Communication Practices

Communication Practices refer to the structured methods and tools used to facilitate clear, efficient, and effective communication within and between teams, especially in the context of enabling teams to be self-sufficient.

Purpose

The purpose of robust communication practices is to enhance understanding, collaboration, and alignment across teams, thereby enabling them to operate autonomously while remaining aligned with organisational objectives.

• Improves clarity and alignment on project goals and expectations.
• Facilitates faster decision-making and problem resolution.
• Enhances team autonomy and self-sufficiency.
• Promotes a culture of transparency and trust.

Context

Industry Context

Product development is complex and requires the collaborative effort of multiple teams each responsible for different parts of the product. The challenge is that synchronous collaboration and dependencies between teams slow down delivery.

ZeroBlockers Context

Stream Teams are assigned completely autonomous value streams. However, it is not possible to be completely independent - the real world is messier than our models. There are shared data entities that cross the boundaries of value streams such as Users and Products. While the teams are autonomous, they still need to share data across team boundaries.

In addition, while every effort is made to ensure that teams are independent, at times it will be required to build features that span multiple teams.

Methods

Anti-patterns

• Overcollaboration: Excessive collaboration between teams reduces productivity and highlights a problem with team boundaries.
• Vague Communication: Lack of clarity in communication leads to misunderstandings and delays in decision-making.