The conflict can be defined as an interference between individuals or groups of people, promoted by different beliefs, values, goals or the surrounding environment. The incompatibility of goals can potentialize the disagreement between team members, increasing the possibility of conflict risk occurring.

It’s important to manage the conflict risk, because unmanaged conflict risk negatively affects the working team environment. But conflict is not synonymous of problems. From the perspective of the agile coach, and in my opinion, one of the hallmarks of highly collaborative teams is that they use conflict constructively and, in some cases, can have a positive effect on the overall project environment.

The adoption of Agile and the conflict increase

The adoption of Agile could result in conflict between team members, mainly when making the transition to Agile software development. It’s possible that there could be more conflict between team members in Agile software development than other project management methodologies, but it’s crucial to recognize that conflict does not originate from the methodology but from people.

People issues are the crucial ingredient of the Agile drive, enabling individuals to support realistic goals by providing shorter feedback cycles, flexibility as well as ownership with some degree of freedom to resolve said issues. However, we should not confuse the difficulties inherent in product development with the conflict inherent in introducing a new way of working. One source of increased conflict may be associated with the partial adoption of Agile in a traditional organization, that can inevitably generate some conflicts, essentially when the engaged in the new methodologies does not cover all the organization business areas, which is perhaps the main barrier to the desired success.

Conflict Risk Management

One way to manage conflict risk is to face it and turn it into a positive think, recognized and learn with it, helps the teams to realize and define paths to understand the conflict source and possible solutions. Thus, it is natural to say, the perception of conflict is negative and unwanted, is the traditional perception that researchers had of the conflict risk in work environments, where is harmful and a potential risk to effective team performance.
The team need to know the new methodologies adopted, like Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming (XP), Lean Development, or Crystal, in the context of Agile mindset. It’s crucial to understand the values, the goals, the customer collaboration, the responding to change, the concept of continuous delivery and continuous improvement, then iterative method, all these terms define the new approach, the new vision of “Who To Do”, the team members need to be certified in Agile methodologies or familiarized with practical experience.

We should not avoid conflict when it is necessary but try to make it unnecessary. We would prefer to have a good teamwork than adversarial. However, to mitigate any conflict, there are some control and management mechanisms. For example, such as the team can be shielded from external noise, to focus on their ongoing tasks, and this is possible in the introduction of the correct methodologies, like Scrum, excellent for initiating the maturity degree in a traditional organization who want to adopt Agile.

Another way to mitigate conflict, goes through involve everyone on the team to understand the product goal, create and maintain a document that describe how team will work, schedule retrospectives ceremonies to discuss who to improve and resolve some issues, and delegate authority to maintain the trust experience.

Finally, but not less important, Agile makes sense if everyone in organization is aligned on the same principles and values, otherwise conflicts will inevitably arise due to the collision of different points of view and cultures.

Agile as a risk or conflict resolution

The conflict risk is a factor of concern in the software development process, but is natural, because conflict is present in any situation where people work together, principally when is important to responding to change through constant collaboration with the customer, like Agile methodology based. Collaboration means conflict, whenever more than one person works on a problem, there will be disagreements about how to solve it.

Conflict is something natural in human beings, it is part of their evolutionary process, and we are only interested in knowing how we can improve it in our favour, allowing us to grow as a person and a professional. It’s our goal to resolve the conflict quickly and effectively.

It’s possible that of the major causes of people conflict is the fact that Agile adoption impact a cultural shift in an organization, but on Agile philosophy, the conflict risk is embraced without preconceptions. It’s a new culture, that allows us to embrace transparently, so that we can learn and improve with it, and required time to consolidate, where change is always the main driver of resistance at the first stage of the adoption process.

Nuno Sousa
Business Analyst at Polarising

Fonts:
Adkins, L. & Blake, K. (2009). Coaching Agile teams to constructively navigate conflict. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2009—North America, Orlando, FL.
Balbes, M. (2014). Conflict and Resolution in the Agile World. https://adtmag.com/articles/2014/12/17/Agile-conflict-resolution.aspx.
Boehm, B. & Turner, R. (2005). Management Challenges to Implementing Agile Processes in Traditional Development Organizations.
Elgoibar, P., Euwema, M. & Munduate, L. (2016). Building trust and constructive conflict management in organizations. Industrial relations & conflict management.
Karn, J. & Cowling, A. (2008). Measuring the effect of conflict on software engineering teams. Behavior Research Methods
Lyssa Adkins (2010), Coaching Agile Teams Book, A companion for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches and Managers in transition.
Moe, N.B., Dingsøyr, T. & Dybå, T. (2010). A teamwork model for understanding an Agile team: A case study of a scrum project. Information and Software Technology.
Saxena, A., Venkatagiri, S. & Bandi, R. (2016). Managing Inherent Conflicts in Agile Distributed Development: Evidence from Product Development. Australasian Conference on Information Systems. http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=acis2016
Nocera, A. & Sharp, H. (2012). Understanding conflicts in Agile adoption through technological frames. International Journal of Socio-technology and Knowledge Development.

Did you know that the United Nations estimated in 2022 that women make up 49.6% of the total population on planet Earth?

And did you know that on February 11, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated? And if so, why does this day exist?

I’m going to ask you to think about 3 great scientists in history in 20 seconds… When time passes, you can scroll.

Can I try and guess which scientists did you remember? Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Alan Turing? Perhaps Louis Pasteur or Thomas Edison? Did I get any right?

Or did any of the scientists below pop into your head?

No? If yes, great, because the list goes on! There are many women who have marked the history of Science and Technology. Isn’t this amazing?

