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محتوای ارائه شده توسط Troubleshooting Agile and A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمتها، گرافیکها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط Troubleshooting Agile and A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آنها آپلود و ارائه میشوند. اگر فکر میکنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخهبرداری شما استفاده میکند، میتوانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal
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<div class="span index">1</div> <span><a class="" data-remote="true" data-type="html" href="/series/netflix-sports-club-podcast">Netflix Sports Club Podcast</a></span>


Hosted by Kay Adams, the Netflix Sports Club Podcast is a bi-weekly all-access deep dive into the Netflix Sports universe! Each episode, Adams will speak with athletes, coaches, and a rotating cycle of familiar sports correspondents to talk about a recently released Netflix Sports series. The podcast will feature hot takes, deep analysis, games, and intimate conversations. Watch the episodes on Spotify, Tudum, or the Netflix Sports YouTube Channel. Audio episodes are available to listen to wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every other Friday starting June 6th!
The Not-So-Iron Triangle
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محتوای ارائه شده توسط Troubleshooting Agile and A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمتها، گرافیکها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط Troubleshooting Agile and A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آنها آپلود و ارائه میشوند. اگر فکر میکنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخهبرداری شما استفاده میکند، میتوانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal
Challenging the iron triangle in software development - balancing quality, time and scope. In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss Andy Giese’s recent provocative article 'How to Make Product Give a Shit About Your Architecture Proposal.’ Join us to learn how you can use ‘feature thinning’ and joint design to promote collaborative approaches in situations like this. Links: - Andy G's article: https://gieseanw.wordpress.com/2024/10/09/how-to-make-product-give-a-shit-about-your-architecture-proposal/ - Getting To Yes, on interests and positions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/
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390 قسمت
Manage episode 445375250 series 1984398
محتوای ارائه شده توسط Troubleshooting Agile and A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمتها، گرافیکها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط Troubleshooting Agile and A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آنها آپلود و ارائه میشوند. اگر فکر میکنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخهبرداری شما استفاده میکند، میتوانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal
Challenging the iron triangle in software development - balancing quality, time and scope. In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss Andy Giese’s recent provocative article 'How to Make Product Give a Shit About Your Architecture Proposal.’ Join us to learn how you can use ‘feature thinning’ and joint design to promote collaborative approaches in situations like this. Links: - Andy G's article: https://gieseanw.wordpress.com/2024/10/09/how-to-make-product-give-a-shit-about-your-architecture-proposal/ - Getting To Yes, on interests and positions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/
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390 قسمت
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Troubleshooting Agile

What can Whatsapp’s origin story teach us about adding business value - even when it doesn’t seem “fun”? Reflecting on two weeks' backpacking, Jeffrey introduces the concept of Type 1 and Type 2 fun and Squirrel ponders how you can apply the two methods of fun to different types of work in Agile teams. SHOW LINKS: - Types of Fun: https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/fun-scale - WhatsApp baked into "dumb" phones: https://www.wired.com/story/nokia-asha-500-502-and-503-hands-on/?utm_source=chatgpt.com -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
What can the TV show House teach us about centralisation? In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about centralised communication, how it contributed to them first meeting and what to do when there’s an imbalance of expertise in the room. SHOW LINKS: - Peer Review article: https://defenderofthebasic.substack.com/p/we-know-how-to-fix-peer-review-part - CITCON: https://citconf.com/london2025/ - Cynefin: https://thecynefin.co/about-us/about-cynefin-framework/ - Situational Leadership: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Death of the junior developer but long live the co-conspirator! In this re-worked bumper episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss two of their biggest takeaways from Citcon: the evolving role of AI in coding and how ‘co-conspirators’ have been pivotal in their careers and client work. SHOW LINKS: - CITCON London 2025: https://citconf.com/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Are you being unFAIR with your information-sharing? In this episode, Jeffrey talks us through the F.A.I.R principles of scientific publishing and how they can be applied to software development. Learn why you should prioritise open, accessible information and what you can do to put it into practice. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Weirdly named blog: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/ - Peer review article: https://defenderofthebasic.substack.com/p/we-know-how-to-fix-peer-review-part - Linus's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus's_law -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Forget the elevator pitch, you need a “napkin strategy!” In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey explore the idea of using models instead of talking, which often leads to confusion and frustration. Find out how you can collaborate better with your team when you share explicit and visually mutable models. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Balsamiq's Draft mode: https://balsamiq.com/support/docs/wireframing/editor-overview/project-properties/ - Previous episode on religion and science: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/religion-and-science -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Is demarcation stunting your business? In this episode, Squirrel tells us about how his 500-year-old house restoration reminded him of dealing with team members whose strict adherence to demarcation i.e. “That’s not my job!” led to mistakes, poor communication and lack of problem-solving - and why un-demarcation is the best route forward. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Demarcation: https://www.fordtransition.org.uk/stories/trade-unions-at-ford/demarcation - Psychological safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_safety - Seven Habits book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

