Articles
5 Questions about Self-Selection

5 Questions about Self-Selection

Sept 29, 2021  ·  Sandy Mamoli

1. What is self-selection? Self-selection is a way of letting people choose which team to work in. It is a facilitated process of letting people self-organize into small, cross-functional teams. It is the fastest and most efficient way to form stable teams and is based on a belief that people are at... continue reading

Spamcast: A Podcast with Sandy Mamoli

Spamcast: A Podcast with Sandy Mamoli

May 24, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

SPaMCAST features Tom Cagley's interview with Sandy Mamoli. We talked about teams and the book she co-authored, Creating Great Teams: How Self-Selection Lets People Excel. Sandy’s unique perspective as a world-class athlete and Agile Coach allows her to deliver options about forming teams you didn’t... continue reading

Asked to Self-Select? Here's How to Pick your Team

Asked to Self-Select? Here's How to Pick your Team

May 12, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

“How do I know which team to choose and what guidelines I should apply?” “How do we make sure people make good choices, not just for themselves but for all of us?” These are the two most common questions managers and team members ask before any self-selection event. This post will provide guideline... continue reading

Case Study: Self-Selection with Distributed Teams

Case Study: Self-Selection with Distributed Teams

Jan 22, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

How Travelstart used remote self-selection to create distributed teamsOnly five months after creating cross-functional teams Travelstart, a South African travel booking website, had a change in strategy and needed to rethink their team structure. From previous hackathons the company had experience w... continue reading

Video: Keynote Agile Tour Montreal

Video: Keynote Agile Tour Montreal

Jan 12, 2020  ·  Sandy Mamoli

"Trusting people to choose who to work with and what to work on creates not only great teams but also great organisations. I have run self-selections since 2013 and have some stories to tell." In her keynote at Agile Tour Montreal Sandy Mamoli explores the idea of self-selection. Can it improve prod... continue reading

Driving Business Agility with Self-Selection

Driving Business Agility with Self-Selection

May 27, 2019  ·  Sandy Mamoli

The fastest and most efficient way to form stable agile teams is to let people choose their own team. This was a scary prospect when we in 2013 first considered handing over the decision making responsibility to the people affected. Fast-forward six years and self-selection has had a profound effect... continue reading

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: LIC

Case Study: LIC

Oct 18, 2018  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Sandy caught up with Kristin Andersson, Agile coach at LIC to learn how Self-selection has enabled their people to become high performing teams. LIC is an agri-tech co-operative that empowers farmers through the delivery of superior genetics and technology. They needed to redesign their existing tea... continue reading

Video: Self-Selection at Agile Australia 2016

Video: Self-Selection at Agile Australia 2016

Jun 26, 2016  ·  David Mole

This year's Agile Australia conference was an absolute blast! I loved having the opportunity to catch up with old friends, hang out with my Australian coaching colleagues and to meet new and interesting people. David Mole and Sandy Mamoli gave a talk on self-selection and creating great teams in Mel... continue reading

Self-selection on a Page

Self-selection on a Page

Jun 14, 2016  ·  Sandy Mamoli

Everything you need to know about Self-Selection on a page. Download the quick overview guide. Download the Self Selection On A Page If you'd like to know more get our book "Creating Great Teams - How Self-Selection Lets People Excel".... 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