EnderYüksel,Copenhagen,Denmark;email:ender.yuksel@gmail.comChristianEskeBruun,Copenhagen,Denmark;email:eskebruun@gmail.comCopyright2020isheldbytheauthors.

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingforagileteams?ENDERYÜKSEL,SimCorpCHRISTIANESKEBRUUN,SimCorp

Recruiting foranagile teamandensuringadecentonboarding for thenewrecruit, arenot trivialactivities inaworld,where turnoverstatisticsindicatethatprofessionalschangejobsmoreoftenthanbefore.Asagileteamsstriveforcontinuousimprovement,wewantedtoshareourexperienceonhow teamscanalso improve recruitmentandonboardingareas,whichwilldefinitelyhavean impacton theirsuccessandhappiness.Ourmessageis,recruitmentandonboardingaretooimportanttobeleftsolelytomanagersandhumanresources.Agileteamscangetthemostvaluebybeingmoreactiveinbothrecruitmentandonboarding.

1. INTRODUCTION

"Ding!Youreceiveaninvitationtoabreakfastmeetingforanewcolleaguejoiningyourteam!Butwaitaminute...who/what/why?".

Traditional recruiting and onboarding efforts—which were purely managerial tasks—disregarded theknowledge teams had, and treated all newcomers with the same onboarding plans designed per role. Thissurfacedasaproblem,whenwereformedourorganizationafewyearsback.

Inthebeginningofouragile journey,wehadobservedcasessuchasamanager,withallgoodintentions,keptaddingmorepeopletoawell-functioningteamwiththeexpectationofincreasingvelocity,untiltheteamended up in a suboptimal state in terms of performance. Suddenly we observed that teammembers werecomplaining about becoming idle despite team had a properly refined backlog, communication qualitydropped,andability toswarmaroundwork items impaired.Wealsoobservedcases,wheremanagerscouldeasilymakewronghiringdecisionssimplybecause theymissed theneedsand the insightsdue tonotbeingcloseenoughtotheteamsanymore.Finally,wealsoobserveddecentrecruitmentsbeingruinedbyrigidandone-size-fits-allonboardingplans,whichdidn’tmatchtheteams’reality.

Inthisreport,wewilltellthestoryofhowweaddressedthesechallenges,andhowwebroughtouragileteamsintotheheartofrecruitmentandonboardingprocess.

2. BACKGROUND

SimCorpisaninvestmentmanagementsoftwareproducer,whichisasuccessfulplayerinthemarket,having49yearsofhistorywithsoftwaredevelopmentandorganizationalapproaches.We,ChristianandEnder,havebeenluckyandproudtobeabletocontributetochangingthemindsetaroundhowSimCorpdeliversvaluetoclients. Practical effects and results of these efforts can be seen in many different areas, as explained in aformerexperiencereportbyourcolleaguesinSimCorp[Cooketal].

InSimCorp,managersandhumanresourcestraditionallytookcareofcreatingjobadvertisements,postingthem in different channels, conducting interviews, and deciding on the new employee. They could as wellinvolveasubjectmatterexpertandbenefitfromautomatedtools,inordertohelpwiththeassessment.Aftertherecruitment,managersmadesurethattherewasanonboardingplanforthenewemployee.

Althoughtraditionalmethodsarebasedongoodintentionsandgetimprovedbytime,weexperiencedthattheyfailedtomeettheneedsoftheagileteamsthatweworkedwith-regardlessofsoftwaredevelopmentornot.Wealsorealizedthatthetext-bookapproachofkeepingtheteamsintactforrelativelylongerperiodswerenoteasyinpractice,asprofessionalstendtochangejobsmorefrequentlythaninthepast,hencerecruitmentandonboardingbecamemoreimportantthanbeforeforourteam’swell-beingandsuccess.

