Description
Evaluation is a method to understand how work is being done. Whereas a Gemba Walk is to “go and see,” an evaluation is to ask, record, and provide feedback to an agile team or functional group. Evaluations are conducted against a known baseline, and they are performed by an objective, trained resource using a checklist or commonly understood set of criteria. Results are communicated to the agile team or functional group to help them improve team performance. Evaluations are valuable for understanding the consistency of behaviors across many teams within a large organization.
Typical Roles
Evaluator (e.g., agile leader, agile team member, scrum master)
Agile Team
Desired Behaviors
- 1.
Evaluations are conducted against a defined standard or common set of expectations.
- 2.
All participants are made aware of both the content and timing of evaluations.
- 3.
The evaluator gathers useful information that can help improve the team, group, or organization.
- 4.
Individual team members are not evaluated. Evaluations are conducted on teams or functional groups only.
- 5.
Foster an environment where everyone is able to evaluate an organization, group, or team that is independent from their own. This may involve establishing an evaluator role that rotates periodically among different people in the organization.
- 6.
Add improvements and impediments discovered during evaluations to the appropriate backlogs.
- 7.
Evaluators follow up with the agile team or functional group to verify that improvements were considered appropriately.