The search for ultimate truth has no place in an effective business! In this episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel explain how to detect when your team are stuck in the “rightness” trap and how to move from abstract debate to scientific experiments that help you discover what actually works. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Less Wrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/ - Less Online: https://less.online/ - Abor Summer Camp: https://www.arborsummer.camp/ - Manifest: https://manifest.is/ - Driftwood hiring episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/driftwood-vs-planks-agile-team-roles-and-skills - Socratic Dialogues: https://dn790004.ca.archive.org/0/items/PlatoDialogues/Plato_dialogues.pdf -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

With so many great reader emails recently Jeffrey and I haven’t got around to discussing CitCon on the podcast yet! This week we do just that, with Jeffrey’s reflections from discussions on the evolving role of AI in coding including Steve Yegge’s new article which revisits whether the ‘death’ of the junior developer will ultimately be a ‘revenge.’ Links: - Steve Yegge article: https://sourcegraph.com/blog/revenge-of-the-junior-developer - Jevon's Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Do ‘Experts Have It Easy’? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how experts and novices can overcome the empathy gap with rapid feedback, and breaking down complex problems into smaller steps to facilitate understanding. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Boyd Kane's article: https://boydkane.com/essays/experts - Gladwell, Blink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking - Shuhari: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Terence Tao on finding gaps in proofs: https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/111287749336059662 -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

What is the true meaning of accountability? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey share a real-life story that illustrates how it’s often misunderstood. Listen now to learn why it's not about blame or punishment, but about 'rendering an account' - in other words, sharing reasoning and decisions transparently. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Previous episode on accountability: https://itrevolution.com/articles/accountability-leaders-are-accountable-too/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

What can perverse incentives teach us about software development? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey for a discussion on the importance of personal responsibility and the potential benefits of 'blameful' postmortems in driving accountability and improvement within organisations, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. SHOW LINKS: Links: - Tal's article: https://talyarkoni.org/blog/2018/10/02/no-its-not-the-incentives-its-you/ - Blameless Postmortems: https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/blameless-postmortem/ - Perverse Incentives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Is topgrading a controversial topic? It seems so. In this episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel revisit the theme of topgrading in recruitment, featured just two episodes ago. Join as they discuss a listener’s experience, the necessity for some structure in interviews and the benefits of learning from candidates' past experiences through stories. SHOW LINKS: - Topgrading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topgrading - Topgrading episode link: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/threats-and-topgrading-in-executive-hiring - Shu ha ri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Squirrel's interviewing event: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2025/04-10-interviews - TDD for People: https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Is shielding your team a sign of good leadership? On this episode, Jeffrey has been riled up by an episode of the podcast, Cortex, and wants to make a case against shielding, which he believes keeps teams disconnected from the reality of business conditions and leads to suboptimal results. SHOW LINKS: - Cortex podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cortex/id1001591696 - Dale Carnegie book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Is the use of threats to repel dishonest people a good idea? On this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about the “threat of reference check” and whether the benefits of reducing dishonesty outweigh the drawbacks of damaging trust. Get in touch to tell us what you think. SHOW LINKS: - Domain-Driven Design: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design - Big Book of Concepts: mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-book-concepts - Specification by Example: gojko.net/books/specification-by-example/ - Walking Skeleton: wiki.c2.com/?WalkingSkeleton -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
It's time to talk about commitment! Not engagement, which is insufficient to produce effective results. In this episode - a repost of a previous conversation - Squirrel and Jeffrey offer specific tools for effective commitments and tell a story about a company that created a pile of bones instead of a Walking Skeleton. You’ll hear lots of references to “the book.” That’s our book - Agile Conversations!! You can learn more about that here: https://agileconversations.com/agile-conversation-book/ SHOW LINKS: - Domain-Driven Design: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design - Big Book of Concepts: mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-book-concepts - Specification by Example: gojko.net/books/specification-by-example/ - Walking Skeleton: wiki.c2.com/?WalkingSkeleton -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

