Podcast
Questions and Answers
What is the primary objective of swarming in an organization?
What is the primary objective of swarming in an organization?
- To focus on individual and group autonomy
- To prioritize work based on customer preference
- To establish a rigid process for managing work
- To create a single cross-functional and self-organizing team (correct)
What is a characteristic of a traditional three-tier support hierarchy in a service desk?
What is a characteristic of a traditional three-tier support hierarchy in a service desk?
- Multiple levels of support with escalating complexity (correct)
- A focus on individual and group autonomy
- A dynamic and flexible team structure
- A single point of contact for customers
What is a disadvantage of a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?
What is a disadvantage of a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?
- It creates multiple queues and accumulated work-in-progress (correct)
- It is a dynamic and flexible team structure
- It promotes effective communication and collaboration
- It focuses on individual and group autonomy
What is the role of level 1 in a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?
What is the role of level 1 in a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?
What is a benefit of swarming in a service desk?
What is a benefit of swarming in a service desk?
What is the focus of level 3 in a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?
What is the focus of level 3 in a traditional three-tier support hierarchy?
What is a key characteristic of a swarming team?
What is a key characteristic of a swarming team?
What is the goal of swarming in terms of work management?
What is the goal of swarming in terms of work management?
What is a limitation of tiered support?
What is a limitation of tiered support?
What is the purpose of the 'Dispatch swarm' in the swarming framework?
What is the purpose of the 'Dispatch swarm' in the swarming framework?
What happens to cases in tiered support that can be resolved at level 3?
What happens to cases in tiered support that can be resolved at level 3?
What is the benefit of swarming over tiered support?
What is the benefit of swarming over tiered support?
Why do some specialists become a bottleneck in the value stream?
Why do some specialists become a bottleneck in the value stream?
What is the purpose of the 'Severity 1 swarm' in the swarming framework?
What is the purpose of the 'Severity 1 swarm' in the swarming framework?
What is a characteristic of the swarming framework?
What is a characteristic of the swarming framework?
What happens to cases in the swarming framework that cannot be resolved quickly?
What happens to cases in the swarming framework that cannot be resolved quickly?
Study Notes
Swarming Approach
- Alternative to traditional tiered organizations of specialist resources
- Addresses disadvantages of tiered structure through a single cross-functional and self-organizing team
- Team structure and composition are dynamic and flexible, reacting to incoming work
Key Characteristics of Swarming
- Relying heavily on good communication and collaboration within the team and with external stakeholders
- Focusing on individual and group autonomy, rather than rigid process
- Focusing on avoiding the buildup of a backlog of work items
- Cross-pollinating skills and experience across all team members
Traditional Three-Tier Support Hierarchy
- Level 1: frontline service desk, first-level contact for customer
- Level 2: possesses deeper general or specialist skills, closely associated with the service desk
- Level 3: specialist support team focused on specific technologies and applications
Disadvantages of Traditional Three-Tier Support Hierarchy
- Multiple queues, creating accumulated work-in-progress
- Tiered support blocks the route to the correct resolver
- Work may “bounce” with multiple reassignments
- Some specialists, teams or groups can be overwhelmed
Swarming in Service Desk
- Replaces traditional three-tier support hierarchy
- Built on a collaboration-based network model
- No single definitive structure, but supports dynamic and flexible team composition
Swarming Process
- Starts as soon as a case is not immediately resolvable at the point of customer contact
- Rapid initial triage distributes cases to either 'severity 1 swarm' or 'local dispatch swarm'
- 'Severity 1 swarm' focuses on most critical cases, works on a scheduled weekly rotation
- 'Dispatch swarm' focuses on identifying cases that can be resolved immediately, meets every 60-90 minutes to select cases
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Description
Learn about the swarming method, an alternative to traditional tiered structures, where a single cross-functional team adapts to work demands through effective communication and collaboration.