However, the world as we know it has found a way to conceal woman’s contribution to the STEM fields throughout history, always putting them to the test and forcing them to challenge social stereotypes. Disclaimer: This article aims to really explore the complexity and progress that has been made so far on gender equality in this field of knowledge. It’s about society itself and not about any specific company.

How did history begin?

We live in days where inclusion is a watchword, however, has it always been like this?

Why is the number of women in STEM lower than the number of men? Is it just because of preferences? The truth is no. Since the beginnings of science, women have always faced many more obstacles to be successful in any career. Social restrictions, lack of access to education and gender discrimination, have always been the main reasons that have prevented women from succeeding in senior positions.

In my opinion, it’s quite curious that we see lots of women working twice as hard to achieve the same as a man, but there’s still the stigma that it’s the woman’s place to take care of the house and the family. There are still many inequalities, especially regarding leadership positions, salary differences and the lack of recognition for academic contributions.

And speaking of numbers and remuneration, we don’t need to go further than 2010 to realise that in Portugal, on average, men received 17.9% more than women for the same roles.The good news is that this value has been decreasing, and now we are talking about 13.1%.

The truth is that it has improved, but does this percentage still makes sense?

My (not that impressive but real) story

Why am I writing this article? First, because I’m a proud woman! Then, because I believe we should all be part of change, and finally because I think we should talk more openly about these subjects so we can have a real vision of things. And of course, I like to think and write about these things!

Looking back, when I was a Cellular and Molecular Biology student, I was always surrounded by girls like me, perhaps in a ratio of 10 boys to 20 girls in the class, which made everything easier. Interestingly, most teachers were male.

When I got out to the business world and started to work, I immediately felted the weight of the sexist country we live in. I was experiencing firsthand the inequality in salary, promotions, consideration, etc. However, the weight of responsibility was always greater!

Only recently, eleven years later, I see that things are starting to evolve, mentalities are starting to change, and there is more and more equity (yes, because equality is not a term that applies).

STEM Women in the IT field

Any quick internet search on this subject returns a simple answer: there are many challenges and there is still a great need to address issues of gender equality. To my view, it’s urgent to acknowledge those issues and take action, as it’s the only way to promote the full potential of diverse talent and foster innovation and progress in STEM areas. To my view, I see it this way:

Underrepresentation: The imbalance is evident from education to leadership positions. There’s a disproportionate lack of female representation, hindering gender equity and diversity in work environments within these domains.

Cultural stereotypes: There is still a strong tendency to think that this area is a masculine area. This stereotype creates a mis concept to young generations who are influenced when choosing this career, and later in the way performance evaluations and promotions are carried out.

Salary differences: Even when occupying similar positions, women generally receive lower salaries than their male counterparts in these working fields. These disparities reflect the ongoing challenges in achieving equitable compensation within these professions.

Work environment: There are still many places where the work environment is not inclusive for women. Gender biases and discriminatory practices are mentally harmful and undermine the realization of a truly diverse and equitable workplace.

Lack of role models: Because there are few women in leadership positions in these areas, it can lead to a lack of desire and aspiration from other women that even might have the potential and aptitude to these kinds of working positions.

How can we make a difference?

There are two fundamental approaches to minimize inequality:

Awareness and education of new generations: The differences observed often begin with education. More training is necessary in order to demonstrate that nowadays, it makes no sense for someone to have different rights due to their gender, after all, the duties and responsibilities are the same.

In schools, it is very important to start creating awareness to these differences from an early age, but also promoting initiatives that encourage everyone to be interested in STEM areas. It is important to demystify these topics and educate the new generations. One way is to transform the education methods more practical, allowing everyone to contact the various areas of science in a dynamic way, for example, in experimental science classes or workshops.

IT companies can also be part of this change by creating academies for everybody, regardless their gender, that has the interest and capability to join. Polarising is doing a great job at this!

Diversity and inclusion initiatives: As adults, we have more difficulty to change our ideas, and sometimes, even accepting difference. We are afraid of what others might think. It is important that more and more organisations are aware of the need of diversity and inclusion. One path may be through implementing policies and programs to promote more equitable work environments. Leadership positions must be occupied by those who prove their worth and trained to manage everyone equally based on performance and delivery, and there should be a “Zero Discrimination Policy” to not use any of the following as evaluation criteria: gender, religion, or origin.

How is it to be a STEM woman at Polarising?

Polarising is doing a great job in diversity and inclusion! Did you know that about 24% of our employees are women? It’s really a good number in this type of companies, since some years ago even 1% was kind of utopic!

The company has a working policy that allows employees to feel safe and at home. Here we have female leaders, but most important, everybody is treated equally. Even regarding salaries, Polarising’s evaluation system values our performance (hard skills and soft skills), and it really doesn’t matter your gender.

That’s why in my brief story I said this was the beginning of a new era: It’s good to finally find a place where my gender (or other personal stuff) doesn’t delay my career.

So… to be or not to be a technological and scientific woman?

Awareness about these topics is growing every day and many efforts are already being done to make the working world, including IT, more inclusive.

There shouldn’t even exist any hesitation in wanting to be what you want to be! Even if the reality still is that there should be more and more possibilities for women to explore their potential.

The path to gender equality in these areas needs continuous efforts, collaboration, and commitment. It is an ongoing challenge that requires companies, teachers, and professionals to be onboard. And from all areas, to ensure that opportunities are equally distributed among everyone.

This article aims to do just that, to encourage reflection on the barriers that exist and inspire actions that lead us towards a future where opportunities are equal for everyone, regardless of gender.

