Step 9: Tackle the Outstanding Problems

There seems to be a point when all self-selection sessions reach an apparent stalemate. This often happens after three or four rounds. Most squads are complete, but one or two tricky ones still remain. This is the time to change in tactics rather than carrying on with more self-selection rounds.

You have several options for what you can do when you reach this point:

1. Stop and call it a day. Take what you have as a win and solve the outstanding problems in a small group another day.

   Following one of our self-selection events people went away overnight to think about the problem. While two hours of problem-solving time the day before hadn’t led to a conclusion, several people realized overnight that the solution was staring them in the face: one developer switching squads would complete the puzzle. This hadn’t been obvious because this particular person had worked in one area of the business for her whole time with the organization, and no one had thought of her moving.

2. Hone in on your problems. Send people who are part of a fully formed squad home. Reducing the number of people involved lets you focus on creating the remaining squads.

   Sometimes when squads aren’t fully formed, the problem is easily identified and the solution is clear. However, the solution may require someone who has previously selected a squad to change or swap with someone else. This situation can create some tension if they don’t want to change. This is where the reminder to "do what is best for your company" can be an effective tool to break the deadlock. In most cases participants will remind each other—in some cases literally pointing to the banner on the wall—and someone will act selflessly in this situation.

3. Add imaginary people. Introduce “hire cards” and subsequently allow people to hire into their squads after the event.

   One time we had a shortage of designers. No matter how we cut it, we just couldn’t make any more fully formed squads. We could have thinly spread our designers across multiple squads, but that would have left every squad short and no one happy. As a group we decided instead to populate as many full squads as we could and then use empty index cards to represent the people we needed to hire after the event.

Try to create as many fully formed squads as possible—eight fully formed squads are a better result than eleven squads that are 90% complete.

We recommend pressing ahead as much as possible while you have momentum and the right people in the room. Just make sure that all decisions are really made by the group and not by you or any of the other facilitators.