Travel & change...

Molly:

Because of traveling I've changed how I organize my weekends. Since I have limited time at home, I have to prioritize my time even more. For instance, when I am home I have to take care of the chores that most people would spread out through the week. Also, I have limited belongings on the road, which leaves my other hobbies (scrapbooking, tennis, etc.) to the weekends. In addition, I second guess travel for leisure sometimes (because it also takes up my weekend, my time at home). The weekends on the road also are slightly different. Since I'm limited to a suitcase, I often find myself without a sweatshirt or something that I -might- have packed had I been at home.

MJ:

Lifestyle. Ever since, I began life as a consultant I used to find myself working and playing hard during the week. I used have to have a stronger will power to rest when I clearly need it when I was in school. After life as a consultant, I started to notice that when I get back home for the weekend, I am always tired. I sleep a lot. My friends claim I have 'grown up' because they do not see me go crazy. However, I realized that I need to get some balance back in order to sustain my career and proceed to excel in it. I consciously find myself trying to leave social gatherings at a reasonable hour. The old me would have shut the place down but I have slowly started to realize the importance of a fresh mind and a well rested body when at work. I also realize how much I miss indulging with my friends and boyfriend over the weekends.

Rachel:

I enjoy cooking. Specifically, I love using my wok to whip up a healthy and tasty dinner that includes lots of vegetables served on rice or noodles. A couple of years ago, I joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where each week I received a half-bushel of locally grown vegetables. These vegetables varied depending on the time of year and I learned new recipes in order to use the vegetables. In fact, I was so excited about the vegetables, that I encouraged several friends to join the CSA as well. We would pick up our vegetables each week and swap our least favorite veggies. A half-bushel is a surprising amount of vegetables and I would cook at least 3 to 4 evenings per week.

Then I started traveling. I could only cook on the weekends due to my travel schedule and there was no way I was able to cook and consume all the vegetables in 2 or 3 days. For a while, I ate airport food, fast food and hotel food – hamburgers, pasta and other relatively (and very) unhealthy food. I gained 10-15 pounds within 3 months - a not uncommon occurrence for many business travelers (http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/academic-departments/epidemiology/research-service/travelers-alert-business-travel-linked-obesity-an). I decided to make a concerted effort to eat as healthily as possible. I ate salads and turkey sandwiches (but still allotted myself the daily cookie) in addition to fish whenever possible. I eventually lost the initial weight that I had put on with traveling. However, I still miss receiving and cooking a bunch of assorted (and often unusual) vegetables each week.

Toni:

Where to begin - I could honestly write pages on this topic. One of the things I had to change was how I care for my son while I'm away. Not just the logistics of who's picking him up from daycare and feeding him but also making sure we stay connected. That he hears my voice everyday and I can see and hear him as well. My husband and I have our little strategies to help everybody stay connected. He calls me every morning so I can say good and every night, he also takes a picture of him everyday for me. Now I have a photo record of him for the last four months which is amazing.

Chic Truck

Top row: Achint, MJ, Shefali, Toni & Elian
Bottom row: Rachel, Molly, Christina

This was Rachel's rental 'car' for a few weeks.
We took the liberty to name it the Chic Truck!

Team Proximity: Part 2

Team Identity: Teams need to be cohesive and strong, as well as share a common sense of purpose or identity in order to reach their goals. In this blog posting, we reflect on how we view our team identity and interaction and how we forge together as a team.

MJ: Interaction: something where 2 objects have an effect upon one another. On Autocomplete we cannot accomplish unless we interact successfully. I find myself interacting with people across different roles and different teams. The mediums we use vary – face to face, emails, phone conferences, video conferences, IM… I find myself holding conversations that are professional, personal or downright uncomfortable. There is a lot of indirect communication between people as well- knowledge transfer through a middle man, announcements and sometimes rumors. This is not surprising on a large project involving professionals from 3 different organizations working on a code base that has been in development for over 3 years having a ton of dependencies on other existing projects.

