Krishna sent of the agenda for the team meeting the same afternoon. Dhritarashtra was quick to respond and promised Krishna that, since he was out the whole of the 3rd week of September, he would facilitate the meeting sometime during the 4th week, that he would not commit a date until he returned.
It was the middle of October, by the time Dhritarashtra confirmed the date and time - 1030h at their offices in Sector 142, in Greater Noida. Greater Noida was an extension of the older New Okhla Industrial Development Area, along the new and alternate alignment to National Highway No 2 till Agra on the East bank of the Yamuna river.
Krishna walked into the airy reception area at 1025h sharp. It was a mad hour long commute to Greater Noida from Gurgaon. He made a mental note to check out three or four different routes for time and distance while he sauntered over to the receptionist desk in the corner. Handing over his business card he announced that he was there to meet Dhritarashtra. The receptionist picked up the telephone and dialled a number, then asked Krishna to wait in the lounge while someone came over to receive him.
As Krishna walked over to a sofa next to the main entrance, he pulled out his mobile to scan for messages and emails and it was only then he noticed three missed calls, two from Dhritarashtra and one from an unknown number. He called Dhritarashtra first and was quite surprised to hear that he had to travel out of station on a business emergency and that his "number two", Eklavya would be there to facilitate the meeting with the key members of his team.
"Yeah... no worries. I will handle it and get back to you with the gist of the discussion." Krishna knew that the planned session with the team would be a notch less effective, but there was no choice. And he definitely did not want to schedule it for another day.
Eklavya strode across the lobby with Karna in tow. The handshake was guarded, so probably Dhritarashtra probably only briefed him this morning. Krishna noticed a level of reserve he usually attributes to cold calls.
"Mmm...this is going to need some work before some trust and rapport is established!", Krishna thought to himself as he followed Eklavya and Karna off to the left of the lobby and into a large open plan office.
There was the usual confusion about the meeting room, and by the time that was settled, some of the attendees had drifted off to get coffee. Moreover the network did not allow guest access and the projector was not switching on.
After about 15 minutes, all teething problems had been resolved, but now Krishna faced a new problem. He was expecting to meet 3-4 people including Dhritarashtra. But the small six person meeting was filled with at least 14 people and more were trickling in, coffee cups in hand.
"Just stand against the wall", suggested Krishna, "I will try and make this as painless as possible."
He had thought that he will run a power point presentation, but given the crowd in the room he switched tack and decided to go into a brainstorming session, asking each one there to first introduce themselves, describe their role and nature of work, and then to highlight the top two or three issues they faced each day in doing their work.
Eklavya took the lead to initiate the process, described the nature of the team that had gathered there, the different functions they had and pointed out the leads before passing the baton to Karna, sitting to his left, to start.
Karna's role was to study the web analytics and competitors and recommend actions to management. Yudhistir to Karna's left headed the product group. Rukmi, the test lead monopolized the discussion as her cup of woes spilt over and flowed down to the Yamuna.
Listening to them, Krishna was transported back to a time when he headed a software development centre. "Well, well, what has changed since those days, eh?", he thought to himself.
The discussion lasted almost a full hour, much to Krishna chagrin. He was firmly of the belief that no meeting should be more than 35 minutes with a five minute wrap at the end for path forward assignments. But surprisingly, no one had nodded off to warn him of the schedule overrun. Obviously, it must have been a while since this team had a chance to voice off. Or maybe, as was typical, it was the the result of external facilitation, when people feel safe to voice their concerns and not be judged for it or take the change of having it affect their quarterly or annual appraisals.
Krishna thanked them for their time and said that while he came in with the belief they needed structure, the environment was not suitable for a right structure of a formal methodology. What it needed was something light and adaptable - most definitely agile!
"How many of you have heard of Agile Methodologies?", asked Krishna, more rhetorically than part of the assessment.
Four hands went up, including Karna. Karna stated that he was a certified scrum master (CSM), and Krishna immediately knew that Karna had to be on the program's Core Group. The others had heard of it and done some reading, but never utilized it.
Krishna then asked Eklavya to find out whether there were any more CSMs in the organization who could be spared for the program core group and ended the session by saying, "It was a very fruitful discussion. I can see that a formal structured methodology will not work here. You guys are best suited for a more light weight methodology. I will be putting the outcomes of this discussion in a proposal and I will be recommending implementing an Agile methodology as a pilot. Thank you for your active participation and your time."
Krishna knew that the meeting was a success, as Eklavya, escorting him back to the lobby, appeared to have warmed up tremendously.
"I liked your point about self-organizing teams, and about having a high tolerance for mistakes. I can now see why the process of correcting a mistake is a huge source of innovation and why you say the agile methodologies target culture more significantly than most formal methodologies. I really look forward to working with you on this program."
