Competence Milestones for Ensemble

These milestones can help senior developers to reason about where they are in their skill and career progression with Ensemble facilitation skills. The Samman Technical Coaching Career has a similar track for Learning Hour Milestones. There is more information about training and support for reaching these milestones on the Samman Training Page.

  1. Take part in ensemble programming, contributing appropriately and leading retrospectives. Senior developers can join a well-functioning ensemble and have the communication skills to contribute actively and appropriately as typist, talker and supporter. They can facilitate the ensemble retrospective and draw out learning and action points from the group.

  2. Support an experienced ensemble as an active facilitator. Senior developers can join a well functioning ensemble and facilitate the work, ensuring the participants contribute appropriately and rotate roles frequently. They can assist the group to successfully handle design disagreements and maintain focus on overall goals.

  3. For a team new to ensemble, teach them the roles and communication styles. Senior developers can take a team new to ensemble and get them up to speed with using the roles, rotations and main communication patterns. They promote a positive and inclusive environment where developers are happy and everyone contributes. If challenging situations arise or team members are behaving inappropriately, they are able to facilitate and mediate towards a better-functioning team. Technical Coaching becomes a formal part-time role at around 20% and ensemble becomes a normal part of their team’s way of working.

  4. Use Ensemble as a teaching forum, actively taking advantage of the coaching opportunities that arise. Senior developers now have a part-time coaching role of around 50% alongside their development work. They continue facilitating ensemble with their own team of developers, and occasionally other teams when asked. They can use these sessions to introduce new tools, techniques and design approaches to the team. They may spend time beforehand planning the task to work on and will mentor the team towards successful outcomes in unfamiliar areas. The coach is able to use retrospectives and other ‘teachable moments’ to raise the competence level in the team.

  5. Coach other coaches to improve teamwork and lead Ensemble. Technical coach is now the main role of the senior developer. They have responsibility for enabling good ensemble working in several teams in the organization as well as training other coaches. This role is equivalent to a staff engineer or architect position. They have good mentoring skills and can motivate the value of their work to managers and developers alike.

Note: These milestones are still in draft and under review by the Samman Society. The details are likely to be updated.