Need to think how to show ROI for this...
This link has been bookmarked by 27 people . It was first bookmarked on 05 Aug 2007, by Orlin Monad.
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03 Oct 13
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15 Aug 11
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05 Aug 11
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Team Privacy: privacy from, say, hall traffic. Constant outside noise distracts and stresses the team; this also suggests that team conversations are carrying outside the team room, not a good idea.
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- Individual Privacy: Ensure there is a place to make personal phone calls or do sensitive work (ex: filing a health claim or writing a performance review).
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- White Boards: The room should be covered with whiteboards. Magnetic whiteboards are expensive, but quite key. Obviously whiteboards require markers and erasers.
- Need at least 300 tiny multi-colored magnets.
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including paper up to 11x17.
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Digital Camera: saves lots on documentation time. Can be shared with another near-by team. Must be easy to download pictures to the laptop.
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I’ve seen lack of basic resources such as decent chairs, tables, food, drink, and top-notch workstations dramatically hamper software development efforts. If your project team is being nickel-and-dimed to death then I have to question if your project is important to your organization – if it isn’t, cancel it now and invest your efforts on something more productive.
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23 Feb 11
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19 Nov 10
Greg AkinsTo that end, this article shares the collected wisdom of dozens of teams, as collected by several experienced Agile coaches.
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01 Oct 10
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24 Feb 10
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01 Feb 10
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26 Nov 09
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02 Jun 09
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the classic XP teamroom layout was called “caves and commons” and it explicitly recommended that people have access to some personal space, as well.
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team members will bring their coats, gym bags, umbrellas and motorcycle helmets in with them
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Determine how much space each person really needs: both at their workstation and elsewhere in their team space. A single person's workspace, for example, probably shouldn't be less than 25 square feet
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In general, a collaborative team space accomodates no more than half the number people it would if arranged as a conference room.
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Elements like light, air, traffic flow, noise, refreshments and comfort are not negligible: high productivity teams still consist of people, not robots, and these hard working people can be enabled or discouraged by the spaces in which they work. It's true that motivated teams have been known to work in the weirdest, most disadvantaged locations. However, when a team commits to increasing their delivery of business value using Agile methods, it is appropriate for them to ask management to support the needs of their new collaborative work style appropriately.
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Layout: People need to be able to face each other and work beside each other. They also need a semi-private space to have discussions or make phone calls. The walls of the space need to have large areas that can be used for whiteboards.
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Privacy: Everyone needs to be able to get away for short amounts of time. Some organizations provide separate mini conference rooms or “hotelling” spaces. Others allow staff to keep a private cubicle away from the team room.
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Personalization: The space a person occupies needs to be flexible and personalized. People need space for pictures, toys, plants, and other incidentals to help them make a space their own.
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Visibility to Outsiders: Other people in the organization need to be able to walk by to see and hear what is going on with the Agile Work team. Open doors, windows or a “bullpen” formation of cubicles all allow this.
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Support for Agile Modeling
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Agile teams use a variety of methods to increase collaboration. A common one is the move away from formal intermediate documentation. This approach is worth planning for explicitly: when replacing heavy documents with models on whiteboards and other information radiators, teams suddenly discover the needs for lots of wall space, for example, or for different electronic aids.
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Significant whiteboard space: whiteboards floor to ceiling wherever empty wall exists, even on support pillars if they’re more than a foot (30 cm) or so in width. Developers should have their own private whiteboard space.
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Wall space to attach paper: ... somewhere where you can attach paper artifacts.
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Add Sticky NoteRoom size: In one successful case, we had 9 monitors/docking stations (for laptops) set up in a room with a “maximum occupancy” of 20 people. The room is rather large and gives space for people to “live” together for an extended period. This seems about right and comfortable for a team that is almost 100% dedicated (ie, in the room most of the day).
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Creative Space: This is hard one to describe, but important. At a minimum, the space should not be dull and depressing. Ideally the colors and other aspects should support creativity.
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White Boards: The room should be covered with whiteboards. Magnetic whiteboards are expensive, but quite key. Obviously whiteboards require markers and erasers.
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Tables: A mixture of small and large tables (or small tables that can easily be put together). Usually arranged as one big table (for 6-8 people) in the middle, and several small tables around. One small round table, for small adhoc meetings of 2-3 people.
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Space for storage of personal stuff.: could be under-desk filing cabinets or a large horizontal filing cabinet
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Don't forget to apply the "Retrospective Prime Directive" when looking back on what you've created: everyone did the best they could at the time. Continue to consider your workspace when each retrospective asks: "what should we change?" When you discover a better way, act on it quickly, and don't forget to celebrate your successful changes when the retrospective asks "what worked well?".
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Remember that you don't need to imagine everything up front - you can tweak it with each iteration.
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Be aware that what you learn might just include: "we can't do this here". Be realistic, and be prepared to defend what your team really needs to reach high productivity. If you can't get it, you may need to design a hybrid, semi-Agile process - but be sure to make it known that the full gains of Agility probably won't be achieved.
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It's just not worth it to have a high-performance team hampered by a poor workstation setup.
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Public Stiky Notes
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