Starting out, the reputation that precedes Autocomplete had me immensely curious and to some extent apprehensive about how the atmosphere on site will be like. I had imagined an environment thick with tension and competition. Today I will proudly admit to being a part of a ‘team’. Like mentioned above, although there are 3 organizations that are represented, the Autocomplete project has managed to strike a working equilibrium between consultants and team players and varying degrees of friendship. I see a lot of laughter, a lot of conversation and a lot of questions being asked across the different roles staffed. Debate is also not infrequent. So far I have seen healthy discussions that have lead to constructive solutions/approaches to tackle the issue at hand.

On the flip side, in a group this large and diverse it is not easy to knowledge transfer as quickly or evenly as one likes. Sometimes it is difficult to evenly distribute credit. Agreed we don’t work to get patted on the back but a sense of accomplishment never hurt anyone. Further, I have seen misunderstanding and misstating of opinions can lead to quick souring of relationships. Conflict is inevitable when there are humans involved. What has been amazing about this project is that whatever might be the personal stand effort has been made not to let it creep into quality or the ability to work efficiently.

Over all I find some days my effect is positive and some not so much but I love the constant challenge of maintaining the balance between consultant and friend.

Molly: In a team of about thirty people, from three different companies - TW, "Auto-Complete" and "The Middle Man", the interaction will vary dramatically between members, companies, roles, etc. As you can see from our personalities blog, the women on our project alone are a varied group. However, we have several commonalities with one team member or another. As our team has come into a 'norming' phase, I see many patterns we have developed - both during and outside of work. For instance, there are trips to the grocery on Mondays, dancing on Wednesdays and team workouts during our spare time. Groups of the team drink together, play basketball after work, read the same books, etc. Being that three companies are working together, there are times the team is split by company, role, etc. With a group of thirty, it's very difficult not to split at these natural breaks.

I believe much of our team interaction during work is influenced by the dynamics of Agile software development. For example, we have our retrospectives and IPMs on Wednesdays. Our meetings have a significant influence on how thirty people structure their Wednesdays. Also paired programming and the open space environment inherently promote more conversation between team members. While we pair we learn about our teammates, create a connection between members and roles. For example, the interaction between all roles is required as a user story is written, reviewed and developed. Agile demands the need for flexibility within a team, something that has to be learned over time. As we have entered the 'norming' phase, I believe our team's ability to react together in order to meet changing requirements and unexpected bumps in the road has grown significantly in our few months as a team.

Rachel: I have two favorite quotes about working in a team:

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” ~ Ryunosuke Satoro

“If you can laugh together, you can work together.” ~ Robert Orben

The second quote immediately comes to mind when I think about the TW and [Autocomplete] members on our current project. I enjoy the joking, teasing and laughing that occur between many of the members. This type of interaction helps to cement the team together and builds a rapport, thus enabling us to push towards and complete our objectives. In addition, it relieves pressure when stressful situations arise. However, I feel that there are still a few members from [Autocomplete] and more than a few from [MiddleMan] that we should actively try to incorporate into our “world” of laughter, jokes, and various fun outings. Only then will we become the ocean - an unstoppable force - to which Satoro refers.

Shefali: Everyone I have interacted with on the [Autocomplete] & TWU teams have been very approachable and friendly. The people I have paired with have helped me understand the code base and patiently answer my questions around the business and technology. I haven't had a chance to interact with the MiddleMan BAs much. But from what I gather they seem to be approachable too. In all I find our current project is a very safe environment where in I can learn from my peers and voice my opinions fearlessly.