What if complaining could be a good thing? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the benefits of ‘positive complaining’ and how it can be used to strengthen relationships and offer valuable insights into what matters to the person complaining. Links: Trust Conversation (TDD for People): https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ Co-conspirators episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/co-conspirators-and-citcon Squirrel Squadron: https://squirrelsquadron.com/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
If you’re using Sinek’s “why, what and how” framework for team collaboration, what do you do when it turns out you’re lacking two out of the three?! In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about their own experience of this, the concept of leaky abstractions, and the importance of shared problem ownership. Links: - Simon Sinek: https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/ - Somebody Else's Problem Field: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Problem_Field - Previous episode about Walking Skeletons - Ep125: Commitment Engagement is Not Enough: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/commitment-engagement-is-not-enough - Previous episode about Cycle Time - Ep249: Estimates: A Productive Argument, Part I https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/reporting-estimates -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Should you start a Guild?In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss examples of adverse possession, including listener Marcel-Jan’s experience of starting a Python guild within his team, and how you can take similar proactive steps to help build a more engaging and dynamic community of practice. Links: Co-conspirators episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/co-conspirators-and-citcon Adverse possession: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dsquirrel_squirrel-squadron-events-activity-7015965093418934272-1qZf/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
What does it mean to be a co-conspirator? On the run up to CitCon Auckland 2025, join Squirrel and Jeffrey as they reflect on the event they first met, its history and how ‘co-conspirators’ have been pivotal in their careers and client work. Links: - CITCON ANZ 2025: https://citconf.com/auckland2025/ - Chris Matts Communities of Practise: https://theitriskmanager.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
What does it mean to be a flexible leader? In part two of this two-part episode of Troubleshooting Agile, we welcome back Kevin Eikenberry to talk about ‘flexors,’ approaches to leadership that can help leaders and team adapt more effectively, and develop a mindset of experimentation. Links: - Kevin Eikenberry: http://kevineikenberry.com and http://kevineikenberry.com/gift - Flexible Leadership https://kevineikenberry.com/flexible - Betterism: https://thectoclub.com/news/lies-your-tech-team-tells-you/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
What does it mean to be a flexible leader? In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, we welcome Kevin Eikenberry to talk about complex vs complicated situations, how to experiment rather than sticking to rigid policies, and his new book ‘Flexible Leadership’ Links: - Kevin Eikenberry: http://kevineikenberry.com and http://kevineikenberry.com/gift - Flexible Leadership https://kevineikenberry.com/flexible - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Naive Realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Is trust the ability to predict someone’s actions? And can it apply to organisations as well as individuals? Join your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey, as they tackle the importance of delivering consistent results to foster trust, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - TDD for People, a method for building trust: https://itrevolution.com/articles/trust-and-test-driven-development-for-people/ - Stock picking scam: https://ask.metafilter.com/216295/Is-this-famous-investment-scam-real-or-fiction - Agile Conversations: https://agileconversations.com/agile-conversation-book/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

What are the challenges when it comes to implementing Toyota Kata at scale? In this episode of Troubleshooting agile, Jeffrey talks about how they’re using the Improvement and Coaching Katas to foster better structured learning and accountability across multiple teams. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Shu, Ha, Ri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Previous episode - Toya Toyota Kata A-Z: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-a-z -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Why can't I apply for a driving license at 3 AM? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey in discussion on the history and challenges of modernising legacy systems and how delivering incremental improvements can "strangle" the pitfalls of a full rewrite, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Dafydd Vaughan on DVLA batch systems: https://dafyddvaughan.uk/blog/2025/why-some-dvla-digital-services-dont-work-at-night/ - Joel Spolsky on not rewriting: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Does asking for the “dumbest” solutions stimulate the most creative ideas? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey as they answer two listener questions on the theme of boosting creativity, including why you might wear a funny hat to your team warm-up, in this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Core Protocols Checkin: https://thecoreprotocols.org/protocols/checkin - Dave Snowden on Changing Clothes: https://medium.com/@brixen/dave-snowden-how-leaders-change-culture-though-small-actions-766cd2bf5128 - Niko Niko chart: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/niko-niko/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Balancing psychological safety and high standards is crucial for high performance in your tech team. Join Squirrel and Jefferey for a discussion on this, plus the misconceptions around perks and productivity, in this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile LINKS - Safety vs standards article: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/psychological-safety-vs-high-standards/ - Challenge article: https://www.nobelcoaching.com/tag/challenge/ - Flow book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66354.Flow - Brian Marick: http://www.exampler.com/ease-and-joy.html -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Can you drive change in your organisation by accelerating crises? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss Deming’s philosophy and explore how visibility and awareness of issues can bring about necessary change. LINKS - Deming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming - Panel discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu7JMAQggfo - Information radiators: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/information-radiators/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Is your plan to avoid conflict making things worse? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the Paul and Ted Case Study, the concept of 'easing in,' and what leaders should do instead, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. LINKS - Eight Behaviors for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Do you document and analyse failure? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey draw inspiration from Donald Knuth's detailed study of his own software mistakes to give you the lowdown on learning from past mistakes, including meaningful postmortems and retrospectives. LINKS: - Knuth's paper: https://yurichev.com/mirrors/knuth1989.pdf - Foundation Failures: https://www.abebooks.com/Foundation-Failures-Szechy-C-Concrete-Publications/20924178050/bd -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
What do you do when you inherit a 20 year old codebase? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey look at an extreme example of legacy software and discuss why it's important to understand past contexts as well as address modern discrepancies. Links: - Brian's Archaeology Tips: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-tips-software-archeologists-brian-reich-n0ase - Ask Why, But Never Answer: https://blog.jbrains.ca/permalink/ask-why-but-never-answer - Macintosh's Backward Capacitor: https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2024/11/the-capacitor-that-apple-soldered-incorrectly-at-the-factory/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

