How to Create a Team-Health Assessment for Engineering Organizations

In an effort to enhance team health and performance, New Relic has implemented a comprehensive team health assessment, drawing from the Agile Fluency Model. This initiative, led by Honey Darling and inspired by Agile specialist Jim Shore, emerged from the need for concrete data to understand team dynamics after their Agile transformation during Project Upscale. The assessment process involves a detailed evaluation across six categories, distilled from feedback from organizational leaders, and employs a Google spreadsheet for individual team scoring. Confidentiality is prioritized, with managers filling out assessments independently and discussions held with team members to explore results. A two-day backchannel period allows for confidential feedback. Teams also create health plans, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and improvement actions, as demonstrated by the New Relic Browser team. Initial results highlight common challenges such as prioritization and stakeholder feedback, guiding further organizational improvements. The plan is to conduct these assessments biannually to track progress and continuously refine the approach for sustained organizational enhancement.