The book “Improving Software Quality: An Insider’s Guide to TQM” by Lowell Arthur (1993)  is one I was just perusing. In the preface he has a section on eliminating the testing group. Wow, this is a book on Total Quality Management and they made a bold statement such as this. Tell me how many companies have eliminated their testing groups to improve quality?

Here are some other quotes from the preface:

Create a constancy of purpose toward quality and continuous improvement

This is a underlying principle in Agile development. The whole team is involved in process improvement through constant inspection.

Institute leadership instead of management by numbers

That is the goal of self-organizing teams. Leadership is distributed among the team members in that they agree to common goals for quality and hold each other accountable. Just having a list of defects and managing this list is not a sign of a quality organization.

Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively.

Time and time again I hear the complaint that a person is evaluated by the number of defects that are found in their code. This creates an environment where people want to cover up any problems they discover. I just recently had to defend the number of defects that were recorded against our team during a clean up sprint (these were actually new requirements). I want any defect to be recorded so we do not have them reach the customer. Removing the fear of recording defects goes a long way to creating an quality product.

Break down barriers between departments and work groups

Simply stated, have cross function teams. If everyone is on the same team you have no barriers.

Eliminate slogans, work quotas and management by numbers. Substitute leadership.

What would our managers do? I guess I am being a little sarcastic. But so many activities our managers do do not enhance quality.

Remove barriers that rob workers (management, professional and craft) of pride of workmanship.

Nothing encourages a team more then a job well done that exceeds customer expectations. We want to be proud of our work.

Nothing new is under sun as wise King Solomon said. Agile development provided solutions that provide for a quality product.

1. Crises scheduling
   A crises arises and management decides that we have to address the crises. The team has planned iterations to meet a release schedule but now this schedule is preempted. This is like asking a painter to paint a different section of a house.  He has to climb down the ladder, move the ladder and climb back up. The team will have to “climb down” current project and “climb up” the new project.
2. Team member shuffle
   Performing teams have worked out their rhythm. They know want needs to be done during an iteration. They have built trust among themselves. When a new member is added or a member removed the team rhythm is destroyed. You have to recreate the trust that helped the team perform so well.
3. Requirements churn in a iteration
   This happens when a product owner changes the requirements for a user story during an iteration. Work already completed has to be redone. Productivity is decreased because the goals of the sprint has changed.

These are some rhythm disruptions I have observed.

As you know, I am very interested in what is involved in creating a high performing team. Why do we not see more high performing teams in corporate America? I believe that the “command and control” management philosophy contributes to this.

Now if you ask most ScrumMasters if they use command and control and they will say no they do not. But is this really the case when they are working with teams?

Here are questions you should ask yourself about you interaction with the team:

1. Are all decisions involving the team made by the team?
2. Does the team feel they control their destiny?
3. What are the factors that prevent the team from being empowered?

Review you own style of facilitating. Then ask the team to evaluate you style of facilitating. As with all Agile processes this constant inspection helps us to improve how we interact with the team.