Are we prepared? More than yesterday, less than tomorrow: “The path is made step by step!”

Business Analysts (BAs) often find themselves quietly putting together threads of information, deciphering requirements, and navigating stakeholders’ expectations.

Yet, in the big picture of projects, the critical tasks performed by these analytical minds are sometimes dismissed as mere footnotes or relegated to the background.

So, that Business Analysts are disposable is common knowledge. After all, what is the point of a professional who has the following tasks:

Anyone, in their daily lives, can do this. In fact, does this profession make sense?!

Better yet, there is only one thing worse than a Business Analyst: a Business Analyst who works with Scrum!

And the Agile methodology?

We can describe the agile methodology as a method that is based on two basic principles: iteration and incrementation. It is known for being flexible, adaptive and customer oriented following the Agile Manifesto.

The great advantage is that it does not follow a plan from the beginning to the end of a project. It allows direction changes, more or less pronounced, and it is based on continuous collaboration between multidisciplinary teams.

Theoretically, it is the most effective way to bring a development to life, with the lowest possible risk, as it is based on the following concepts:

Sounds easy, right? But will it be that easy to get the machine rolling?

Get down to it: Agile classification

If I had to organize the five points on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is the easiest to put into practice and 5 the most difficult, this would be my rating:

First, the easiest: Scrum

You would expect that the most difficult thing to control would be the daily business, right? After all, Scrum has a series of rules that must be followed, as seen in the image bellow:

In fact, the events and personas that are described in the diagram are relatively easy to implement and serve precisely to assist the daily business.

To manage product development, work is defined in Product Backlog and the magic happens throughout sprints.

As a Business Analyst (with Product Owner functions), I see the four types of events in this work framework as a way of ensuring efficiency, whether in planning (sprint planning), reviewing what was done (sprint review) and even understanding strengths and points of improvement for the team (sprint retrospective).

And honestly, what could be better than a daily meeting for the development team to share what they did, what they are going to do, and existing roadblocks?

When it comes to organization, BAs can boast of being quite efficient. So, just add something almost innate to the advantages of a well-defined method and everything will work. But does the whole team think the same way?

If you want to go deeper into this topic, I invite you to visit the following article and take your own conclusions.

The second step: Multifunctional and self-organizing teams

Creating a multifunctional team that can organize itself on a day-to-day basis can be challenging and may depend on several factors such as company culture, leadership, communication with managers, team size and even the experience of the personas in agile methodologies.

But there is one thing that puts this point, in my opinion, in second place: a clear definition of objectives and tasks for each person.

With this, it is easy to know which task corresponds to whom and allow everyone to manage their time in the most efficient way possible. Furthermore, with effective sprint planning meetings every sprint, if people are responsible, it is safe to expect that there will be self-organization throughout projects.

However, it is up to the BA to ensure that the “machine is running without sand in the gear”: is the board up to date? Are there people who are blocked and afraid to share their problems? Does everyone have access to everything they need to work?

It starts to seem like a BA has a full day after all, doesn’t it?

It starts to get complicated: Incremental delivery

Theoretically, following everything described in the first point, this would be of equal complexity. Will it be?

Let’s imagine a scenario where the customer wants to exchange their OCR reader for a new supplier. So, it is necessary to develop full integration with what already exists. In this project, not one, not two, but three systems will be involved, which will only talk to each other through a fourth system.

The design is assembled and, therefore, everything needs to go smoothly. Until the pitfalls of incremental delivery begin to emerge:

Meanwhile, what is a BA doing? What a lot of people see: nothing. What a BA actually does: documentation, testing, speeding up communication between the various personas of the project (client included), testing, keeping requirements updated, opening bugs… did I mention testing?!

The beginning of the great challenge: Continuous Adaptation

Projects are made by people. People are themselves, constantly iterating projects, and a person is not based on binary code. There is much more on a person than zeros and ones… It’s easy to see why I ordered this as point fourth on the table: aversion to change!

Change is a much more complex verb than its syntax. It refers to the process of moving from one state, a condition or situation to another. It can involve transformation in several aspects: attitudes, behaviors, processes, and structures… It can be natural or driven, for example, by the search for improvement or adaptation. However, if a requirement can change at the speed of light, for a person to change, it is perhaps one of the most difficult actions.

Effective change management is very important, helping people and organizations to face transitions positively and take advantage of the opportunities that change can bring. How? Educating and communicating the effectiveness and benefits of incremental delivery and paradigm shifts throughout the project. Honesty and sharing are the basis.

Now, a BA is that person who “forces” others to accept and embrace change. It seems like things are starting to get complicated, right?

The big challenge: Collaboration and communication

If only it were as easy to communicate as it is to send messages through Kafka! Whoever agrees with me, raise your hand!

We return to the same: people.If we were MuleSoft APIs that can only transmit the information they receive, it could be easy. But we are beings that accumulate information and react to it. We map and transform data almost continuously, while we can change states (of mind), sometimes faster than calling an API. And, whether due to a lack of trust or too much trust, we tend to filter information, hiding fears and trying not to show weaknesses. So, this is when in the successful response blame (in others) and/or excuses (about what was not done) may arise!

When a BA/tester opens a bug in a given system, it doesn’t matter who developed that part that has a bug. The objective is just one: for the test to be carried out successfully and to deliver functionality to the customer.

But is this what the team feels? Human sensitivity and fragility are easily affected when our efforts are put into perspective. And truth to be told, who likes to fail?

So here come the difficulties in collaboration and communication: “that’s not mine”, “that’s from another system”, “it’s not my fault!”. Who has heard, or said, these phrases? All of us, at some point, for sure.