Wehaverecognizedthechallenges inrecruitmentandonboardingareas,andstartedexperimentingwithdifferentapproachesatanearlystageinSimCorp’sagilejourney.WehavebeenwearinghatsofScrumMaster

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-2

andDevelopmentManager—both rolesbeing associated to agile teams—thoughwenever limitedus to ourroledefinitionsand took initiativeswitha relentless improvementmindset. In this report,wewould like toshareourexperienceandprovideafaithfulaccountofourinitiativesthattookplaceinthelastseveralyears.

3. OURSTORY

Inanidealworld,afteranagileteamisformed,preferablybyself-organization[HarreandLohmann],acertainlevelofstabilityisexpectedintermsofteammembership.Yettheworldisfarfrombeingidealinthatsense,anditisnormaltoexpectteammembershipchangesduetovariousreasons,andourcompanyandteamswereno exception. Being aware of the effects of membership changes, such as the Tuckman's stages of groupdevelopment,helpedusinunderstandingtheconsequences,yetweweresurethatthereweremorewecoulddoaboutit.Wedecidedtoputalittleextraeffortinfindingabetterfitforboththecandidatesandtheteams,followed by ensuring a better onboarding. We experienced positive returns such as a healthier teamatmosphere.Ourstoryisaboutwhatwedidbefore,duringandafterrecruitment.

3.1 SimCorpOrganizationWearefollowingtheScaledAgileFramework(SAFe)inthemajorityofourproductdevelopmentorganization,thoughwealsohaveapartthatisheavilyinspiredbytheLarge-ScaleScrum(LeSS).Wehaveoversixtyagileteams,mostofthembeingScrumteams,andtheremainingareusingKanban.

OntopoftheagilerolesthataredefinedbySAFeandtheScrumGuide,wehavearolecalledDevelopmentManager (DM) that is dedicated to growing teams and individuals, and ensuring focus on long term andstrategic initiativesasopposedtoshortterminterestsanddailyoperations1.ADMtypicallyworkswithfouragileteams,andservesasthelinemanagerofthosecompleteteams.TheDMhastheresponsibilitytorecruitandonboardnewteammembers.

3.2 BeforeRecruitment:ContinuousdialogueontheneedsAgileteamsandDMshaveanongoingdialogueonteam’swellbeingandcapabilities.Regardingidentifyingtheskillsandcapabilitiesneededforateam,DMcanfollowdifferentpractices.

OneofthepracticesthatEnderusesasaDMis,Team1:1s,whichresembleindividual1:1sthoughthefocusis on the teams’ collective needs and growth. This provides a healthy continuous dialogue and alignment.LearningsandoutcomesofTeam1:1s,arethepointsthatarenotcoveredinagileceremonies,butstillrelevanttoimprovingtheteamformation.Forexample,needsforcertaintechnicalskills,orpossibleimprovementsintheteamcomposition,eventopicssuchaswhethertheAgileReleaseTrain(ART),thattheteamispartof,isthebestfitconsideringtheteam’scapabilities.Weshouldstressthattheseperiodicalmeetingshavenointentionofoverlappingwiththeexistingmeetingssuchasiterationreviewsandretrospectives,andsimilartotheDMrole,theyintendtocovergapsintheframeworksthatweareusing.

Anotherpracticethatoneofourcolleaguespromoted iscalledtheDreamTeamExercise,wheretheteamcanregularlyexpress,howadreamteamwouldlooklike,focusingontheskillsandcapabilities.Thisexercisecanbefacilitatedphysicallyorvirtually,bycollectingteammembers'inputsonhow,theyindividuallywouldliketoseethecapabilitiesoftheteamforthefuture, followedbyopendiscussionstounderstandeachotherbetterandconvergeontheteam’sneeds.Intheend,DMwillbeequippedwiththeteam’sownperspectiveoftheteam’sfutureformation,whichisaveryvaluableinputforupcomingrecruitmentsortraininginvestments.Weshouldaswell,basedonexperiencenote,thatthiswillonlypaintonesideofthepictureandsimilarinputsfromotherstakeholderssuchasARTleadershipteam2inthiscase.