How do you make sure that critical information is preserved over time? Tune in to learn about “reverse smuggling,” lost TV shows, outdated video game formats, and Rob Landley's Petrochemical archaeology, in this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Petrochemical archaeology from Rob Landley: https://landley.net/history/mirror/institutional_memory.html - Dr. Who archaeology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Can extreme constraints help you think of radically different solutions? In this week’s episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel explore what happens when you point a figurative gun at your team, inspired by Grant Slatton's provocative article 'Algorithms We Develop Software By’ Links: - Grant's article; https://grantslatton.com/software-pathfinding#algorithms-we-develop-software-by - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Independence Day: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/three-incendiary-questions-douglas-squirrel-seqre/ - Feature thinning: https://agileconversations.com/blog/ford-not-ferrari-feature-thinning-and-roi/ - Oblique Strategies cards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Would you delete your unfinished work to ensure a fresh start? On this week’s episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss whether using deletion as a tool can provide focus and improvement, with help from Grant Slatton's provocative article 'Algorithms We Develop Software By’ Links: - Grant's article: https://grantslatton.com/software-pathfinding#algorithms-we-develop-software-by - Code as liability: https://wiki.c2.com/?SoftwareAsLiability - Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48578933-bird-by-bird - Spike: https://agiledictionary.com/209/spike/#comment-57 - Code deletion at Apple: https://folklore.org/Negative_2000_Lines_Of_Code.html -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Do you or your team show resistance to change? There are some common ingrained habits that can affect your ability to learn. Find out how difficult conversations, pair programming, and test-driven development can help you create new habits to foster meaningful transformation, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Karate Kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Karate_Kid - Shu Ha Ri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Wardley mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardley_map -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Do you avoid making uncertain predictions in favour of task lists to ensure success? If a fear of being wrong means you can’t embrace uncertainty and learn from mistakes then you’re missing out on the natural discomfort of learning. Find out more about how to combat this in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile Links: - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Recent Kata episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-a-z - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Kathryn Schulz on being wrong: https://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
When deception overshadows disappointment, severe ethical breaches can occur. Join your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey to discover how clear, honest communication can make sure you’re not dealing with the next Volkswagen emissions scandal, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Goal displacement: https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191843273.001.0001/acref-9780191843273-e-122 - Passive voice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_voice - Normalisation of Deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance - Volkswagen emissions scandal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Challenging the iron triangle in software development - balancing quality, time and scope. In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss Andy Giese’s recent provocative article 'How to Make Product Give a Shit About Your Architecture Proposal.’ Join us to learn how you can use ‘feature thinning’ and joint design to promote collaborative approaches in situations like this. Links: - Andy G's article: https://gieseanw.wordpress.com/2024/10/09/how-to-make-product-give-a-shit-about-your-architecture-proposal/ - Getting To Yes, on interests and positions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Boost team results by measuring carefully and using consistent methods to move toward your goal–with “scientific thinking” “the Improvement Kata” and “the Coaching Kata”. In this bumper episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss quality and delivery the Toyota Way. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://public.websites.umich.edu/~jmondisa/TK/Homepage.html - Gemba: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemba Other relevant episodes: - Episode 214 - Get Your Reps In: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/get-your-reps-in -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Your elaborate spreadsheet that prioritises features isn’t rigorous mathematical analysis and should be a conversation starter not a definitive guide. Find out how to avoid ‘Mathiness’ with Squirrel and Jeffrey in the latest from Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Mathiness article: https://www.votito.com/methods/mathiness -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Need to transform decision-making in your agile team? In this episode, we discuss how to harness the power of perceptiveness using Jeffrey’s insights from a lecture on the architect Christopher Alexander and the book 'How Emotions Are Made.' Links: How to Become Perceptive: https://www.henrikkarlsson.xyz/p/perceptive - Ryan Singer’s Christopher Alexander: A Primer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESTckhhKS0k - Book: How Emotions are Made: https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/books/how-emotions-are-made/ - Naive Realism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism_(psychology) - Annie Duke: Thinking in Bets https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35957157-thinking-in-bets -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at https://agileconversations.com/ And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Create, nurture, and increase empathy with all your customers, even the ones you didn't know you had! Inspired by Gojko Adzic and his new book Lizard Optimisation, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how you can do just that, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Gojko’s book, Lizard Optimisation: https://www.amazon.com/Lizard-Optimization-Product-Engaging-Long-Tail/dp/0993088171 - Kahneman Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