In conclusion, this point is the biggest challenge, as it is necessary to keep people focused on the solution and not the problem and convey the message that it doesn’t matter where the blame comes from, but rather where the resolution is.

The BA scope: to navigate daily challenges

With everything said until now, we can conclude that being a Business Analyst is much more than what the job description says:

• It is the Get…/daily-motivation and Put…/team-and-client-trust-and-encouragement APIs that always give 200 – Success.
• It’s being able to turn around each test that returns 500 – Internal Server Error.
• It’s not to despair when it must be Job Repeat-all-tasks.
• It’s learning how to fill in new mandatory fields that appear daily…
• And it’s especially about ensuring that the team is really a team and not just a group of people working together.

How can we achieve all this? With openness, honesty, being the first to admit failures and help with solutions and a lot of trustworthy daily work: being a BA, and adapting to everyone, without blame or excuses.

If it’s easy, no! There are days that really seem like a curse. But honestly, what is life without challenges?

A strong leadership is critical for driving effective change in any type of organization. But what is leadership?

Ultimately, an effective leadership is what can help an organization achieve its goals and grow, both in terms of revenue and employee development.

Leading involves guiding a group of people or a team towards achieving a common goal, and it requires a set of skills that not everyone possesses. To be blunt, leaders must motivate and inspire, define clear goals and expectations, and give regular feedback and support.

Therefore, if you aspire to be a leader it’s important to continuously improve your leadership skills to meet the evolving needs of your organization and people.

How Leaders drive change

As a Business Analyst and Agile consultant, I often see how leaders play a significant role in identifying the need for change, serving as a guiding force and navigating the inheriting complexities of any project.

It is on the Leader to help their team to understand the benefits of change, working collaboratively to develop new approaches that align with the organization’s objectives.

In doing so, they are creating a culture of encouragement.

By empowering their people to constantly learn and develop their skills, the team’s collective performance will improve as well as a sense of individual growth, setting the foundations to embrace change.

Strategies for implementing change

Any strong Leader looking to drive transformational changes in their organization must have a strategy, be consistent, and communicate clearly to gather everyone onboard.

Here are some key takeaways that are central for successfully leading change:

• Vision and Clarity: A good leader should have a clear vision for the desired changes. They must be able to articulate this vision to the entire organization in a way that inspires and motivates employees to embrace change.
• Strategic Planning: Effective change requires a strategic plan. Leaders should be skilled in developing and executing a detailed roadmap for change, including goals, timelines, and resource allocation.
• Risk Management: Change often involves risks. Strong leaders assess these risks, develop mitigation strategies, and make calculated decisions to minimize potential negative impacts.
• Measurable Goals and KPIs: Leaders should set clear, measurable goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the progress of change initiatives. This provides the basis for assessment and adjustment as needed.
• Change Management Expertise: A good leader understands the principles of change management. They know how to identify potential resistance, focus on concerns, and implement strategies to facilitate a smooth transition.
• Communication Skills: Clear and consistent communication is crucial during times of change. Leaders must keep employees informed about the reasons for change, the expected outcomes, and the steps involved. They should also be approachable and open to feedback.
• Lead by Example: Leaders should personify the changes they seek in the company. By modelling the desired behaviours, they encourage employees to follow it.

• Team Building: Leaders should build a strong, cohesive team that is aligned with the change efforts. This may involve recruiting new talent, developing the skills of existing team members, and encouraging a culture of collaboration and innovation.
• Empowerment: Empowering employees to take ownership of the changes can be highly effective. Leaders should delegate responsibility and provide the necessary resources and training to enable employees to contribute to the change process.
• Resilience: Change efforts may face obstacles. Resilient leaders remain focused on the end goals and persist in the face of challenges.
• Adaptability: Strong leaders must be open to new ideas, willing to pivot when necessary, and able to respond quickly to changing circumstances.
• Transparency: Being transparent about the rationale behind changes, as well as potential consequences, builds trust among employees. Leaders should share information honestly and openly.
• Feedback Mechanisms: Leaders should establish feedback channels to gather input from employees at all levels. This feedback can inform the change process and help leaders address concerns proactively.
• Celebrate Achievements: Recognizing and celebrating milestones and successes in the change process can boost the morale and maintain enthusiasm among employees.

It takes Leadership, not just a village

Leading change is complex and challenging, but it is also essential, and it cannot be overstated.

A strong leadership that combines vision, adaptability, communication, and the ability to manage change effectively is crucial to a company’s growth and success in a dynamic and competitive market.

In short, leadership is the driving force behind successful transformational changes in businesses, and it is crucial for organizations to nurture and develop strong leaders to ensure their long-term success.

Organizations retrospectively see benefits that allow to identify improvements in productivity, capacity, quality, and when applied in a recurring basis, the positive change becomes evident in people’s lives, in the use of their skills, and in the ability to respond to problems.

The Retrospective exercise also enhances the ability to train the team in solving less comfortable situations, thus avoiding the escalation of unnecessary conflicts. It’s also a stage for celebrating the success achieved in the Sprint as a way of recognizing the work done and feel motivated . People become better, happier in carrying out their activities, and social interaction improves significantly.

But to efficiently obtain the best results, the Scrum team must feel accepted and included in the performance overall, as an individual and as a group. Therefore, we can ask: Is my Scrum team an effective team?

The data modeling solution

The use of structure in the retrospective favors consistency and organization, making space to a methodological culture of reflection. The adaptability of the models according to the needs identified by the Scrum teams and the encouragement for consistency (it is expected that the ceremony takes place every Sprint and with it the expected benefits), promotes the implementation of good practices in the team and consequently for improvement to be continued.

