Scrum Team Formation: Why Your First Interactions Set the Tone

Imagine being tasked with forming a brand-new Scrum team from scratch. The decisions you make in the first few days will echo throughout the life of the team. But how can you ensure you're setting the right foundation?

First impressions are powerful, but are you fully leveraging their impact as a ScrumMaster? When launching a new Scrum team, every interaction—from the initial meeting to the first retrospective—leaves a mark. The way you guide these early moments sets the tone for the team's long-term success.

Psychological research reveals that how people form impressions and remember experiences is deeply influenced by cognitive principles like the primacy effect, recency effect, peak-end rule, and snap judgments. These concepts shape how your team perceives Agile, their work, and each other.

In this article explores how these theories interplay when launching a new Scrum team and offers actionable advice on creating positive, lasting impressions during those critical early days. We’ll also dive into how to structure a week-long team kickoff, ensuring your team starts strong and sets the stage for high performance.??

The Science of First Impressions: Snap Judgments in Action

According to researchers Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov, people form snap judgments in less than a second based on facial expressions, body language, and tone. These impressions shape how team members perceive one another's trustworthiness and competence, which directly impacts team collaboration.

As a ScrumMaster, these snap judgments matter. Whether you're introducing yourself, facilitating the first workshop, or simply observing interactions, you’re being evaluated. The same goes for how team members assess one another. These initial judgments either build trust or create invisible barriers that take time to overcome.

Example: Imagine meeting your team for the first time. Are you approachable, clear, and confident? Similarly, how do team members respond to one another? First impressions matter, so model the behaviors you want to see in your team.

How to Navigate Snap Judgments:

• Body Language: Maintain open, confident postures and use eye contact to signal trustworthiness.
• Establish Trust Early: Use icebreakers or storytelling exercises to help team members connect on a human level.
• Encourage Open Communication: Foster early dialogue to minimize reliance on snap judgments, allowing people to get to know each other meaningfully.

Primacy and Recency: Setting the Right Foundations

The primacy effect tells us that first experiences are remembered more vividly, while the recency effect highlights how the last interaction sticks. Together, they play a powerful role in how new Scrum teams form their perceptions.

The first sprint is not just about completing tasks—it's about defining how the team will work together. Early experiences form the team's core memory, shaping everything from collaboration to decision-making.

Primacy in Scrum:

• What’s the first activity you do as part of a team kick-off? Make sure it is both valuable and fun.
• Create clear goals for the first sprint to ensure early wins. These victories will boost confidence and create a positive association with Agile.
• Over-communicate expectations and clarify roles to prevent confusion, which can lead to negative primacy effects.
• Focus on creating clarity on how the team want to work together.

Recency in Scrum:

• Try to end all interactions on a positives such encouraging appreciations, focusing on strengths, or summarising the shared understanding that the team has created.
• End each sprint on a high note with meaningful retrospectives. If the team leaves a sprint feeling heard and accomplished, they’ll carry that momentum forward.
• Use retrospectives to reinforce a continuous improvement culture, focusing on challenges and accomplishments.

The Peak-End Rule: Crafting Memorable Experiences

The peak-end rule suggests that people remember an experience based on its most intense moment and how it ends. In Scrum, this translates to creating peak moments of accomplishment and ensuring that sprints conclude positively.

Peak Moments in Scrum:

• In a team kickoff, plan in time and space for an intense shared learning experience that will be a peak experience at the beginning of the team's life.
• Plan for “peak” moments during sprints. Celebrate completed goals or breakthroughs, reinforcing the team’s sense of accomplishment.
• Highlight and acknowledge milestones during sprint reviews to build a strong sense of progress. Have senior stakeholders join the team to celebrate success.
• Have senior people give praise for a job well done.

How These Theories Interplay When Kicking Off a New Scrum Team

When launching a new Scrum team, snap judgments, primacy, recency, and peak moments all influence how team members interact and perceive their work. These cognitive principles are continuously at play during the first sprint, making it essential to plan every step carefully.

Snap Judgments shape the initial trust between team members. Primacy sets the tone for how the team approaches their work. The peak-end rule ensures that significant moments (whether challenges or victories) define the team’s early memories, and recency locks in how the team feels after their first sprints.

By intentionally guiding the team through their initial interactions, you can build trust, create positive momentum, and ensure the team leaves their early experiences feeling confident and capable.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid During the Team’s Early Weeks

Snap Judgments Gone Wrong

• Don’t let negative first impressions fester. Address any early tensions or miscommunications head-on by encouraging dialogue.

Overloading the First Sprint

• Avoid setting overly ambitious goals that lead to frustration and negative peak experiences. Start with achievable objectives to build early confidence.

Neglecting Team Culture

• Focusing solely on process and tools at the expense of human dynamics can hinder long-term success. Prioritise building psychological safety and a collaborative team culture from day one.

Conclusion

From snap judgments to the primacy and recency effects and the peak-end rule, the early experiences of your new Scrum team will shape their future success. By understanding how these principles influence team dynamics, you can create an environment where your team thrives from the very start.