The products you have today could be 5x more profitable if you found out how customers really use them and tuned accordingly, says Gojko Adzic - and we’re inclined to agree! Find out how to do it on this episode ofTroubleshooting Agile your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Gojko’s book, Lizard Optimisation: https://www.amazon.com/Lizard-Optimization-Product-Engaging-Long-Tail/dp/0993088171 - Gojko Adzic on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gojko/ - Long tail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_tail - Nassim Taleb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Junior coders aren't going to be purged, but trained, just like we taught ditch-diggers to drive excavators. Find out why Squirrel thinks Steve Yegge is wrong, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: Enterprise Technology Leadership Summit: https://itrevolution.com/product/enterprise-technology-leadership-summit-las-vegas-2024/ - Steve Yegge's talk at ETLS: article https://sourcegraph.com/blog/the-death-of-the-junior-developer , video https://videos.itrevolution.com/watch/1002959965 - Gene Kim at ETLS: https://itrevolution.com/articles/observing-the-impact-of-ai-on-law-firms-software-and-writing-winners-and-losers/ - Patrick Debois at ETLS: https://videos.itrevolution.com/watch/1002959794 -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Being radically transparent by reporting progress daily has surprisingly positive effects. Learn how and why to do daily flashes in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - PPP reporting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress,_plans,_problems - Wienberg, Becoming a Technical Leader: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/714344.Becoming_a_Technical_Leader - Westrum's generative culture: https://itrevolution.com/articles/westrums-organizational-model-in-tech-orgs/ - Improvement Kata episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-part-ii - Electronic Lab Notebooks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_lab_notebook - Squirrel's new podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-insanely-profitable-tech-podcast/id1758772797 -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

The most obnoxious person in your team may in fact be saving your bacon. Discover why and how to encourage "disagreeable givers" in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Givers and Takers from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2013/04/in-the-company-of-givers-and-takers - Disagreeable Givers: https://www.inc.com/laura-montini/the-most-undervalued-employee-at-any-organization.html - Collaboration Matrix: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Talk louder, set limits on your generosity, and learn to disappoint people helpfully. On this episode, Squirrel and Jeffery offer advice inspired by Adam Grant on giving and taking in your organisation. Links: - Adam Grant on giving and taking: https://hbr.org/2013/04/in-the-company-of-givers-and-takers -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Boost team results by measuring carefully and using consistent methods to move toward your goal–with “the Coaching Kata”. In part three of this mini series, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss quality and delivery the Toyota Way. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://public.websites.umich.edu/~jmondisa/TK/Homepage.html - Gemba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemba Other relevant episodes: - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/get-your-reps-in - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-part-i - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-part-ii -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Boost team results by measuring carefully and using consistent methods to move toward your goal–with “the Improvement Kata”. In part two of our Toyota Kata series, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss quality and delivery the Toyota Way. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://public.websites.umich.edu/~jmondisa/TK/Homepage.html - Gemba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemba Other relevant episodes: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/get-your-reps-in https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-part-i -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Boost team results by measuring carefully and using consistent methods to move toward your goal–with “scientific thinking”. In part one of this mini series, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss quality and delivery the Toyota Way. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://public.websites.umich.edu/~jmondisa/TK/Homepage.html - Gemba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemba Other relevant episodes: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/get-your-reps-in -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html effrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Too ashamed of your outdated tech to ask for help with it or touch the ancient code? 70s heartthrob Barry Manilow has the cure for your "technical shame" - Squirrel and Jeffrey explain why on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Barry Manilow Effect paper: https://www.psychologyib.com/uploads/1/1/7/5/11758934/the_spotlight_effect_-_ib_psychology.pdf -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Stop trying to control what your software does! Instead, invite surprising answers from users that lead to amazing product innovations. This episode of Troubleshooting Agile features a lesson from 18th-century Spain via Elan Ullendorf. Links: - 500 maps article by Elan Ullendorff: https://escapethealgorithm.substack.com/p/should-this-be-a-map-or-500-maps - Wardley Mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardley_map - Brain Writing: https://www.mindtools.com/ak3qj17/brainwriting - Clean Language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_language -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Being puzzled is the first step to genuine questions and real learning. Join your hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey to discover why execs like you need more “aporia” to understand your teams and lead them effectively, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Aporia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aporia - Derrida: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida - Dave Snowden's talk: https://gist.github.com/owulveryck/4ac8c96c16f5a48de24f8a0e949ad9a5 -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
You’re allowed to do much more than you think, including working outside your team, disappointing others (helpfully), or learning things that aren’t on your business card. On this episode, we continue our theme of agency with inspiring ideas from a listener email. Links: - Things You're Allowed to Do: https://milan.cvitkovic.net/writing/things_youre_allowed_to_do/ - Stone Soup: https://agileconversations.com/blog/stonesoup/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Successful experiments with negative results are a vital part of learning to have agency. Discover how to fail for success on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile with our guest. Sammy Hath: Links: - https://hath.blog/posts/hire/ - https://hath.blog/posts/cultivating-destroying-agency/ - Failing for Success: https://failingforsuccess.substack.com - Taleb’s Antifragile book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile_(book) -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