Obviously, the DM also interfaces upper management and maintains similar communication withstakeholders in terms of defining the needs. For example, in the SAFe setup, DM also collects informationregarding the needs based on the product roadmap and strategy from Product Managers and SystemArchitects,andotherroles.Thusthetraditionalreflexofreplacingaleavingteammemberorrampingupwhensuddenlyclientrequestssurgeisreplacedbyanongoingdialoguewithallthestakeholdersincludingtheagileteams,atthesametimeavoidingcognitivebiasesthattheDMmighthave.

1 BothLeSSandSAFeprovideguidanceregardingroleofmanagers[LeSS,SAFeLeadership,SAFeManagers],yettheDevelopmentManagerisaroledefinedinSimCorp. 2 ARTleadershipiscomposedofthreeSAFeroles:ReleaseTrainEngineer,Product(Portfolio)Manager,andSystemArchitect.InSimCorp,wealsohadtheDMroleinthisteamuntilearly2020.

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-3

3.3 BeforeRecruitment:TeamPreferencesAfterweidentifytheneedsandgetagreenlightwithrecruitment,thenextstepisfindingtherightcandidate.Assumingthatthecandidatewillbepartofacertainteam,weperformaTeamPreferencesWorkshopwiththeteam,sothatwecanidentifythedetailsintermsoftheneededprofileandtailortherecruitmentprocessbasedon the team’s preferences. A practical approachwe use, is to collect all the sought after qualities and thenprioritize those, using voting. The result is used in the recruitment process, especially in screening theapplications and interviewing the candidates. In Figure 1, you can see a real output of a Team PreferencesWorkshopthatEnderranwithoneofhisscrumteams,Cirrus.Here,avirtualboardisusedtocollect inputs,whicharecategorizedandnumbered,andtheitemswithmostvotesareselectedintherightmostcolumn.

Figure1:Artifactofateampreferenceexercise.

An often overlooked part of recruitment is the preparation of the job announcement. Reusing old jobannouncementsandnotpayingattentiontodraftingagoodtextareexamplesofpitfalls. Inourpractice,DMpreparesthejobadandthenasksforfeedbackfromtheteamandthestakeholders.Wehavealsotriedtodomob-writing—team and DM—of the ad. In our experience, the DMmight not have the best insights, henceinvolvingtheteamwouldproduceamuchmoreaccuratejobad.

We suggest also asking feedback from the applicants at the end of the interview round. Our experienceshows that the feedback from especially the team members and the applicants make a huge difference inreachingtherightprofilesandfindingabetterfit.Weobservedhighernumberofqualifiedcandidatesapplyingtoourpositions,afterinvolvingteamsandaskingforfeedbackfromtherealapplicants.

Another overlooked part is the power of collective ownership and the team’s network. In SimCorp therecruitmentisaDMresponsibility,howeverweencouragealltheteam(and“teamofteams”)memberstoco-own the recruitment in the sense that they also activate their network and actively look for their nextcolleagues. This approach paid off especiallywhenwe recruited for a recently formedmission-critical ART,calledPhoenix, that is aiming toenable cloud transformationofourproduct,wherewe reached toqualifiedcandidatesfromourowncolleagues'networks.

Our feeling is that leaving recruitment to only DMs’ efforts and simply relying on job ads, prolong theprocessandrisknotreachingstrongcandidates.

3.4 DuringRecruitment:RecruitmentCanvasandTeamInterviewDMstypicallycollectapplicationsusingdedicatedsoftware,togetherwithskilledprofessionalrecruiters.Usingthe organization’s needs and preferences, DM’s screen the applications and identify the candidates to beinvited to interviews.An importantpoint is theawarenessof cognitivebiasandusingsystems toavoid that[Dabrytski].UsingaRecruitmentCanvaswhereallthecandidateswillbeevaluatedbasedonthesamecriteriaandgivenanumericscoreoneachcriterion(nomatterhowsubjectivethescoreis)ensuresavoidingintuitionsandbiases.Ourexperienceshowsthat,ourmemoryandintuitionscaneasilytrickusandhavingarecruitmentcanvasdidsurfacesuchsituations.Belowisasanitizedexampleofarecruitmentcanvas,wherethenamesare

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-4

artificialandsensibledataisremoved.Assigningthescoresineachcell issubjective,yetthetotalscoresandvisibilityofallthecriteriaandtheprocessgavethevalueforus.

