What We Learned from over 4,600 Teams about Improving Team Performance

At AgilityInsights®, our team has always believed there’s a relationship between qualitative metrics (defined by maturity) and quantitative metrics (defined by performance or flow) for teams. To prove this, a few years ago, we adjusted our Agile team assessments to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Once we felt we had sufficient data to explore through our AgilityInsights platform, we partnered with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Applied Psychological Services to undertake a review. The main question we wanted to answer was: What are the top competencies driving teams to higher performance?

Below are the five quantitative metrics that form the Performance Dimension within the TeamHealth® radar and the metrics we focused on during our analysis.

Methodology

We analyzed both qualitative and quantitative data from teams surveyed between November 2018 and April 2021. The study included 146 companies and 4,616 teams, resulting in over 46,000 individual survey responses.

Using stepwise regression, we identified the top drivers for each of the performance metrics. Stepwise regression helps build a model that explains the most predictive set of competencies for achieving the desired outcomes. Our analysis revealed the top drivers for each of the five performance metrics in the TeamHealth® assessment, along with their corresponding “weight.”

Based on these insights, teams that focus on enhancing the top drivers are likely to see the greatest improvement in their performance metrics.

The Results

After analyzing the data, we found that five qualitative practices repeatedly appeared across the performance metrics—Predictability, Value Delivered, Time to Market, Quality, and Response to Change. These practices are:

Our experience already suggested that teams who incorporate shorter iterations, detailed planning, and T-shaped skills perform better. The data confirmed this and revealed that self-organization and creativity were also key drivers. For the first time, we have data to support our long-standing coaching advice: empower teams to solve problems.

1. Short Iterations

What defines a “short iteration”? Most guides suggest that a “short” iteration is long enough to deliver valuable increments but short enough to allow for adjustments when necessary—typically 2 to 4 weeks. Some teams, like support teams, may use weekly iterations based on their work needs.

The key to successful short iterations is quality planning. When teams understand their backlog and have clear stories, it’s easier to meet expectations. Well-sized stories are crucial. Teams often struggle when stories are too large or the backlog is overloaded.

A best practice is to leave 20% of capacity open for unplanned work. This accounts for uncertainties, such as sickness, delays, or unexpected tasks. Teams that embrace this approach are more likely to be predictable and consistently meet their commitments.

2. Generalizing Specialists

A Generalizing Specialist is a team member who is highly skilled in one area but has also cross-trained in other areas. This allows them to help other team members when needed. T-shaped teams—teams full of generalizing specialists—are stronger because they become more cross-functional and can meet deadlines more easily.

To develop generalizing specialists, encourage team members to learn about other roles. For example, someone interested in Scrum Master duties can lead Daily Standups for a week. Developers can hold paired coding sessions to help team members understand system architecture. These actions create a more flexible team, prepared to handle any challenges that arise.

When teams are T-shaped, they can “swarm” during emergencies. If testing needs extra hands, team members without testing experience can step in. This reduces bottlenecks and prevents single points of failure.

3. Planning & Estimating

Effective planning and estimating ensures that a team’s work is aligned with the organization’s strategic goals. There are three levels of planning: Release Planning, Iteration Planning, and Daily Planning.

Release Planning focuses on the overall time needed to complete a feature or goal. Iteration Planning breaks it down into smaller tasks for the next two weeks. Daily Planning helps teams stay on track with short-term goals by discussing progress, plans, and potential roadblocks.

Strong planning skills help teams deliver value by working on the highest-priority items. Teams that excel in planning often deliver more efficiently and with better quality, impacting metrics like throughput and Business Outcomes.

4. Creativity & Innovation

Agile emphasizes that team members, not managers, should determine the “how” of their work. We were thrilled to see that our data supports this idea. Allowing teams the freedom to solve problems fosters creativity and innovation.

Teams can encourage creativity through activities like:

• Hackathons: Timeboxed events to design and build solutions.

• Innovation Games: Activities that generate customer feedback and new ideas.

• Mobius Loop: A method connecting strategy and design thinking to inspire innovative solutions.

Fostering creativity accelerates time to market by enabling teams to quickly develop and deploy solutions. The data shows that teams with creative freedom deliver faster and more effectively.

5. Self-Organization

Self-organizing teams manage their own work, estimate tasks, and define their capacity. They decide how to achieve the Product Owner’s vision. If a team faces an obstacle, the Product Owner steps in, but only after the team asks for assistance.

The hallmark of self-organization is the ability to respond to change. Because self-organized teams understand their work and have clear acceptance criteria, they can easily adapt when circumstances change.

Teams with strong self-organization excel at responding to changes and continue delivering value in dynamic environments.

Final Thoughts

In summary, teams can positively impact their performance metrics by focusing on Short Iterations, Generalized Specialists, Planning and Estimating, Creativity and Innovation, and Self-Organization. Our research shows that teams that invest in these drivers saw a 37% improvement in performance compared to those that didn’t.

Start small—implement one change at a time. As each change becomes part of your team’s process, introduce the next one. Improving performance metrics will look different for each team and organization. The key is to make continual improvements that drive better outcomes.