"Agency" "empowerment" "accountability" can be empty promises to your tech team, or real skills you can learn. In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey are joined by “competent minion” Sammy Hath to discuss how to solve difficult problems. Links: - https://hath.blog/posts/hire/ - https://hath.blog/posts/cultivating-destroying-agency/ - Message to Garcia episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/message-to-garcia - Patrick McKenzie: https://www.kalzumeus.com/ - Paul Graham on agency at university: https://www.paulgraham.com/college.html - Commander’s intent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intent_(military) -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Fast feedback to executives on whether executing the HiPPO (Highest Paid Person's Opinion) actually made your software more profitable. Get answers on how and why "prediction markets" speed up learning, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, with Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick. Links: - Manifest prediction markets conference: https://www.manifest.is/ - Previous episode on predictions and bets: https://agileconversations.com/blog/lies-predictions-experiemnts-bets/ - Public prediction markets: https://manifold.markets/ - CITCON session: https://citconf.com/wiki/index.php?title=Prediction_markets,_track_records_and_reputations_in_Software -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Frequent repetition and practice doesn't constitute micromanagement, if done well: it reinforces accountability and alignment. Tune in to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to find out how and why you and your tech team need daily rehearsal and feedback, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Toyota Kata Practice Guide: https://theleanthinker.com/2017/12/21/mike-rother-the-toyota-kata-practice-guide/ - Dojo handout: https://itrevolution.com/product/conversational-dojo-kit/ - Shuhari: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Karate Kid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LerwIYmNFXY - Situational Leadership: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Getting users to love your product isn't enough. Somebody needs to give you rectangular pictures of kings and presidents in exchange for it. Join your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey for product pitfalls and how to avoid them, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Squirrel's tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1791438669070426526 - Rectangular pictures of the king: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/king-charles-banknotes -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

If you or your tech leaders are exhausted from tracking an overwhelming number of individual tickets, features, or products, you're gardening when you should be farming. On this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey give their insights on how to manage whole "flocks" of engineers and customers. Links: - Briefing and Back Briefing : https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/briefing-and-back-briefing - Trapped on local optima: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_climbing#Local_maxima - Squirrel Squadron: https://squirrelsquadron.com -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

You've never been in a plane crash because accident investigations are blameless, but do you know how to run a blame-free postmortem? Timelines, timeboxes, and more ways to learn from disasters before they happen, when you join Squirrel and Jeffrey on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Airline Safety article - https://asteriskmag.com/issues/05/why-you-ve-never-been-in-a-plane-crash - Root Cause Analysis slides: https://douglassquirrel.s3.amazonaws.com/rca/hands-on-root-cause.pdf - Psychological Safety, Amy Edmondson - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8 - Squirrel Squadron - You can sign up to the free forum here: https://squirrelsquadron.com/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