Figure2:ARecruitmentCanvasforateammemberrecruitment.

TheDMtakesthefirstroundofinterviewswheretheaforementionedtoolssuchasteampreferencesandrecruitment canvas will be utilized along the way. After the first round, the most promising candidates—decided by DMs assessment, aswell as agile teams’ opinion based on the application and test results—areinvitedtothesecondroundwhichisrunbytheteam.Obviously,theteam’stimeisveryvaluableandshouldnotbewasted, hence theDMwillmake sure that only thebest candidates are invited, and the teamcanberepresentedbymemberswhoarebothvolunteeringand interested inrunning theround.AsScrumMasters(SMs)wealsoorchestrated thisprocessof team interviewswithout the involvementof theDMatall. In thebeginningitwasquestionedifthiswasagooduseofourtimeandtheteam’stime.Wealwaysexplainedthepotential consequences of ending up with suboptimal recruitments who would leave the team soon and

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-5

damage the teamdynamics.Wealso remindedprolonged frustrationof going through repeated recruitmentprocesses,whensuchsuboptimalrecruitmentshappened.

Wecall thesecondroundof interviewasTeamInterviews,andtheseroundsgetbetterwithpractice.Wehave found that having a preparationworkshopwhere the interviewer group (that is a subset of the agileteam)wouldgo through their interviewstrategy is verybeneficial.This gaveusmore fluent and structuredinterviews. For the teamswhich never had tried to do interviews, the DMswould facilitate and coach thisworkshop.WesawassoontheteamhadsomeexperimentsinrecruitmenttheDM’spresencewasnotneeded.Whenrunningtheinterviews,wehavetrieddifferentstrategiessuchas:

• time-sharing(everyinterviewerhasafixedperiodoftimetoaskquestions),• topic-sharing(everyinterviewercoversadifferentarea),• pickingfromalistofquestions/areasthatisagreedupfront,inapreparationworkshop,• mobprogrammingwiththecandidate,• pair-programmingandpairtestingwiththecandidate,• collectivelyworkingwiththecandidateonanartificialassignment.

Regardlessofthestrategytheteamusedwealwaystriedtoclearlycommunicatetothecandidateabouttheformatand thepurpose,andencourageda two-waydialoguewhere thecandidatecanalsoaskallquestionsabout theway the teamworks. Our experience shows that, absence of a recruitingmanager and giving fullownership to the team results in easier decisions with the candidates and a more satisfying applicantexperience.Notethatinvolvingatechnicalexpert(thatischosenbythemanager)isalreadyaknownpractice,whereas it is not even comparable to involving the team and avoiding confirmation bias or overconfidenceeffect.

Inourexperience, theDMdoesnotcontinuewithacandidatethat isnot foundeligiblebytheagile teambasedonresumeandtestscores.Besides,DMwilleliminatethecandidatesbasedonteaminterviewresults.ThisapproachensuredahigherdegreeoftrustbetweenDMsandteams.WehavehadsituationsthattheDMand the team disagreed, and in such cases the DM funneled the candidate to other potential recruitmentswithinthecompany.

Typically, there is a third round for the top candidateswheremore stakeholders are involved (and theymayconsiderthefitwithcompanyvalues,andfocusonalignmentwiththerestoftheorganization).Finally,theDMwillasktheteamtoexpresspreferenceonthecandidatesthatpassedallthreeinterviews.Teamcanforinstancemakeavotingortakeashortdiscussion,andofteneasilyconvergeonwhichcandidatetochoose.DMtakesoverafterthatandmakesthejoboffer.