Toni: Now that we have all been working together for a couple of months - it feels like we are a more cohesive group. I personally enjoy the fact that I'm able to interact with everyone daily/hourly/every few minutes :) In the beginning it was frustrating because when I needed to find one of the client employees to answer a question I would have to go through the middle man. Which was often time-consuming, now that's not the case anymore.
A unique nature of this project is that we are working on one of several applications that our client has. This requires us to work with other teams to ensure the smooth integration of our new development. Also a few weeks ago all project teams across the client site stopped their individual work and focused on defect fixing for the next release - which was a awesome undertaking but also really helped foster a feeling of unity among our team and between other teams as well.

Team Proximity

Why do certain teams work together effectively and consistently meet their deadlines while other teams struggle to attain project objectives? In a previous post, we discussed how personality types can help or hurt team interaction and explored the various personality types on our current project. However, other factors contribute to a team’s successes, such as the proximity of all the team members to one another. We explored our experiences on various projects and compared them to current literature on team proximity and arrangements.

Bringing employees closer: The effect of proximity on communication when teams function under time pressure. Chong et al. 2011

Findings: Proximity improves communication during high challenge time pressure or low hindrance time pressure, but no relationship otherwise (low challenge or high hindrance time pressure).

Definitions:

Proximity: Cognitive and affective abilities and willingness to share information (i.e. psychological proximity vs. distance proximity).
Challenge time pressure: Associated with fulfillment and tendency to succeed – effectively pushing toward an objective.
Hindrance time pressure: Hassles and constraints to goal achievement – problems pushing toward an objective.

Benefits of proximity:

1. Team awareness: Team members located near each other tend to have a stronger understanding of other members’ strengths, styles, moods than people farther away.

2. Communication effort: Easier to initiate conversations => more efficient.

3. Team identity: Team mindset of how “together” the team is।

Team awareness:

What is a good example of team awareness?

Molly: One article (Space Matters: Why is Startup Accelerator Space Important? Enrique Allen) suggests that open area work environments ‘reinforce culture’ and it also touches on awareness within team space। Although, it is something that takes time to perfect. In the Chong article, the author touches on when an open layout makes sense. To me, open space on an agile team help re-enforce collective knowledge of the code, team awareness, etc. It is because of open space that teams feel more inclined to be aware of the project and how their work fits into the bigger picture.

Rachel: One limitation of the above study (Chong et al., 2011) is that they were unable to collect data regarding team awareness. Having an open work space promotes an easy rapport and a definite awareness between team members. Further more - and this is also stated by Enrique Allen - with an open workspace, you have “extreme collaboration”. I can cite numerous instances where I have been discussing a problem with another colleague and someone else in the room happens to overhear the conversation and - voila! Instant solution. One of my favorite examples of team awareness and (unusual) collaboration occurs with Molly. Let’s say that I need to talk to LittleT - who just happens to be standing behind Molly (who is kitty-corner across the room) staring at a board. I can just peek over my computer at Molly and say in a relatively normal voice, “Molly”, and she will hear me. This is because Molly has some kind of ESP with regards to the sound of my voice. Very strange (and incredibly efficient).

Communication Effort:

Rachel: According to Chong et al., high hindrance situations often cause avoidance coping tactics to arise and unfortunately, proximity does not help to mediate these issues. My initial response to this finding was denial - shouldn’t close proximity make it harder to use avoidance techniques? And surely distance would make avoidance tactics easier to employ! However, according to Chong et al., there’s no correlation – team proximity has no apparent effect, negative or positive, on teams in stressful and time-pressured situations. Within the last year, I was on a team that was in a high hindrance time pressure situation. Sadly, our layout was somewhat like office space – although maybe not as “cubical-ish.” For this particular case, I think the findings in Chong (et al) are intertwined with the statements regarding workspace arrangements in the article by Sean Michael Kerner (Cubicles or open workspace: Here’s how to select the best plan for your shop). Maybe if we had to face each other instead of having cubical-like spaces, then communication would have been facilitated more easily, thus reducing the impact of the high hindrance situation. I would have spent less time walking around trying to figure out who was really focused and who was open to questions. This indicates how strongly communication effort and team awareness are tied together.

