging members to work with different teammates. “Pair Streak” can be a reward for consecutive successful pair programming sessions.

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

BDD is an excellent cooperation and specification/test automation framework. It prompts the team to use Three Amigo sessions to craft and automate test scenarios together. Automating a specific acceptance scenario from an idea to Done can be an excellent daily goal. “Three Amigo Achievement” can be introduced to allow three Amigo groups to score points for successfully automating acceptance scenarios during a day.

The accumulated points can be redeemed for small tangible rewards and experiences. For instance:

Redeemable for team outings, lunches, or coffee runs.
Convertible into “learning hours” where teams can use them to explore new skills during work hours.
Exchanged for small personal development stipends or books.

Creating Personal Motivation: Key Findings and Takeaways

Fostering a multi-skilled Scrum team begins with aligning organizational goals with the personal aspirations of its members. Purposeful workshops focused on making change goals tangible, relatable, and connected to individual values serve as a powerful catalyst. One-on-one conversations are equally pivotal, offering a space to explore personal development desires and identify potential champions of change within the team. Visual tools like the Star Map illuminate current skills and desired competencies, empowering individual goal-setting and collaborative strategies to bridge team-wide knowledge gaps.

Remember, change comes more easily when presented as a set of options or a phased process. Providing choices builds a sense of autonomy, while gradual implementation acknowledges individual readiness levels and eases anxieties about navigating the unknown. Inviting eager volunteers to pioneer new behaviors is even more powerful. Their firsthand experiences and successes provide role models and vicarious learning opportunities for others, easing the transition for the entire team. Sharing inspiring success stories from other teams adds a relatable dimension. These narratives demonstrate the feasibility and transformative impact of a multi-skilled mindset through guest speakers, external visits, or engaging role-playing activities.

Lastly, gamification can inject fun and excitement into the change process. Introducing elements like points, badges, and rewards that align with the team’s values provides an enjoyable way to track progress and celebrate milestones on the journey towards a multi-skilled Scrum team.

10.4. Creating Personal Ability

Creating Learning Opportunities

Try … Setting Skill Development Goals

The Star Map, jointly crafted by the team, serves as a potent tool for spotlighting skill gaps crucial for delivering value alongside unveiling personal interests in honing additional skills beyond core specializations. This map lays a solid foundation for articulating individual and collective skill development goals. A clear learning trajectory emerges by dissecting these goals into manageable mini-goals that create tailored learning agendas. Identifying requisite resources and the level of reciprocal involvement paves the way for advancing these agendas.

Periodic reviews of the Star Map provide a structured avenue for assessing progress toward achieving the outlined goals. Such reviews are instrumental in making necessary adjustments and adaptations, ensuring the learning journey remains aligned with evolving team dynamics and product needs.

Try … Introducing Slack Time

In the nascent stages of cross-functional teams, individuals often find themselves on a dual path of unlearning past practices and embracing unfamiliar ways of work. Focusing on pivotal tasks sometimes results in underutilization, which can catalyze stress. To mitigate this, introducing Slack Time, a concept derived from eXtreme Programming, can be highly beneficial. Slack Time is the practice of refraining from overloading the team with tasks, instilling some flexibility into the schedule. This unstructured time can be harnessed for self-improvement, learning, or exploring new ideas, potentially enriching the project or the team’s skill repository.

Tom DeMarco eloquently elucidates the essence of slack time in his book “Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency”:

“Slack is the time when reinvention happens. It is a time when you are not 100 percent busy doing the operational business of your firm. Slack is the time when you are 0 percent busy. Slack at all levels is necessary to make the organization work effectively and grow. It is the lubricant of change.”

Slack time manifests in myriad forms and can be allocated towards various enriching activities:

Cross-training: Team members can impart the skills and knowledge they possess to one another.

Learning new skills: Slack time can be invested in acquiring skills that augment the team’s capabilities. This encompasses technical skills, domain knowledge, or soft skills.

Running experiments: Employing slack time to run small-scale experiments can help test new ideas or approaches.

Reducing technical debt: Refactoring code and diminishing technical debt during slack time can enhance the team’s codebase and skills.

Improving tools: Updating the tools and frameworks utilized by the team elevates efficiency while disseminating knowledge about those tools across the team.

Thinking and planning: Slack time enables team members to think, plan, and strategize for upcoming sprints.