3.5 DuringRecruitment:RecruitmentMetricsInspiredbyleanandflowconcepts,andforcedbythecompetitivejobmarketandthescarcityoftalent,weuserecruitmentmetrics.Wedefineleadtimeasthetimepassedbetweenrecruitmentstartedandended,measuredindays.Similarly,wedefinecycletimepermeasuredactivity.Forexample,thetimebetweenacandidateiscontactedandansweredwitharejectionorjoboffer.Wealsousefirst-yearattritionasametrictoindicatethesuccessoftherecruitment,andnumberofapplicationstoindicatethesuccessofjobadpreparationandthechannels/networksused.

Using a Kanban board can also help visualizing the process and surface delays and blockings.We use acommonKanbanboardforalltherecruitingmanagersinDenmark,andbenefitfromshortercycletimesandhigherchanceofswarmingandhelpingeachother.Beforethispractice,managerswererecruitingintheirownsilos, with their own job ads and separate candidate pipelines. Then surfaced problems such as losingcandidatesthatcouldfitotherpartsoftheorganizations,aswellasvirtualcompetitionovergoodcandidatesinthemarket.Besides,managerswerenotabletohelpeachotherintermsofimprovingtheflow.Afterthenewapproach,managersworkedas aKanban teamwherewe improved the flowandexperiencedmuch shortercycletimesintherecruitmentprocess.

A DMmight have personal Objectives and Key Results in recruitment, and thiswill significantly help inimprovingtheresultsthatwouldaffectthewholeorganization’sperformance.InFigure3,youcanseeasetofmeasurablekeyresults thatEnder’sused for the firstquarterof2020.Oneconcrete lessonwe learned fromourpreviousmistakes, istomeasurerecruitmentsuccesstogetherwithretentionrates,forexamplehavingakeyresultassociatedwithretentionrate;inordertohaveamorebalancedandconsciousresult.

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-6

Figure3:AsetofKeyResultsthatEnderhadinthepast.

3.6 AfterRecruitment:OnboardinganewteammemberStartinganewjobisfullofemotions,suchasexcitementandfear.SimCorpalwaysrecognizedthisfact,andhasaproudhistoryofhavingaverycomprehensiveonboardingprogram.Nearlyallnewemployeesaresenttoathree weeks training program—SimCorp Dimension Academy—to make them familiar with our softwareproductSimCorpDimension.Thisensuresthattheyhaveasolidfoundationtounderstandtheproduct.Aftertheacademyitwasthemanagerwhocreatedanonboardingplanormostofthetimesimplypullastandardplan out of the drawer. However, this standard plan would not take the unique qualifications of the newemployeeortheteam’sopinionaboutwhatismostrelevanttolearnintoaccount.

IntheearlydaysofouragilejourneyagroupofDMsgottogether,armedwithalltheirpreviousonboardingplansandknowledge,andsetouttocreateanewonboardingconceptinSimCorp.Theresultwasacarddeckandanewconcept.Eachof thecards in thedeckwouldoutlineanonboardingconcept/taskse.g. “Completeyour first coding task”.Thesecardsnotonlycontained ‘hard’ skills, likecoding,butalsosoftandbehavioralskills like “a mob-program session”, “time management”, “social event” and “introduction to the companyculture”.

Figure4:Asampleofonboardingcards

Themost important cardswere theblankcardswhich the teamandnewcomerwould fill in. In total thedeck contained around 35 cards. The new concept was that the newcomer, the team and the DM shouldcollectivelycreateanindividualonboardingplanwhichwouldtaketheuniquestrengthofthenewcomerandtheteamspecificchallengesintoconsideration.ThisplanshouldbeownedbythenewcomerbuttheteamandtheDMwouldhavetheresponsibilityofsupportandcoaching.

