Articles
Case Study: The Iconic

Case Study: The Iconic

Feb 06, 2019  ·  Sandy Mamoli

We have run Squad Self-Selection for two quarters in a row within ICONIC Tech and it has been wildly successful (99% of our staff either love it (77%), or like it (22%)). Our process included about 30 people and 5 Squads. We wanted to share our experience in the hopes of inspiring other organisation... continue reading

Case Study: Xero

Case Study: Xero

May 24, 2016  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Inspired by our squadification experiences at Trade Me and other large companies, Xero set out to try self-selection for themselves. People were asked to figure out who should be in which team and choose who they wanted to work with. Read our interview with Jordan Morris, a software engineer and Agi... continue reading

Case Study: Fairfax Media

Case Study: Fairfax Media

May 16, 2016  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Guest post by: Jaume Durany, Agile Coach at Fairfaxmedia. This post originally appeared on fairfaxmedia.co.nz Boundaries are everywhere, always. And, as Jurgen Appelo explains in his book Management 3.0, a complex system can self-organise only when there’s a boundary around it. That is, every outbre... continue reading

Case Study: Trade Me Property

Case Study: Trade Me Property

Apr 11, 2016  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Guest post by: Zhi Lee, Trade Me Property Delivery Manager. We’re very thankful that Trade Me as an organisation allows employees to select teams and themes they’d like to work on, on a regular basis. It’s something we try to do twice a year in Trade Me Property. Now, it’s a huge leap of faith to ba... continue reading

Squadify with Self-Selecting Teams

Squadify with Self-Selecting Teams

Mar 20, 2016  ·  Sandy Mamoli

"No one had ever done this on the scale we were contemplating. Could it possibly work?" Fast growth has a way of forcing organizational change on a business, but it also presents opportunities to try new ways of working. When Trade Me, New Zealand’s biggest e-commerce provider, hit a new level of gr... continue reading

Case Study: Australia Post

Case Study: Australia Post

Mar 04, 2015  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Inspired by our squadification event, Australia Post set out to try self-selection for themselves. 60 people were asked to figure out who should be in which team and choose who they wanted to work with. Read our interview with Andy Kelk, Australia Post's Head of Technology for Digital Mailbox, who m... continue reading

Video: Portfolio Kanban - Seeing the Bigger Picture

Video: Portfolio Kanban - Seeing the Bigger Picture

Nov 15, 2014  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Doing too many things at once can slow down an entire organisation. As every successful organisation will have more great ideas than they have capacity to build, it is tempting to start too many of them at the same time. However, too many projects in progress will slow down delivery of each and ever... continue reading

Large Scale Self-Selection - the Trade Me Case Study

Large Scale Self-Selection - the Trade Me Case Study

Jan 11, 2014  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Organisations get the best results when people can choose what they work on and who they work with. In that spirit we decided to let people self-organise into small, cross-functional teams called squads. Up until last week we had six established squads within two tribes the rollout had been purposef... continue reading

Self-Selection: The Self-Organising organisation

Self-Selection: The Self-Organising organisation

Oct 15, 2013  ·  Sandy Mamoli

... let teams self-select! At Trade Me we’re in the process of getting everyone into small, cross-functional teams (squads) that will persist over time and across projects. Up until last week we had six established squads and the rollout had been purposefully slow and controlled. Now we felt there... continue reading