Team Terminology - Self-Organizing or Self-Managing?

Written By Allison Pollard

Photo by (OvO)

After studying literature for a number of years and analyzing authors' word choices, I find that I sometimes latch on to the vocabulary that is being used in conversations  and wonder if the speaker chose the right word.  Recently I was part of a conversation about teams, and one person was using the term "self-managing" to describe them in Agile.  While I appreciate the sentiment he was trying to convey, the word-nerd in me kept thinking: "It's self-organizing, not self-managing!"  

Esther Derby

has a great post on this subject

here

. 

Allison Pollard

Allison Pollard is a coach, consultant, and trainer who brings the power of relationship systems intelligence to go beyond tasks, roles, and frameworks to create energy for change. She engages with people and teams in a down-to-earth way to build trust and listen for signals to help them learn more and improve. Allison focuses on creating alignment and connection for people to solve business problems together. Her experience includes working with teams and leaders in energy, retail, financial, real estate, and transportation industries to help improve their project/product delivery and culture. Allison currently volunteers as program director for Women in Agile’s mentorship program. Her agile community focus is championing new voices and amplifying women as mentors and sponsors for the next generation of leaders. Allison earned her bachelor’s degrees in computer science, mathematics, and English from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. She is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), a foodie, and proud glasses wearer. Allison is a prolific speaker at professional groups and international conferences, including Scrum Gatherings and the Agile Alliance Agile20xx conferences. Allison is co-owner of Helping Improve LLC.

http://www.allisonpollard.com
Previous

Touchy Subjects in Retrospectives
Next

Retrospectives and Scrum Values