When disaster looms and results are immediate, joint design really shines by driving informed, prompt, unpopular decisions. Learn how to keep your decision process when all about you are losing theirs, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey, Links: - Horowitz on wartime vs peacetime: https://a16z.com/peacetime-ceo-wartime-ceo/ - Squirrel decisiveness story: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1782016446689673366 - Source of Livy quote: https://acoup.blog/2024/04/26/collections-phalanxs-twilight-legions-triumph-part-ivc-perseus/ - CITCON Europe 2024, May 24th & 25th: https://citconf.com/zagreb2024/ - Squirrel Squadron: https://squirrelsquadron.com -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Is your timid tech team constantly seeking direction and second-guessing themselves? Improvement is possible - if you create frequent accountability. Discover how your team can get a "message to Garcia", by tuning in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Patrick McKenzie tweet: https://twitter.com/patio11/status/1781424185094402558 - Sammy (Patrick's EA) on agency: https://hath.blog/posts/cultivating-destroying-agency/ - Message to Garcia: https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/hubbard1899.pdf - Theory X and Theory Y: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-cannot-learn-damn-thing-from-semco-toyota-niels-pflaeging/ - Briefing and Back Briefing:https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/briefing-and-back-briefing - Radiating Intent:https://agileconversations.com/blog/driving-lessons/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
The Imperial Japanese Navy and Borland Software made the same strategic mistake: testing hypotheses but ignoring negative results. Join your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey to discover what they missed and how you can make falsification work for you on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Shattered Sword: http://www.shatteredswordbook.com/ - Borland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borland - Bank-robbing story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJVHTQSvUIo -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Do you have an "Eeyore" in your technology team, for whom it's all thorns and no roses? Can you help them to be more Tigger.. and would you even want to? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey as they discuss pessimism and burnout on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Eeyore & Tigger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Winnie-the-Pooh_characters - Previous episode on burnout: https://agileconversations.com/blog/fixing-burnout-by-disagreeing-and-disappointing/ - Unilateral control model vs mutual learning: https://agileconversations.com/blog/directive-vs-mutual-learning/ - Motivational interviewing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivational_interviewing - Dr. Burns magic button: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/in-therapy/200901/seven-questions-david-d-burns - Nonviolent communication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Mistakes are only obvious looking backwards, looking forwards, they seem like good ideas. On this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why they encourage meaningful errors that lead to learning and how a negative result is a sign of a successful experiment. Links: - Retrospective Coherence: https://www.chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/retrospective-coherence-and-the-road-not-taken/ - Bicycle history: https://rootsofprogress.org/why-did-we-wait-so-long-for-the-bicycle - Covid predictions: https://thezvi.substack.com/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Agile is dead, but does anyone care? Cynefin tells us that we should be watching the slope of improvement, not aiming for a mythical "best practice". Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why agile is irrelevant, on this episode of the (ironically named) Troubleshooting Agile podcast. Links: - Ubiquitous Language: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/UbiquitousLanguage.html - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - No Vehicles in the Park episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/no-vehicles-in-the-park -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Has "adopting Jira" become the definition of "being agile"? If so, Squirrel says he’ll find another line of work! Tune in to hear Squirrel and Jeffrey's discussion on using the right tools for certain and uncertain environments, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. - Squirrel’s Jira tweet: https://x.com/douglassquirrel/status/1767536165790376281?s=20 - Chris Matts on Needs and Solutions: https://theitriskmanager.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/ - Confirmation bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Last week’s episode on certainty and uncertainty: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/decentralisation-dilemmas -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Build centralised, standard structures for your tech only when you're sure the terrain isn't moving under your feet and stable software is no guarantee against market avalanches. This week’s episode is all about centralisation and decentralisation, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Wardley Mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardley_map - Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners: https://wardleypedia.org/mediawiki/index.php/Pioneers_settlers_town_planners - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Entangled Trios: https://www.peterhinssen.com/blog/dealing-with-complexity-in-the-never-normal -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Cancel your standup and record your decisions in writing, not conversations. This week on Troubleshooting Agile, Collaborations Expert and Author, Sumeet Moghe joins Squirrel and Jeffrey to explore "async-first" software development. Links: - Sumeet Moghe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumeetmoghe/ and https://www.asyncagile.org/ - The Async-First Playbook: https://www.thoughtworks.com/en-gb/insights/books/async-first-playbook asyncagile.org - Alistair Cockburn graph: https://agileconversations.com/AlistairCockburnCommunicationGraph.png - Martin Fowler "Periodic Face-to-Face": https://martinfowler.com/bliki/PeriodicFaceToFace.html - James Tannier, Effective Remote Work: https://pragprog.com/titles/jsrw/effective-remote-work/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Go ahead and bravely demand the next feature right after the completion of the last! This week on Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel tells us why he likes to be more demanding than Kent Beck. Links: - Kent Beck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck - Tidy First: https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/tidy-first-in-one-page - Extreme Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
This week on Troubleshooting Agile, we bring you a bumper edition of 2022’s Summer Shorts - Learning Loops. Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss six learning loop topics in less than five minutes each. Join us to learn about: - Basic daily learning loops - Weekly planning - Elephant Carpaccio - Walking the board - Retrospectives - OKRs -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