Molly: My previous project had four TWers working around a small round table while the client developers had cubicles. It seemed as if no client wanted to come into the room, to talk about our progress, learn and pair with us, etc. They felt like interaction was invasion of our space. This article (Cubicles or open workspace: Here’s how to select the best plan for your shop. Sean Michael Kerner) describes cubicles is quite comical... ‘a rat maze’. The article identifies nether as being better, but rather space should be allocated for the people, job at hand, goals, etc. From it, I think two points coincide well. In an open space team room, wall space becomes limited and collaboration increases tremendously. These two are tied together - because there is shared wall space collaboration becomes easier. In the small room with a round table, it was very easy to get the attention of the entire team. We were all well aware of the design of the codebase, communication occurring between our team and the client, and -in general- the project overall. I think that by using shared open, visible space the team became closer because of our efforts in how to utilize the space for the best of the entire team.

Team Identity:

We will touch on this in the next blog – from all of our points of view.

We've got personality!

Walk, Personality! Talk, Personality! Smile, Personality! Charm, Personality! Alright, on to the main topic...

What is a team? According to BusinessDictionary.com, a team is a group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job, or project. Team members (1) operate with a high degree of interdependence, (2) share authority and responsibility for self-management, (3) are accountable for the collective performance, and (4) work toward a common goal and shared rewards. Team dynamics and their overall effectiveness are influenced by many factors such as the organization(s) from which the team stems, the frame of reference in which the team operates and the mix of individual personality types within the team.

Within a team, each member contributes different talents, perspectives, skills, methodologies and experiences to the overall team functioning. Team performance can be strongly affected by the differences in personalities and how these personalities deal with conflict and communicate with each other. We (the collective Agilista) thought that typing our personalities would yield an interesting perspective on our team dynamics. The purpose of taking a personality test was two-fold: (1) Each team member would have additional self-awareness of their own personality – their strengths, weaknesses, communication styles, etc., and (2) Individuals would be more aware of other team members’ personality types during future communication, interaction conflict resolution.

To begin with, we hypothesized about the traits that we felt were common between us:

Common Traits
Verbal communication
Collaborative
Ability to adapt to change (flexibility)
Empathetic
Interact with all team members
Sense of humor

And the things that we thought differed:

Differing Traits
Volume levels
Response to stress
Organization levels
Food / background
Extroverted / Introverted
Social Interaction
Downtime (what we do with it)

We used the following two tests (with the second test optional) and commented on any insights we gained from the experience and the extent to which we felt that the personality description was accurate.

http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/mmdi/questionnaire/

http://www.personaldna.com/tests.php

Results: (Click on links to see detailed information on the profiles for both tests.)

Name	Myers-Briggs* (MMDI)	Personal DNA
Achint	76% ENFP. Also, 72% ENFJ.	Considerate Creator
Christina	--	Benevolent Inventor
MJ	81% ESTP, 81% ESFP	Benevolent Director
Molly	73% INFP. Also, 72% ENFJ	Animated Leader
Rachel	83% ESFP. Also, 76% ESTP and 76% ENFP	Genuine Director
Shefali	76% ISFP, 76% ESFP	Advocating Architect
Toni	70% ESFP. Also 66% ESTP	Animated Leader

* The Myers-Briggs percentages indicate the nearest “region” to your personality type.

Comparison to Theories:

Not surprisingly, everyone that took the Myers-Briggs test scored either strongly extroverted (E) or scored on the border (could be either I or E) between being introverted (I) and extroverted. This fits in with our theory that one of our common traits is verbal communication. Since some of us scored more strongly extroverted than others, this also fit in with our theory that we have differing levels of how extroverted/introverted we are from day to day. However, we also thought that we would have empathy as one of our common traits – turns out that several of us scored quite low on empathy! Interestingly, each of us also tended to have a “Personal DNA” characteristic (Benevolent/Director/Leader/etc.) in common with another teammate.