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-7

Figure5:Postersweusedatanonboardingworkshop

Inmatureteams,itwilltypicallybetheSMoftheteamthatwillruntheonboardingworkshop.Wetypicallyruntheonboardingworkshopinthefirstweekafterthenewcomerhasstarted.Thegoaloftheworkshopistocreateauniqueplanforthenewcomerwhichdefinesmusthaveandnicetohaveactivities.Weusuallyfollowapatternwhere theparticipating teammemberswould also create their own cardswith activities. This is animportant step because the team knows best about the area theywork in andwhat the newcomer exactlyneedstolearn.Theseonboardingworkshopshavebothbeenrunasphysicalandvirtualmeetings.Inthelattercase,weuseremotecollaborationtoolssuchasPadlet.

Aslightlyalteredapproachisrunningapre-workshop,whichtakesplacebeforethenewcomerjoins,wherethe teamproduces thecards that they thinkwouldbemost relevant for thenewcomer.After thenewcomerjoinstheteam,themainworkshopisheldwherethenewteamiteratesthepreviouslycreatedcards;andthenewcomerisconfirmingorrejectingbasedonhis/herownassessmentfortheneeds.

Outcome of the onboardingworkshopwould be documented and added to our application developmentlifecyclemanagementsystem,VersionOne.Oneapproachhasbeentocreateaworkitem(e.g.auserstory)inVersionOneforeachoftheonboardingcardsandthenplanthesestoriesjustlikeanyotherstories.Thiswouldalsomean talking about themat the team ceremonies such as daily scrum, iterationplanning, and iterationreview.

WeatsomepointrealizedthattheonboardingcarddeckworkedfineforrolesasadeveloperandtesterbutforotherroleslikeSMandProductOwnerthereweretoomanyirrelevantcards.AgroupofSMsinSimCorptook the task to create anonboarding carddeck for theSMposition.The resultwasnot a carddeckbut anonboarding tree.Asnapshotofarecentonboarding tree isavailableonFigure6,as inspiration.Thegeneralconceptofonboardingremainsthesame.Onlytheonboardingactivitieschangedtobemorerelevantfortherole.Againeachonboardingwastailormadeforthenewcomer.

Figure6:OnboardingtreeforanewSM

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-8

Westarttodiscusswhoisanewcomer?Onlyapersonhiredfromoutsidetheorganization?Theanswerwecameupwithwas:anybodyjoiningtheteam.Wearecreatingonboardingplansforanybodyjoiningateam.Theplanforonewhohasbeenintheorganizationformanyyearsmightlookdifferentfromonewhojustjoined.Butevenforanexperiencedinsideryouwanttomakethetransitiontothenewteamassmoothlyaspossible.

Wehavenowdonethistypeofonboardingforseveralyears.Theconclusionisthatmakingtheplanisverygoodespeciallyforpeoplejoiningfromoutsidethecompany.Itgivesamentaleasetoknowthatthereisaplanandwhatisexpectedthatyoushouldlearn.Wehavealsoseenseveraltimesthefirstweeksteamhasfocusedon the onboarding, and then the attention starts to drop. Often the reason is that the team forgets thenewcomerisstillnewandneedstolearn.Onepitfallisfailingtosustaintheonboardingexecution,especiallywhen facing stressful times. In that case, both DM, SM, and the team need to remember that successfulonboardingofanewemployeewillhavelongtermreturnscomparedtoshorttermgains.

Wewanttoemphasizethatthenewcomerownshis/heronboardingplan,andthereforeneedstopushfortheonboardingitemstobecompleted.Inaway,thisisnotaspoon-feedingapproachliketheone-size-fits-allplansoftheoldtimes.

4. DISCUSSIONANDKEYLEARNINGS

We are often asked,whether thewaywe recruit and onboard is a good use of an agile team’s time. In ourexperiencespanninglastthreeyears;eventhoughteamsfeeltheyinvestedpreciousworktimeintothehiringprocess, they at the same time expressed, that it was a good investment with decent returns. Besides,newcomers are in general very happywith the onboarding plans that they co-created and they executed—simply,theonboardingthattheyowned.