Try … Introducing the Learning and Development (L&D) Index

The Learning and Development (L&D) Index serves as a tool to gauge and enhance learning and development initiatives within teams and across an organization. It provides a tangible measure of the time and resources devoted to team learning and skill development.

It’s essential to reach a consensus on allocating time and resources for learning and development in each sprint. A higher L&D index signifies a pronounced focus on continuous learning.

Here are some common metrics that teams might consider tracking:

Training hours per team member
Completion rates for training programs and courses
Application of new skills and knowledge in work settings
Team satisfaction with learning resources and opportunities

Deciding how to measure each metric is crucial. Establishing a baseline by recording the initial values for each metric can provide a solid starting point. The team should also set targets for enhancing each metric over time. Regular tracking of these metrics, perhaps after each Sprint Review, is advisable. The data collected will shed light on areas requiring improvement, enabling fine-tuning the learning and development strategy.

Try … Identifying Learning Resources and Making Them Accessible

It’s essential to pinpoint the resources team members might need to develop the required new skills and ensure easy access to these resources. This could encompass subscriptions to online learning platforms, books, courses, articles, videos, and workshops relevant to the skills they aim to acquire.

Consider creating and executing a program of dedicated workshops to nurture specific skills. These workshops can dive into various topics, such as:

Uncovering the mechanics of Test-Driven Development (TDD)
Exploring Continuous Integration (CI) as a collaborative practice
Delving into the principles of Trunk-Based Development and its application
Understanding how Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) facilitates collaboration and delivers ‘Done’ increments after each Sprint
Discovering the transformative impact of Pair Programming on value delivery
Experiencing Mob Programming in action and grasping its essence

These workshops provide a platform for learning and an interactive environment where team members can engage, inquire, and comprehend the practical implications of these approaches in their work and cross-skilling endeavors. Through this interactive learning atmosphere, team members can better grasp how to adapt these practices to enhance their individual skill sets and the collective competency of the team.

Try … Initiating Skill Development Sprints

Consider launching dedicated sprints with the sole focus on skill development for team members. These specialized sprints can encompass various activities to foster a multi-skilled mindset and enhance technical proficiency.

Here are some suggestions:

Role Rotation: Enable team members to swap roles temporarily, allowing them to gain hands-on experience and a better understanding of different skill sets within the team.

Cross-Training Sessions: Organize training sessions led by those with expertise in specific areas where team members can learn from one another.

Guided Pair Programming: Hold pair programming sessions with a learning objective. Engage an experienced navigator to guide the process, ensuring the focus remains on acquiring new skills.

Mob Programming Practice: Encourage mob programming scenarios where everyone gets a turn at navigating and coding, regardless of their current skill level. This collective approach, guided by more experienced team members, can help nurture learning and knowledge sharing more effectively.

Through Skill Development Sprints, you create a structured yet flexible framework for continuous learning, a cornerstone in transitioning towards a multi-skilled team paradigm.

Dedicated Learning

Try … Engaging in Distilled Katas for Cross-Skilling

The book “Agile Technical Practices Distilled: A Journey Toward Mastering Software Design” by Pedro Moreira Santos, Marco Consolaro, and Alessandro Di Gioia offers a practical roadmap for refining technical practices in an Agile software development context. This approach is ideal for software developers seeking to improve their technical prowess within an agile framework. The authors lay down a pathway that could elevate a team to mastery in a matter of weeks.

The core focus areas delineated by the authors include Pair Programming, Test-Driven Development (TDD), Design Improvement/Refactoring, and Simple Design.

The learning journey proposed by the authors unfolds in three deliberate steps:

Introduction of New Principles and Concepts: Initially, new principles and concepts related to a specific area or technical practice are introduced. This lays the foundation for the subsequent steps and facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the core ideas behind the focus area.
Engagement in Dedicated Practice through Katas: Dedicated practice sessions are conducted in the form of katas following the introduction. Katas are structured exercises that reinforce newly introduced principles and concepts, enabling team members to internalize the material through hands-on practice.
Readiness Assessment: After engaging in dedicated practice, a self-check is conducted to assess the readiness to transition to the next level. This check ensures that the principles and concepts have been adequately grasped and can be applied.