Thoughts:

Achint: ENFP Evaluation: The statement that "You are enthusiastic about new projects or causes that offer the potential for a beneficial impact on people, especially when it involves breaking new ground." ...absolutely apt. I do feel a great rush when I'm about to start something new. As far as identifying potential in people, I haven't really been in a situation where I have had to, but I won't be surprised if that's true since I feel I have a strange intuition. ENFJ Evaluation: "If your personality type is ENFJ then you are someone who seeks to develop and promote personal growth in your friends, family or colleagues."...oh yea, you ask my family how sick they get of me sometimes...I can be a little aggressive about this when it comes to people really close to me:( "You also seek to develop the potential within relationships or the team. However, you don't push so hard that it creates conflict, because keeping the harmony in your relationships is also important."...Also true - I absolutely abhor conflicts in any relationship, be it work or personal - will do anything to avoid them. However, if the water goes above my head, I will confront :D

MJ: Taking the tests was an excellent exercise. It was enjoyable thinking about how one would respond to different scenarios. The best part is reading all the amazing traits that the results claim you have. If nothing else, I feel reading the results ends up inculcating a lot of the values in their audience, therefore making the process a worthwhile endeavor. The trait that really surprised me was: My patience brings out the best in people. Seriously?! Anyway, enjoy reading (Even the skeptics – one more reason to raise that eyebrow).

Molly: The first one said that the 'feeling' characteristic might mean I appreciate people but don't verbally express it. I think this might be true (and something to work on!). However, I don't view myself as introverted so I found that result surprising. Then, after the second result said I was animated, I decided maybe ENFJ was a more correct representation. I have been told that I am animated, with emphasis on how often I roll my eyes. One thing that the second test suggested was taking more time for myself, being alone. In comparing the two results, I personally think the second result is more accurate.

Rachel: I was surprised that both tests indicated that I was a “people-person.” After reflecting on the results for a while, I realized that I do enjoy being around people and interacting with others. However, unlike the second test suggests, I don’t especially enjoy being the center of attention. I thought both tests were extremely accurate by indicating that I am action-oriented and have a preference for order. I do like organizing things! And, as the rest of the team can confirm, I love style! The second test suggested that I had a hard time understanding other people’s perspectives – which is true. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding why someone might take a certain path when it seems obvious to me that the other path may work better. I can improve on this by taking time to think through a person’s “path” choice before becoming frustrated – I will probably learn a lot by doing this!

Shefali: I thought the second personality test gave a better description of my personality. The test pointed out that “having a routine and sticking to it is important to you” and “you find comfort in tradition and familiarity.” I think those things are absolutely true about me. I am not a very authoritarian individual trying to force my opinions on others. In addition, I scored really high on the empathy scale, which I believe has been one of my strengths.

Toni: I have to say I had a hard time with some of the questions for the MMDI (Myers-Briggs) test. I didn’t like having to choose one or the other – I wanted to agree with both! All in all, I agree with my personality type – I know I’m an extrovert J The only thing I disagree with is that the Personal DNA test gave me a really low score for empathy and I always saw myself as being empathetic. It was a fun test though – that is, if tests can be fun!

Introducing the Authors

What is an Agilista? And what does one confess? This first post to our blog will summarize each of the contributors to our blog. Together we make up a group of women all working on the same project. All of us work for a company called Thoughtworks, an Agile, software consultancy. We will refer to the project, when necessary, as [Auto-Complete]* for the remainder of the blog. The structure of our posts will be a mix between both the group and invividuals, all with different topics. Below is an introduction of the contributors, those who will help express what the success and struggles of an Agilista are. :) Enjoy!

Mridula Jayaraman
Currently living in Chicago and working as a Consultant. Does this summarize my life? Nope.