Krishna smiled as he shook hands with Eklavya and Karna, as he turned and stepped out of the building into the bright sunshine outside.
It was the middle of October, by the time Dhritarashtra confirmed the date and time - 1030h at their offices in Sector 142, in Greater Noida. Greater Noida was an extension of the older New Okhla Industrial Development Area, along the new and alternate alignment to National Highway No 2 till Agra on the East bank of the Yamuna river.
Krishna walked into the airy reception area at 1025h sharp. It was a mad hour long commute to Greater Noida from Gurgaon. He made a mental note to check out three or four different routes for time and distance while he sauntered over to the receptionist desk in the corner. Handing over his business card he announced that he was there to meet Dhritarashtra. The receptionist picked up the telephone and dialled a number, then asked Krishna to wait in the lounge while someone came over to receive him.
As Krishna walked over to a sofa next to the main entrance, he pulled out his mobile to scan for messages and emails and it was only then he noticed three missed calls, two from Dhritarashtra and one from an unknown number. He called Dhritarashtra first and was quite surprised to hear that he had to travel out of station on a business emergency and that his "number two", Eklavya would be there to facilitate the meeting with the key members of his team.
"Yeah... no worries. I will handle it and get back to you with the gist of the discussion." Krishna knew that the planned session with the team would be a notch less effective, but there was no choice. And he definitely did not want to schedule it for another day.
Eklavya strode across the lobby with Karna in tow. The handshake was guarded, so probably Dhritarashtra probably only briefed him this morning. Krishna noticed a level of reserve he usually attributes to cold calls.
"Mmm...this is going to need some work before some trust and rapport is established!", Krishna thought to himself as he followed Eklavya and Karna off to the left of the lobby and into a large open plan office.
There was the usual confusion about the meeting room, and by the time that was settled, some of the attendees had drifted off to get coffee. Moreover the network did not allow guest access and the projector was not switching on.
After about 15 minutes, all teething problems had been resolved, but now Krishna faced a new problem. He was expecting to meet 3-4 people including Dhritarashtra. But the small six person meeting was filled with at least 14 people and more were trickling in, coffee cups in hand.
"Just stand against the wall", suggested Krishna, "I will try and make this as painless as possible."
He had thought that he will run a power point presentation, but given the crowd in the room he switched tack and decided to go into a brainstorming session, asking each one there to first introduce themselves, describe their role and nature of work, and then to highlight the top two or three issues they faced each day in doing their work.
Eklavya took the lead to initiate the process, described the nature of the team that had gathered there, the different functions they had and pointed out the leads before passing the baton to Karna, sitting to his left, to start.
Karna's role was to study the web analytics and competitors and recommend actions to management. Yudhistir to Karna's left headed the product group. Rukmi, the test lead monopolized the discussion as her cup of woes spilt over and flowed down to the Yamuna.
Listening to them, Krishna was transported back to a time when he headed a software development centre. "Well, well, what has changed since those days, eh?", he thought to himself.
The discussion lasted almost a full hour, much to Krishna chagrin. He was firmly of the belief that no meeting should be more than 35 minutes with a five minute wrap at the end for path forward assignments. But surprisingly, no one had nodded off to warn him of the schedule overrun. Obviously, it must have been a while since this team had a chance to voice off. Or maybe, as was typical, it was the the result of external facilitation, when people feel safe to voice their concerns and not be judged for it or take the change of having it affect their quarterly or annual appraisals.
Krishna thanked them for their time and said that while he came in with the belief they needed structure, the environment was not suitable for a right structure of a formal methodology. What it needed was something light and adaptable - most definitely agile!
"How many of you have heard of Agile Methodologies?", asked Krishna, more rhetorically than part of the assessment.
Four hands went up, including Karna. Karna stated that he was a certified scrum master (CSM), and Krishna immediately knew that Karna had to be on the program's Core Group. The others had heard of it and done some reading, but never utilized it.
Krishna then asked Eklavya to find out whether there were any more CSMs in the organization who could be spared for the program core group and ended the session by saying, "It was a very fruitful discussion. I can see that a formal structured methodology will not work here. You guys are best suited for a more light weight methodology. I will be putting the outcomes of this discussion in a proposal and I will be recommending implementing an Agile methodology as a pilot. Thank you for your active participation and your time."
Krishna knew that the meeting was a success, as Eklavya, escorting him back to the lobby, appeared to have warmed up tremendously.
"I liked your point about self-organizing teams, and about having a high tolerance for mistakes. I can now see why the process of correcting a mistake is a huge source of innovation and why you say the agile methodologies target culture more significantly than most formal methodologies. I really look forward to working with you on this program."
Krishna smiled as he shook hands with Eklavya and Karna, as he turned and stepped out of the building into the bright sunshine outside.
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