As teams navigate through these steps, they progressively compile a suite of good practices and habits. Additionally, an awareness of how each acquired practice fits within the broader landscape of software development is cultivated. Through this methodical journey, teams are well-positioned to transition from initial understanding to a more advanced application of agile technical practices.

Try … Launching Collaborative Side Projects to Hone New Skills

Introducing cross-functional project assignments, either related to the current product area or in a completely distinct domain, presents a safe environment for team members to venture outside their comfort zones.

Each project addresses a specific real-world challenge, setting the primary benchmark for success. This setup invites everyone to explore new territories, whether learning a new programming language, dabbling with a new framework, or testing a new tool.

By tackling real-world problems in a collaborative setup, team members can expand their skill set and learn to appreciate the diverse expertise within the team.

Try … Implementing Five-Step Shared Learning Loops

Cross-training sessions are a powerful tool to promote multi-skilling, where team members can impart and acquire skills beyond their primary domain, alternately leading these sessions and acting as mentors for the team.

A structured five-step process can be established to introduce such learning loops:

Identify a Skill to Practice: Select a skill that aligns with the team’s objectives and individual interests for focused practice.
Conduct a Training Session: Host a training session where the identified skill can be taught and learned, facilitated by team members proficient in that skill. Employ simulation and role-playing exercises to create a near-real-world setting for practicing the new skill.
Engage in Hands-On Practice: Organize hands-on sessions where team members can apply the newly acquired skill to practical real-life tasks. Pair individuals with proficient team members to ensure guided practice and effective learning.
Hold Feedback and Review Sessions: Schedule feedback and review sessions post-training and practice to assess understanding and address gaps.
Repeat the Loop: Reiterate the loop to hone the current skill further or to delve into a new one, thereby creating a sustainable cycle of learning, practicing, reviewing, and improving.

Try … Implementing Mentorship Programs

Launching a mentorship program can provide a structured framework for skill development and knowledge sharing. Here’s how it could work:

Pairing Up: Pair individuals seeking to develop specific skills (mentees) with team members who possess expertise in those areas (mentors).
Setting Goals: The mentor-mentee pairs set clear, achievable goals for the mentee’s skill development.
Regular Check-ins: Schedule regular check-ins between mentors and mentees to track progress, address challenges, and adjust goals as necessary.
Practical Application: Encourage mentees to apply newly acquired skills in actual project scenarios with the support and guidance of their mentors.
Feedback Loops: Establish a feedback loop where mentees can receive constructive feedback on their progress, and mentors can gain insights into their mentoring approach.
Community of Practice: Create a community of practice where mentors and mentees can share experiences, learnings, and best practices with the wider team or organization.

On-The-Job Learning

Most cross-skill learning can happen right on the job, where adequate skills can be picked up while addressing the key problem of widening and removing bottlenecks in the process.

Try … Adopting Pair Programming, Mob Programming, and Swarming

Pair Programming, Mob Programming, and Swarming are great techniques for on-the-job learning, enabling team members to expand their skill sets organically during regular work activities. These methods integrate learning into the team’s daily routine, eliminating the need for dedicated training sessions outside work hours.

Consider a scenario where a frontend developer pairs with a backend developer to address a task traditionally outside their expertise. Guided by the backend developer, the frontend developer gains practical insights into backend systems. This isn’t just theoretical knowledge; it’s hands-on and directly applied to actual work tasks. Over time and with consistent practice, the frontend developer’s backend skills grow. Initially contributing to simple tasks, they gradually take on more complex challenges. This growth enhances the individual’s capabilities and adds flexibility and resilience to the team, especially when facing a surge in backend tasks.

Similarly, Mob Programming turns the spotlight on collective problem-solving and knowledge sharing. With the keyboard rotating every few minutes, every team member, regardless of their primary specialization, gets a turn at the controls. This inclusive approach ensures everyone contributes and learns simultaneously, from the novice to the expert. The safety net of having multiple navigators means that even those stepping outside their comfort zone can do so with confidence. As a result, the team’s expertise is elevated in real-time as they work together on actual product challenges.

Cross-skilling becomes a natural outcome of the team’s workflow through these practices. As team members regularly engage in joint work, they build a robust, shared knowledge base, allowing the team to distribute work more evenly and respond more effectively to project demands. This is learning by doing at its best, grounded in the context of meaningful, productive work.

