In a new team, Leland noticed that the skill silo (everyone sticking only to their skill specialty) was affecting the team’s ability to deliver. The team was working as if they were doing several sequential waterfalls instead of acting like a unit. Every time one team member was absent, the team couldn’t make enough progress to deliver.
In this episode, we talk about how to remove the skill silo, and avoid the mini-waterfalls anti-pattern.
In this episode, we also mention the Skills Matrix as a tool to visualize the skill silo.
Featured Book of the Week: The Lean Software Agile Development Toolkit by Poppendieck
In The Lean Software Agile Development Toolkit by Poppendieck, Leland found a new perspective on what it means to improve an organization. This eye-opening book is a regular read for Leland, and reminds him of the importance of looking at the flow of work (Flow Efficiency), rather than trying to optimize activities that may ultimately be wasteful.
About Leland Newson
Leland is a SAFe Release Train Engineer and servant leader who is passionate about helping improve the work environment and helping teams uncover better ways to development software. He focuses on collaboration, shortening feedback loops, improving the flow of work through the system and increasing the team’s adaptability so they can quickly respond to changes and satisfy customers through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
You can link with Leland Newson on LinkedIn and connect with Leland Newson on Twitter.