It’s important to consider the time needed to allocate each of the phases of the structure. As an example, we can consider the following structure and relative amount of time allocation for each phase:

The applicability of techniques in retrospect can produce quite satisfactory results. For example, we can consider the time spent to carry it out, that is, for a retrospective longer than 2 hours consider an interval of 10 minutes every 90 minutes. This coffee break is important for the team to regain their energy.

Being able to change your ceremony location can provide new perspectives. Typically, retrospectives take place in a Scrum team common room, allowing access to artifacts that the team often uses during sessions. However, the change of space, both physical and virtual (using online tools), encourages a change of perspective with non-standard interactions, avoiding the repetition or recurrence of the same processes associated with space and habits. In this way, a change of scenery enables new approaches and can act as a catalyst for the emergence of different observations or ideas.

Geographical distribution can impact psychological safety, as distant teams don’t collaborate as well as those in the same room. However, according to industrial organizational psychology, a work routine established exclusively at home or in the office strengthens commitment and personal well-being, without interruptions in the daily work routine and ensuring the balance between work and personal life.

To help with a more sustainable routine, the Scrum Master can find solutions that facilitate and enhance an environment of transparency, sharing and cooperating within the team, mitigating feelings of insecurity.

The future of Scrum

A possible solution to increase team involvement is to activate the video camera so that the team can observe each other while participating in work meetings or ceremonies, thus increasing the interaction and participation as if they were present in a Scrum room. Constant communication between team members on a day-to-day basis, whether via chat or audio, based on their activities and problem solving, strengthens social ties and, consequently, enhances the integration of team members.

The resolution of organizational impediments by the Scrum Master also contributes to increase the degree of psychological safety in the Scrum Team, as they wont’ feel so exposed to the stress of what they can’t control or know how to proceed.

The use of techniques to guide and facilitate the retrospective enhances the collection of data for inspection and subsequent conclusion of action points to be applied in future Sprints. For this purpose, the Scrum Master can always resort to different tools, from time to time, namely the use of DAKI, Meteorology, Timelines, Sailboat, Satisfaction Histograms, among other techniques, to capture the attention and involvement of the team, both in person and remotely. Bringing the team into the physical space and emotional check-in reveals an effective way to engage all team members, such as asking each one to share one word that describes how they are feeling.

The applicability of surveys to quantitatively determine the level of satisfaction of the team are also useful solutions. Responding to a survey anonymously allows you to know individual psychological satisfaction (How satisfied are you?) and collective psychological satisfaction (How satisfied are we?). This allows some time for an individual and informal conversation with the elements of the Scrum team, not only helping to qualitatively perceive the degree of satisfaction and comfort, but also providing the opportunity to resolve any type of dissatisfaction or conflict through understanding and ability to listen to what someone has to say.

It’s important to Retrospect

The applicability of methodologies and techniques can help strengthen the bonds between team members, involving them in the most critical topics, free of preconceptions and limitations related to lack of trust. Here, psychological safety plays a key role as a belief, and the involvement and acceptance in and by the team significantly improves outcomes and the delivery value.

The recurring use of Scrum Agile ceremonies during Sprints is extremely important for the intended success. And the Retrospective ceremony is responsible for ensuring that continuous improvement occurs in the way the team interacts and works in the Sprint, overcoming problems together and delivering the value they committed by accepting the stories.

Nuno Sousa
Business Analyst at Polarising

Sources:

• O Guia Scrum, 2020, URL: https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-Portuguese-European.pdf
• Five Icebreakers Scrum Alliance Scrum Masters Use to Build Trust on Teams, URL: https://resources.scrumalliance.org/Article/icebreakers-scrum-alliance-masters-use-build-trust-teams
• Meet Jeff Sutherland, Meet Ken Schwaber (2020), The Scrum Guide, URL: https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf#zoom=100
• Building a psychologically safe workplace | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE (2015). URL: https://youtu.be/LhoLuui9gX8
• Psychological Safety Retrospective. URL: https://www.teamretro.com/retrospectives/psychological-safety-retrospective
• Guide: Understand team effectiveness, Google, ReWork. URL: https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/
• 5 Passos para melhorar as dinâmicas para retrospectivas scrum. Lauren Moon (2015). Blog: https://blog.trello.com/br/dinamicas-retrospectivas-scrum
• Derby, E., Larsen, D., & Schwaber, K. (2006). Agile retrospectives: Making good teams great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
• Schulte, M., Cohen, N. A., & Klein, K. J. (2012). The coevolution of network ties and perceptions of team psychological safety. Organization Science, 23(2), 564-581.
• Khanna, D., & Wang, X. (2022, June). Are Your Online Agile Retrospectives Psychologically Safe? the Usage of Online Tools. In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming: 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 13–17, 2022, Proceedings (pp. 35-51). Cham: Springer International Publishing. URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-08169-9_3
• James, M., & Walter, L. (2010). Scrum reference card. CollabNet Inc. URL: http://cs.wheatoncollege.edu/mgousie/comp401/scrumReferenceCard2017.pdf
• A segurança psicológica no trabalho híbrido (2022), URL: https://blog.xtree.com.vc/trabalho-hibrido/
• Sousa, N. M., Costa, C. J., & Aparício, M. (2017). Ba: um fator determinante no uso de sistemas de gestão do conhecimento., (22), 1-19. URL: https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/14210/5/n22a02.pdf

Whenever I want to improve my results, as a person and professional, I find myself reviewing what I’ve already done, asking myself if what I did could have been done differently, if I should have chosen another path, if I did it well or not, if I should not repeat a certain action. Basically, what I could have done to get a better result.

