100% of the team in a mob for 12 months — taking mob programming a couple of steps further
by Lea Kovac Beckman
For 12 months, I have been UX designer / researcher in a mob of 6 people who work with digital services for mainly SVT Sport (Swedish Television). And before that 18 months at Bonnier News in a mob programming team, but I rarely actually sat in the ”mob”. My current team does everything from discovery to delivery in the mob. It has been a year of challenges, a bit of a identity crisis every now and again, and above all the most evolving working method I’ve experienced.
So how has the year been? This post is about sharing my experiences. All wins as well as all the difficulties and how the team handles it. Our toolbox!
Disclaimer: this is not the recipe for all teams, just how we do it. And entirely based on my design perspective, based on my experience and different teams I’ve been apart of, with or without mob programming. A most personal reflection.
In short, a mob consists of three or more (usually) developers (in our case, also UX designer, product owner and tester, plus a “guest” from time to time)
who all work on the same problem at the same time on the same device. The “mob” rotates and we take turn in being the ”driver” (sort of a secretary) in fixed intervals. In our case, rotations of 10 minutes. Everyone except the “driver” is thinking and navigating solutions to the problem and are called “navigators.” They act as “brains” while the driver performs instructions.
“Mob programming is a software development approach where (all the brilliant minds working on/) the whole team works on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, and at the same computer.”
— Woody Zuill, founder of mob programming
At SVT interactive, we are several teams who work with mob programming. My team, SVT Sport is the first team to work 100% in a mob and “mobbing” other than code. We have simply taken mob programming one or more steps further. The sports team mob develop all parts of our mission, ie both discovery and delivery — from assumptions to hypothesis, exploratory phases, design, implementation and testing.
We can do this because the entire team is one big mob with several competences — product owner, UX designer (me), developers and tester.
Having the entire team’s competences in the mob means, in short, that you can take on more complex tasks without lead times. The competence we need is constantly present. Always ready to respond or act. No handoffs are needed between team roles, which for me as UX designer has always been the most frustrating part. Expectations become clear when everyone takes part the entire journey. The first spontaneous reaction after working in a mob is a sense of 100% understanding of the problem or task we are working on. The mob support cooperation. It’s not I, It’s we who solved this.
What are we doing? Working with SVT Sport services on digital platforms.
Team Background? We were recruited as a new team and with strong wishes to use mob development as way of working combined with Lean UX as a working method. To get started we had a really good coach.
Our mission? Our initial assignment was to move SVT Sport back to SVT (previously developed externally). We received great freedom and support in how we would take on our “mission”. After a few months of researching target groups, strategic work and other exploratory tasks, we had enough to set the goal we would aim at: “News and Sport — One Service, One Experience”. This meant that, unlike before, Sport and News should approach each other and follow our user needs while not conflicting with organizational goals or other teams’ assignments. The SVT Sport online services “moved” home to SVT.se just in time for the World Cup 2018. (A shift that went beyond all expectations, almost unpleasantly painless.)
When everyone in the team knows and understands how our contributions affect the end product, we create better products. As long as the work is meaningful, we care about the outcome. Understanding how our contributions are important is central. For example, seeing how a user uses the end product regardless of role in the team becomes important for doing a better job. A result of all team members working on all aspects of a problem at the same time.
New recruited team, supported by immediate stakeholders. We were a brand new team when we started mob developing. We had nothing to compare with or any comfortable habitual pattern to fall back on. Testing mob development came from our closest stakeholders and we never needed to defend our way of working. It was in everyone’s interest to dare to evaluate this to a 100%.
Avoiding prestige in the team, otherwise it will be difficult. We develop together and build on each other’s ideas. Therefore, there is no clear distinction between mine and yours. Everyone owns the idea, the solution and the result.
In common motivation and driving forces. During various team exercises with our coach (e.g. moving motivations), we have learned that we are motivated and driven by similar things. This is the team that very much values curiosity and very little honors. Team recruitment and team composition becomes important and probably even more important in a mob.
Team agreement. A must for each team in order to know what is applicable and important. Something that is concrete and can be questioned. Not least by new team members.
Our own team coach. Coach, Martin Christensen, helped us become a successful team 💙
Everyone in the team is a “UX”. As the UX expert in the team, I facilitate more than engaging in design details.
Methods and processes. We use a mix of methods to find out what to build, for whom and why. Those that influence us the most are that we work according to Balanced Team to make decisions in the team and Lean UX to keep direction of what we’re working on.
A full day with Woody Zuill. To learn from the master himself, the founder of mob programming, made it much more real and exciting.
The mob creates courage to dare to innovate and develop together … and makes sure that you are always focused on what is important. The mob is shared responsibility, failures and successes 💙
Originally published at medium.com on September 18, 2018.