In a subsequent article, we will explore these techniques in greater detail, providing a comprehensive guide on integrating and maximizing these practices within your team’s processes.

Try … Conducting Team Code Reviews

Engaging in Pair and Mob Programming practices can often circumvent the necessity for traditional code reviews. However, adapting the code review practice to a collective team setting can unveil potent opportunities for cross-skilling. Regularly scheduled whole-team code review sessions can be instituted. For instance, in my recent team, a one-hour slot preceding the Daily Scrum was earmarked for this activity. This endeavor’s prime focus is knowledge transfer and real-time mentoring, which remote code reviews might fall short of delivering.

Enhanced Issue Detection: The presence of multiple reviewers, each bringing diverse roles and experiences to the table, significantly heightens the potential to catch bugs and issues that might elude a single reviewer. Moreover, collective deliberation often ignites new ideas and suggestions.

Efficient Knowledge Dissemination: The interactive discussions during these sessions facilitate a robust knowledge exchange among team members. Junior developers can glean insights from their senior counterparts and vice versa. Additionally, developers with proficiency in varied skills have a platform to share their expertise.

Boosted Team Collaboration: The interactive nature of these discussions bolsters relationships and nurtures trust within the team. It provides a venue for team members to become acquainted with each other’s coding styles.

Meaningful, Face-to-Face Feedback: Feedback during these sessions is rendered more meaningfully and constructively as it occurs face-to-face. Team members can delve deeper into each other’s thought processes and elucidate the rationale behind their design or coding solutions.

Augmented Code Style Conformity: The multitude of reviewers in these sessions enhances the likelihood of identifying and discussing deviations from established coding standards and styles. The team navigates towards a more unified code style through this approach while enriching the cross-skilling experience.

Creating Personal Ability: Key Findings and Takeaways

Developing the personal abilities essential for a multi-skilled Scrum team demands a multifaceted approach.

Creating targeted learning opportunities is crucial to this transformation. Tools like the Star Map illuminate skill gaps and inspire goal-setting, while Slack Time and Skill Development Sprints provide structure and space for focused development. The L&D Index adds accountability and promotes a growth-oriented culture within the team.

Complementing these opportunities, dedicated learning practices offer powerful avenues for skill acquisition. Structured programs like Distilled Katas and collaborative side projects enable experimentation and mastery in a safe and supportive environment. Shared Learning Loops and mentorship programs foster knowledge transfer, ensuring beginners and experienced individuals continue learning and growing.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of on-the-job learning. Techniques like Pair Programming, Mob Programming, and Swarming weave skill advancement seamlessly into the team’s daily workflow. Collaborative code reviews facilitate real-time feedback and collective problem-solving, continuously enhancing the team’s knowledge base.

By fostering opportunities for growth across all these areas, we empower a team where each member’s expanding abilities enhance adaptability, collaboration, and efficiency. This translates into the capacity to focus effort where it delivers the greatest value, seamlessly address potential bottlenecks, and respond with agility to shifting product priorities.

Moving Forward

Harnessing the power of personal motivation and ability lays a strong foundation for transitioning into a multi-skilled Scrum team. We cultivate this foundation by aligning individual goals with broader objectives and supporting personalized learning and growth.

However, success hinges on more than just individual change. In our next article, we’ll delve into the social motivation aspects of the Influencer Change Model, exploring practices that reshape team dynamics and cultivate the support systems that make individual transformation thrive.

Specifically, we’ll discuss how to engage managers as key advocates, the importance of leading by example, harnessing the influence of team champions, and strategically making the undiscussable a topic of open conversation. Through these strategies, we’ll transform social norms within the team to promote more multi-skilled behaviors.

Continue exploring the nuances of multi-skilling in transforming our Scrum practices and elevating our teams to new heights of agility in the next part of the series:

Part 9: Creating Social Ability to Transition to a Multi-Skilled Paradigm

References

Cesário Oliveira Ramos, Ilia Pavlichenko. Creating Agile Organizations. A Systemic Approach (Addison-Wesley, 2023)
Tom DeMarco. Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency (Broadway Books, 2001)
Pedro Moreira Santos, Marco Consolaro and Alessandro Di Gioia. Agile Technical Practices Distilled. A Journey Toward Mastering Software Design (Packt Publishing, 2019)