This process allows individuals and teams to understand what must be corrected so that in future actions we are capable of better results; it’s a natural learning process often produced without realizing its relevance, with immense vicissitudes that can condition or even prevent the completion of the process, at least, effectively.

What’s scrum got to do with it?

In Scrum Agile, the Retrospective assumes a crucial role, associated with continuous improvement, naturally fitting into the work environment. As a rule, it is the last ceremony, the one that closes the cycle of a Sprint.

As described in The Scrum Guide (2020), the Sprint Retrospective ceremony aims to plan ways to increase quality and efficiency. During the ceremony, the Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went, considering the individual, interactions, processes, and tools, in addition to visiting the Definition of Done (DoD) artifact and its applicability in the Sprint.

With inspection comes adaptation, through the identification of changes and reflected in action points as guidelines to improve the team’s efficiency, with the aim of applying them as soon as possible in the next Sprints. This process enhances the improvement of the team as “know-how” and, therefore, is reflected in the delivery of value.

As a ceremony, it allows, in a structured and reasoned way, to approach the technique as a methodology, and the team to identify its points of action, observing, reflecting, and answering the three main questions that the ceremony proposes:

• What went well during the Sprint?
• What went less well during the Sprint?
• How were issues resolved or not resolved during the Sprint?

In this way, it becomes relevant to understand to what extent psychological safety plays a significant role in the success of a scrum team and the results produced by the belief associated with it.

Transparency and Values: Teams Psychological Safety in Retrospective.

Since transparency is one of the empirical pillars, it’s essential to understand the value associated with it, since transparency allows inspection. Oversight without transparency is misleading and leads to waste.

In this way, Scrum applies a set of values ​​that guarantee the achievement of the Scrum Team’s objectives and reinforce transparency as a fundamental pillar in Scrum Agile. Respect, courage, openness, focus, and commitment are an integral part of Scrum Team members. They make it possible to strengthen interpersonal bonds and, thus, make people more capable and independent, being respected by the people they work with and facing issues with courage, no matter how difficult they may seem. These values ​​are guidelines for the Scrum Team in terms of its work, actions, and behavior.

To make a mistake is human, it’s natural and expected until mistakes occur during the Sprint, however, if we cannot see and address what went wrong, it’s because something is wrong.

In a context of self-protection, we are all reluctant to engage in behaviors that might negatively influence how others perceive our competence, awareness, and positivity. And while resorting to self-protection is a natural strategy, it’s detrimental to effective teamwork. Conversely, the more secure team members feel with each other, the more likely they are to admit mistakes, form partnerships, and take on new roles.

Therefore, we can see how Psychological Safety can help to understand if the Scrum Team is effective. Psychological safety is the belief that no one will be punished, branded as incompetent, ignorant, or even criticized for presenting ideas, assuming concerns and doubts about something, or even admitting a mistake. Psychological safety is influenced by four distinct factors:

• Trust among peers, mental attitude to promote a comfort zone in the team.
• Mutual respect, as a factor that leads participants to take care of each other and tolerate the way they deal with individual behaviors.
• Constructive response, as a way of ensuring that the individual learns and improves when a problem is addressed, without feeling discouraged and excluded.
• Confidence, as a state of mind in the ability to ensure that something is correct even in the absence of evidence.

This posture of mutual respect and commitment guarantees that the team is confident to take interpersonal risks, thus allowing it to determine more efficiently the points to be improved and to learn from mistakes in a constructive way, with the clear objective of avoiding future issues.

In a study carried out by Google called Project Aristotle, with the aim of understanding what makes an effective team at the company, it was concluded that it mattered less “who” is part of the team and more “how” the team worked together, that is, teams with a higher degree of psychological safety are less likely to leave the company, and are also more likely to take advantage of their colleagues’ ideas and thus add value, with a positive impact on delivery.

Within the scope of the study, five dynamic keys were identified that determine the success of a team, psychological safety being considered, by far, the most relevant of all. In this way, with the aim of supporting the teams, some suggestions were presented in the context of psychological safety, namely:

• The group has a single voice, in which everyone participates without prejudice.
• It’s natural to fail, that we can lose something.
• The importance of curiosity, asking questions without fear of reprisal.
• Develop new ideas, new points of view.

The five key dynamics that set successful teams.
Re:Work – https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/five-keys-to-a-successful-google-team/

There are ways to create dynamics that help identify and increase the team’s level of psychological safety, methodologies and techniques that allow working on motivation together as a team, for greater involvement and acceptance as individuals in the group, whether in person or remote.The key to the success of a retrospective is to ensure that people are close and involved in the process, without prejudices, limitations, and self-confidence in an environment conducive to sharing knowledge and ideas. Here, psychological safety plays a fundamental role for the success of the Scrum Team, being an important dimension to consider in an organization, since it guarantees the satisfaction and integration of the individual in the work group.

