Does the Agile Ball Really Work?

A little over six months ago, I set out to prove that the Agile Ball is a better productivity and team builder than the wooden one. The first three months were rough. By the end of the third month, I'd cut my losses and given up.

Having just finished a coaching program for seven-man teams, I realized that the Agile Ball might not be the best productivity and team development tool. I knew that team development is only one of the benefits of using the Agile Ball.

What's the best productivity and team building tool to help a team get over that initial hump? How can a tool that has been widely recognized as having a negative impact on teams help a team? Can a tool that doesn't support team building even work? These are questions I pondered after my experience with the Agile Ball.

At first, I considered the Agile method. Team members were comfortable with the process because it was familiar and had been tested so many times in the past. What's more, it provided guidelines that could be followed and proved time and again to be effective.

I realized later that the Agile Ball might actually interfere with team members working together to achieve goals. One team member might try to make the process of identifying goals work by delegating them to a different team member. The team member would be able to leave that team member to complete the task without having to go through the entire team process to identify the goals. But this team member wouldn't be able to move forward with the team because she wasn't with the team.

Another team member might not be comfortable in passing off decisions to others. So she will not be part of the process of identifying goals for the team and won't be able to take responsibility for the results of those goals.Chick here for more details about tangkasnet

Then there's a team member who may be uncomfortable with the changing technologies used in the team. She may have some difficulty with transition to the new software, a sudden change in equipment, or a new boss who doesn't care about what the team does.

So while the Agile Ball might assist the team in going through the entire team process, the team member might not want to go through the process in the first place. The result is that she is no longer part of the team and this team member can't be part of the next team building efforts.