Weconcretelyobservedthatsometeammembersandteamsgrewsignificantlyintermsofinfluencingtheirfuture colleagues. In the end, some teams were able to conduct their own interview rounds without thepresenceofneitherDMnorSM.Asanexample,wehaveobservedateammemberwhowasmorenervousthanthecandidatesintheinterviews,yetafterafewroundssheevolvedintoaveryskilledinterviewer.

Anotherpointthatwewouldliketodiscussiswhethertheseconceptsandpracticescanbeappliedtoeverysituation.Franklyspeaking,wehaveobservedteamsandindividualsthatwerebothuncomfortablewithsuchinvolvementandownership,aswellasleadersnotreadytogiveawayresponsibility.Fromthebeginningwehavelearnedandpracticesnotforcingoreveninsistingpeopletodothingsthisway,especiallyiftheyfeelthattheydonothavethecompetence, timenorwish.Henceourmantra is, this isaprocesswhichshouldnotbeforcedbeforeallpartiesarereadyforit.

Wewouldliketoitemizeourkeylearningsbelow:• [General] A refined set of practices for involving teams in recruitment and onboarding; are

essentialingredientstowardscollectiveownershipinbothareas.• [General] Using our new practices, we observed boosted engagement levels in the teams when

welcomingnewcolleagues.• [General]Changingthetraditionalwaysof"findingtherightcandidate"and"ensuringasuccessful

start"provedtobechallenging.• [General]Understandingbasicpsychology suchas avoiding cognitivebiases, engagingprefrontal

cortex andput the reptilebrain at ease, is a game changer inmany stepsof both recruiting andonboarding,

• [Recruitment]Creatingconfidenceintheteamstointerviewpotentialteammatesisnottrivial.• [Recruitment]Successfulrecruitmentistheresultofacollectively-ownedrecruitmentactivity.• [Onboarding] Pitfalls, including sustaining the onboarding execution especially when facing

stressfultimes.• [Onboarding]Thebenefitsofmakingthenewcomerowntheplanandthewholeteamresponsible

forexecutingit.• [Onboarding]Awarenessofthefactthatstartinganewjobisfullofemotions,suchasexcitement

andfear.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Wewould like to thankNathalieHammering forhergreatsupportandvaluableguidance, togetherwithheralwayspositiveandconstructiveapproach.Wewouldalsoliketothankthetrackreviewersandco-chairsforbelievinginandsupportingourjourneyofsharingexperience.SpecialthankstoVadymVolkovynskyi,whowas

Whathavewelearnedfromrecruitingandonboardingagileteams?Page-9

theDevelopmentManagerforbothofuswhenwewereScrumMastersandwhosupportedusinmostoftheinitiatives thatwe have explained in this report. Last but not least,wewould like to thank SimCorp ScrumMasters andDevelopmentManagers,whohavehelpeduswith someof the concepts andexerciseswehaveshared,includingbutnotlimitedtoChristianRunge,DanielaLück,andOleksandrKramarov.REFERENCES[Cooketal]NeilCookandPietSyhlerandFrankOlsen,2018. WhatSAFedoesn’ttellyou. ExperienceReport,XP2018.[Dabrytski]PavelDabrytski,2019.ScientificMethodtoHireGreatScrumMasters.LeadershipTrack,Agile2019.[HarreandLohmann]NielsHarreandMartinLohmann,2019,Isteamself-selectiontheobviouschoice?ExperienceReport,XP2019.[Less]Large-ScaleScrum.2019.RoleofManager.[ONLINE]Availableat:https://less.works/less/management/role-of-manager.html.[AccessedSeptember2019].[SafeLeadership]ScaledAgileFramework.2019.Lean-AgileLeadership.[ONLINE]Availableat:http://www.scaledagileframework.com/lean-agile-leadership/.[AccessedSeptember2019].[Safe Managers] Scaled Agile Framework. 2020. The Evolving Role of Managers in Lean-Agile Development. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.scaledagileframework.com/the-evolving-role-of-managers/[AccessedApril2020].