Nuno Sousa
Business Analyst at Polarising

Sources:

• O Guia Scrum, 2020, URL: https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-Portuguese-European.pdf.
• Five Icebreakers Scrum Alliance Scrum Masters Use to Build Trust on Teams, URL: https://resources.scrumalliance.org/Article/icebreakers-scrum-alliance-masters-use-build-trust-teams.
• Meet Jeff Sutherland, Meet Ken Schwaber (2020), The Scrum Guide, URL: https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf#zoom=100.
• Building a psychologically safe workplace | Amy Edmondson | TEDxHGSE (2015). URL: https://youtu.be/LhoLuui9gX8.
• Psychological Safety Retrospective. URL: https://www.teamretro.com/retrospectives/psychological-safety-retrospective.
• Guide: Understand team effectiveness, Google, ReWork. URL: https://rework.withgoogle.com/print/guides/5721312655835136/.
• 5 Passos para melhorar as dinâmicas para retrospectivas scrum. Lauren Moon (2015). Blog: https://blog.trello.com/br/dinamicas-retrospectivas-scrum.
• Derby, E., Larsen, D., & Schwaber, K. (2006). Agile retrospectives: Making good teams great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
• Schulte, M., Cohen, N. A., & Klein, K. J. (2012). The coevolution of network ties and perceptions of team psychological safety. Organization Science, 23(2), 564-581.
• Khanna, D., & Wang, X. (2022, June). Are Your Online Agile Retrospectives Psychologically Safe? the Usage of Online Tools. In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming: 23rd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 13–17, 2022, Proceedings (pp. 35-51). Cham: Springer International Publishing. URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-08169-9_3.
• James, M., & Walter, L. (2010). Scrum reference card. CollabNet Inc. URL: http://cs.wheatoncollege.edu/mgousie/comp401/scrumReferenceCard2017.pdf.
• A segurança psicológica no trabalho híbrido (2022), URL: https://blog.xtree.com.vc/trabalho-hibrido/ Sousa, N. M., Costa, C. J., & Aparício, M. (2017). Ba: um fator determinante no uso de sistemas de gestão do conhecimento., (22), 1-19. URL: https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/14210/5/n22a02.pdf.

Now that I catch your attention, let’s have a coffee while reading this article?

We’re used to our body responses to physical and mental efforts – we get tired. Bad sleeping, running, practice sports, working… these are all situations that increase our fatigue. And this happens because of some biological responses behind!

During the day, our body produces Adenosine, that binds to specific brain receptors, inhibiting the nervous system and causing tiredness. Basically, this process is essential for us to feel sleepy, helping the proper functioning of our circadian rhythm.

In this case, where does coffee come in and how does it help us to feel more awake?

The composition.

Coffee, and other products such as certain teas, chocolates and even ice cream, have caffeine in their composition, which binds to various molecular receptors in our brain, functioning as a stimulant for our nervous system.

When we drink coffee, caffeine molecules enter our circulatory system, traveling to our brain.

Both caffeine and adenosine are molecules from the xanthine group, this is, part of their structure is identical. This makes caffeine an antagonistic molecule for adenosine receptors, which means that they will compete for the same cell receptors in our brain.

Image: Adenosine vs. Caffeine molecules. Green highlights indicate the similar structure regions between both molecules.

It’s nothing but healthy competition!

When there are adenosine and caffeine molecules traveling in our blood system, is more likely that the cell receptors bind to caffeine molecules. Thus, when competing for these spots, the caffeine molecules reduce the number of adenosines that bind to the receptors and, consequently, the sleeping sensation is reduced, and the alertness is increased.

So, this is how coffee helps us to have energy for coding, you may ask?

Negative, my friend! This action does not exactly promote energy production in our bodies.

Its action is to prevent you from feeling drowsy and tired, since the molecules responsible for this sensation are deprived of doing their job.

Image: Caffeine and Adenosine competition for brain cellular receptors.

We can say then that caffeine tricks our brain to fell less tired, avoiding the sleepy signs.

When caffeine leaves our body, adenosine molecules still ager to do its job and the feeling of tiredness sets in again. It’s time for another cup of coffee, the Kryptonite of our sleep!

But be careful, you need to pay attention to quantities!

How much is too much?

Attention now! Caffeine also causes neuronal excitation in the brain, which is recognized by the pituitary gland as an emergency and stimulates the adrenal glands to release adrenaline – the source of the “fight or flight”!

This makes us react more quickly, instead of acting deliberately. Such an effect may be excellent if we are being chased by a wild lion, but not so good when we must find that crazy lost comma in the middle of a code with hundreds of lines.

Did you know that… caffeine also raises the dopamine levels? This substance works as some opioid drugs, binding to neurotransmitters responsible for sending messages between the brain and the body. Although on a much smaller scale, this is why some scientists defend caffeine as an addictive product.

Beware of too much caffeine!

The truth is that this molecule can disturb our sleep cycle, make us sleep worse and therefore reduce our quality of life. Sleeping is essential for the body and the brain to launch their nightly Jobs of restoring the system, ensuring its proper functioning, with the best response from all its “APIs”.

Without a good night’s sleep, our body is unable to have the energy it needs for all the metabolic and physical processes we need daily.

In addition, caffeine excess can also increase our heart rate and make us feel more jittery and anxious.

As it is a molecule that causes some dependence, the lack of caffeine can also cause a reduction in cognitive performance and have a negative impact on our mood. To get back to normal, you need a new dose of caffeine, which can bring good performance, but it will only be for a short period.

But I drink coffee and I’m still sleepy…

It’s true, there are people for whom coffee has no effect. And genetics appears to be the primarily responsible! However, even what we eat (the nutrients) can influence this effect.

This is a subject that has been studied and the scientific community already lists some factors for the difference in the effect of caffeine in humans:

• Different ability to metabolize (digest) coffee.
• Number of neurotransmitters (receptors) available to receive caffeine.
• Binding capacity (affinity) between receptors and caffeine molecules (genetic issues).
• The body’s resistance to caffeine molecules, where receptors are no longer fooled, due, for example, to excessive consumption.

In fact, coffee doesn’t help you Coding because it doesn’t know any technology, but if you’re lucky, if your genetics allow it, and if you use the right dose, it can help you keep your senses alert!

