Forward Progress Facilitator
What is an Assignment Handbook?
In Product we break our jobs into smaller units of responsibility we call Assignments. We do this to provide clarity for the person doing the job (what am I being relied upon for), clarity for the person's teammates (what can I rely on this person for), as well as to encourage high quality (specific and relevant) feedback.
Assignment Architect (ℹ️) = AR3 (w/ AG as the second-in-command for this Assignment)
Tagline:
We are the facilitators of team-based forward progress... ensuring that with every action we take brings us closer to achieving our mission 💪🏾
Expanded:
A team/squad is a collection of individuals coming together to accomplish some mission. To accomplish a mission, the team needs to make forward progress. We are the facilitators of this forward progress... ensuring that with every action we take brings us closer to achieving our mission 💪🏾 We know it takes a team to succeed, and are committed to ensuring WTWT and collaboration. Regardless of our processes, meeting style and cadences, and communication methods; we ensure progress (next steps, priorities, and deliverables) are as clear as possible.
Important note: Facilitators are just that... facilitators. They should NOT be the ones doing all of the "doing". They ARE here to make sure someone is accountable for the "doing".
Outcome:
- PRESENT
- All squadmates agree: "I am informed... meaning I know what is most important and what we are doing about it"
- All squadmates agree: "I am supported... meaning I have nothing in my way of making progress"
- All squadmates agree: "I am connected... meaning I know what the next steps are, who is accountable for each TODO, and how the TODOs and next steps are aligned with the progress we are trying to make"
- FUTURE
- All squadmates agree: "When thinking about the next 2 quarters; I am informed about and connected to the progress (in the form of OKR3s) we may be taking on"
Required Activities:
- Updating the future goals on the schedule defined below
- Using the Asana sub-tasks within this task to keep track
Abilities & Milestones (skills, knowledge, competencies, and/or behaviors)
- Project management skills : Expert aka Milestone 3
- Company Influence behaviors : Advanced aka Milestone 2
- Change management skills : Expert aka Milestone 3
- Collaboration skills : Expert aka Milestone 3
Handbook / Notes / Default Processes:
Chapter 19 of Inspired details this Assignment better than anything I've seen. I do not have the rights to post the full chapter, but it is too important to try and summarize with different words. If you'd like to read this book, ping AR3 and he will get you a copy.
Things you might deliver/do
The specifics will change based on the type of team you are the Forward Facilitator for (teams types such as; tiger teams, product squads, the shaping crew within a squad, the delivery crew within a squad, or a group like the directors)
- Facilitate an L-10 style meeting
- Coordinate a squad’s shaping and ongoing reviews of objectives and goals. Facilitate discussion and agreements regarding priority. This may include:
- Collaborate with squad to shape objectives and associated timelines/deliverables.
- Facilitate squad definition and planning of cycle goals. Support ongoing collaborative discussions with the squad to confirm commitments are being met throughout the checkpoint.
- Confirm iteration and/or checkpoint goals and verify progress towards commitments.
- Identify and clarify impacts to squad resources and priorities by:
- Organizing discussions and facilitating squad agreements regarding clear prioritization of tasks/scopes/epics
- On behalf of the squad, escalating any concerns regarding priorities and capacity
- Ensure all required squad meetings are taking place and coordinate team participation. You are not expected to run all meetings (be the scribe or the integrator), but you should make sure they happen and any participation and coordination of content is agreed on within the team.
- Help squads answer forecastability questions, such as:
- What is our squad’s current capacity?
- What capacity do we gain if we add folks?
- What capacity do we lose if we remove folks?
- What is the current risk of ongoing projects?
- How confident are we in the above answers?
In addition to Standup and Huddle meetings, examples may include:
- Team Share (Get agreement from squad re: Who is presenting? What is being covered?)