Change has been a constant for as long as I remember. Cliche? Too bad. Educated as an engineer, I decided to pursue medicine. As I was debating the uncomfortable choice of admitting I might have mistakenly rushed into a career path or finishing what I had started, I bumped head long into Thoughtworks. Software developer is the title I go by today. A true turning point.

Although unsure about where I am headed, there a few things about me that have always stayed the same. I love the feeling each morning when I wake up and the sun is shining. I love the taste of my first cup of coffee and the first smile I see each day. I love to laugh (at myself too) and make people laugh. I love to think and plan and rethink my plans. I love being me! (More later... Oh wait a minute, I love to procrastinate...a lot.)

Christina Zhong
I have been with ThoughtWorks for over six years and have worked on more than 15 projects with 10 clients. I started as a developer and have grown into a Tech Lead. I have also worked as an Iteration Manager and as a Business Analyst. I believe that business development is as important as technology growth.

I believe that Agile and Lean bring light to software development. Therefore, I am here to share my thoughts and experience in Agile enablement and delivery projects in the hope that it will encourage you to give it a try and to exchange your thoughts and experiences so that we can make software development even better.

I live in Chicago with my lovely daughter, who just turned 2 a few months ago. Having a child has changed my life and I am happier than ever.

Achint Sethi
I was born and brought up in New Delhi, India. As a kid or even as a young adult, I had never thought that I would come to the US some day. An opportunity presented itself about 4 yrs ago, and I thought about pursuing masters at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. With some hard work and good luck, I got through the MSIT(Software Engineering) programme with 60% scholarship - that became very hard to turn down. It was there that I got a glimpse of the agile world. It was also where, I got started at TW through campus recruiting and the agilista was born :o)

On a personal front, I really enjoy traveling - have recently started to trot the globe, lots more to cover still!! Watching movies, listening to music (ESP. In my shower :o)), being health conscious are some of the other passions I keep. I always wanted to write a blog, and what better opportunity than to gang up with a bunch of other agilistas and confess what the ride has been like do far!

Rachel Trana
About Me: Currently, I am working in a developer/consultant role at ThoughtWorks, Inc. However, I have also had the opportunity to experience project development and agile methods from a QA perspective, as well as from a UX point of view – all within my first 9 months of joining ThoughtWorks! Prior to TW, I pursued both Masters and Doctoral degrees in Applied Mathematics at Northwestern. Enough about work! I love running – I’ve completed the Chicago Marathon twice and hope to run the Las Vegas Rock ‘n Roll marathon at some point in the next couple of years.

Why This Blog? For as long as I can remember, I have studied or worked in a field where women are a minority (mathematics, computational neuroscience, programming, etc). Finally, after all these years, I am working on a project where we have (gasp!) a majority of women. I am looking forward to writing and talking about this new experience and comparing them to my past experiences. In addition, I look forward to reading and learning about how my female colleagues have dealt with various issues during their time working in a highly technical area.

My Agile Experience: ThoughtWorks! I’m a complete and total convert! (Well, disciple might be a better word…)

Toni-Marie Wahlberg
I live in Chicago with my husband and baby boy, who is the light of my life. I'm new to IT and new to agile. My motivation for writing this blog is to get other young women and girls interested and involved in the tech field. I believe I have a unique perspective - coming from a science background, how those skills have helped me; science sparked my passion for learning and innovation.

Molly Bartlett
As a software developer at Thoughtworks, I’ve played almost all of the ‘normal’ roles on a team. From, ‘dev’ to QA or BA, I have been privilidged to play each part in my year with TW. Technically, I enjoy working with UX, Ruby (learning it now) and Agile development. My interest of technology is influenced by my family of engineers and scientists, especially my mom. Other areas of interest are: volleyball, movies, cards/board games and traveling. Overall, I hope this blog will demonstrate there is a place for women in the IT industry. Also, I think the dynamics of group posts, pair posts or individual posts will help enhance the flavor of the blog.


*To comply with our disclosure agreement