I hope you have enjoyed this article!

Sincerely,

A coffee lover that doesn’t live without her morning coffee.

Flávia Leitão
Business Analyst at Polarising

“Building The Future is where technology, innovation and leadership intersect to empower people and companies.” This is the promise of the biggest Digital Transformation event in Portugal, and I can say that it was absolutely fulfilled.

The event featured inspiring lectures, impactful guests and a wealth of knowledge, as evidenced by its official numbers: more than 75 sessions, 130 speakers and 15,000 participants from 58 countries, truly empowering people and companies.

Polarising as an Implementer.

What does it mean to be an Implementer? For Polarising, sponsor for the second consecutive year, this event was the perfect opportunity to show how we can help organizations to simplify and improve their application development processes as part of Digital Transformation, by using a modern approach focused on Microsoft and Azure technologies, amongst others.

As partners, technology developers and active citizens, Building the Future is an important event to us. Our team of representatives had 9 people onsite, from MarCom, Sales, Operations and Recruitment, who dedicated themselves to talk about Polarising’s services and its unique way of working, highlighting why we are one of the best and happiest companies to work with.

Transforming highlights.

As a marketing executive for Polarising, I was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in this event as a sponsor. But also, as an attendee, always curious to know more about technology and the impact it can have in our lives.

I have to highlight the interventions of Marcia Narine Weldon, where she addressed the relationship between Human Rights and Technology, and the intervention of Ricardo Conde, President of the Portuguese Space Agency, with an ultra-realistic testimony about the cosmos and, I would say , ethics and human essence.

This event was also an excellent opportunity to reconnect with old acquaintances and meet new people with new ideas.

The future is together.

We leave here, Polarising and I, more empowered and determined to build the future, helping organizations in their digital transformation, aligning knowledge and technological experience with the best solutions that Microsoft has to offer. See you next year, #BuildingTheFuture

Tiago do Paço
Marketing Executive at Polarising

In early 2015, Polarising established what it takes for itself as an unswerving rule from day one of its existence: absolute compliance with payment deadlines made to any and all persons or entities with which it collaborates.

So, when Compromisso Pagamento Pontual was established Polarising became members and proudly use the seal of the program on all communication channels, which we now renew as member of the Commitment to Prompt Payment to Suppliers and as an active part of this movement of social responsibility that promotes a culture of payment on time and enhances the competitiveness of the Portuguese economy.

We intend to counter the frightening figures and the unpredictable consequences that non-compliance with payment deadlines entail for the global economy. According to European Union data, 25% of bankruptcies are in European companies and recent data from Informa DB states that 84% of Portuguese companies do not meet their payment deadlines.

Also, the unemployment it causes and the unfair competition it creates, as companies that pay late penalize those that honor their commitments. This is becoming a serious threat to their survival and the culture of permissiveness and irresponsibility in the Portuguese economy seems to be deeply rooted as a cultural factor that has to be countered, or else many small and medium sized companies will succumb.

Join Compromisso Pagamento Pontual and be part of this movement.

I’m here to tell you Polarising’s story about 100 academy trainees that were sent to their first IT job.

I’m talking, alphabetically and just one time each name, about the academy trainees Ágata, Allan, Álvaro, Ana, André, Ângela, Anish, António, Bárbara, Beatriz, Bernardo, Bjorn, Bruno, Carolina, Cláudio, Daniel, David, Diogo, Erica, Filipe, Francisco, Gabriel, Gabriela, Gil, Gonçalo, Guilherme, Hèlena, Henrique, Igor, Inês, Irina, Janek, Jason, Jean, João, Kelly, Luis, Marcelo, Mariana, Marta, Miguel, Nelson, Nuno, Pedro, Raquel, Renato, Ricardo, Rui, Samuel, Sancho, Saulo, Svitlana, Tanguy, Théo, Tiago, Tingting and Tomás.

I was not yet the Champions Academy trainees idol at the time – if you ask, they will say that I’m still not, all lies! – but Polarising started its first Academy early in February 2015 with a team of just foreigner trainees, which went pretty well. Pretty, pretty, pretty well. And I think they enjoyed it too, in fact, one of them was with us until December 2020.

But they were missing their countries, so they left and made us look for other solutions. And there it was, right in front of our noses: Portugal’s resident talent.

And since then, Polarising’s Champions Academy has grown every year (even when we all went remote). Since 2015, almost 10 years went by and there were already 100 academy trainees passing through here (well, in fact they are 102 now but let’s pretend that they are 100, don’t be so fussy about the details!). It is great to review the names of the oldest Champions and realize that they are senior developers today. And good ones.

The objective of the Champions Academy is to give our trainees all the knowledge and tools so they can start their journey in the world of IT, and that’s why our Academies are always evolving and adapting so everybody can have, at least, the foundation knowledge about several technologies and ways of programming.

Are you asking for some statistics? Sorry I can’t hear, so I’ll say it anyway:

• 65 of these 100 academy trainees are still with us since (their) day 1.
• The most common name until now is Tiago, but Diogo and João are pretty close. Pretty, pretty, pretty close.
• Our academy trainees come specially from ISCTE, followed by IST, but outside Lisbon IPLeiria is the winner.

And for you that is reading this – not you, the one that is looking for their first work experience in IT, the Champions Academy recruits all year, so send us your CV and let’s talk.

Who knows in a few months you’ll be learning Java, Spring/Springboot, Angular, TIBCO BusinessWorks 5 and more, and then you’ll be part of this epic wall of fame?

It’s going to be pretty good.