"Scope" and "requirements" for software rely on a common understanding of basic concepts like "vehicles" or "names" but humans have no idea how to nail down those ideas. Join your host Squirrel and Jeffrey to find out why, and what to do about it, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - No Vehicles in the Park game: https://novehiclesinthepark.com - Keith Braithwaite: https://twitter.com/keithb_b - The Big Book of Concepts: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262632997/the-big-book-of-concepts/ - Falsehoods programmers believe about names: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Domain Driven Design and ubiquitous language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

One guy you've never heard of kept the Apollo moonshot on track - by holding great meetings and taking super notes. Do your ADRs and Notion pages measure up? We’re talking Bill Tindall and the Tindallgram on today's episode of Troubleshooting Agile with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. (Some editing snafus mean no intro/outro music this week, but the same juicy words as always!) Links: - Tindallgrams archive: https://www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/alsj-Tindallgrams.html - Bill Tindall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Tindall -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

How can your organisation be simultaneously fast and collaborative? Foster willingness to fail successfully and collaboratively, while applying strong leadership and accountability. Find out why and how on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Teal Organisations book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinventing_Organizations -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

How can you do risky experiments even in the most risk-averse organisations? Find the answers on this week’s episode as Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the value of two-way doors and reversible decisions for your tech team and your product. Links: - Jeff Bezos on Doors: https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-this-is-how-successful-people-make-such-smart-decisions.html - Feature Flags: https://martinfowler.com/articles/feature-toggles.html -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
An underperforming tech team is missing something, but what? This week on Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey share part one of their 3-stage diagnostics for discovering missing conversations Links: - Simon Sinek, Start With Why: https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/ - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
An underperforming tech team is missing something, but what? This week on Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey share their diagnostics for discovering missing conversations Links: - Psychological Safety: https://amycedmondson.com/psychological-safety/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Is your tech team choosing safety by doing everything, or do you dump more than you do? Join us today on Troubleshooting Agile to uncover the more profitable path through "negative space" with Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Previous episode mentioning negative space: https://agileconversations.com/blog/the-two-shirt-solution-for-agile-chaos/ - Where's Wally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Wally%3F -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Don't let your engineers outsource risk by settling for a list of tasks, instead give them real business-meaningful targets and permission to fail. Join your hosts, Jeffrey and Squirrel on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to talk OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and getting your team in alignment. -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Open Space in action from CITCON organiser, our own Jeffrey Fredrick. Listen to part three of our three part series to find out how and why you should try anarchic agenda-setting for your next offsite, meeting, or conference. Links: CITCON Berlin: https://citconf.com/berlin2023/ - Open Space: https://citconf.com/openspace.php - Lean Coffee: http://leancoffee.org -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Open Space in action from CITCON organiser, our own Jeffrey Fredrick. Listen to part two of our three part series to find out how and why you should try anarchic agenda-setting for your next offsite, meeting, or conference. Links: - CITCON Berlin: https://citconf.com/berlin2023/ - Open Space: https://citconf.com/openspace.php - Lean Coffee: http://leancoffee.org -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Open Space in action from CITCON organiser, our own Jeffrey Fredrick. Find out how and why you should try anarchic agenda-setting for your next offsite, meeting, or conference, this week on Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - CITCON Berlin: https://citconf.com/berlin2023/ - Open Space: https://citconf.com/openspace.php - Lean Coffee: http://leancoffee.org -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
There are over 100 words for feelings, from affectionate to yearning, but it’s likely you only use a few at work, if at all. Join us on Troubleshooting Agile to learn about having empathy for yourself and others, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Conscious Leadership and “The Line”: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/walking-the-line-emotional-unawareness - NVC Feelings & Needs inventories: https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/learn-nonviolent-communication/feelings/?doing_wp_cron=1691331684.0416300296783447265625 -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Empathetic listening works for intervening with addicts and schizophrenics, why don't you try it in conflicts over product features or customer deadlines? Join us on Troubleshooting Agile to learn how you can incorporate the principles of Motivational Interviewing to improve the outcomes of your conversations, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Motivational Interviewing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivational_interviewing - LEAP: https://leapinstitute.org/about/ - Speaking with your EAR / 5 Secrets of Communication: https://feelinggood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/the-five-secrets-v-1.pdf - Non Violent Communication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Computers think in 1s and 0s, but the best tech teams welcome ambiguity and profit from vagueness. Join us on part three of a 3-part series with special guest Juan Pablo Buriticá to learn about his journey of turning heavy machinery auctioneers, Ritche Bro, into a successful tech company, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Juan's article on the capability framework: https://buriti.ca/from-good-to-great-a-capability-framework-for-building-exceptional-product-engineering-teams-a8ca4e9e8f47 - DORA metrics: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/devops-sre/using-the-four-keys-to-measure-your-devops-performance - Juan's contact info: buritica@gmail.com, @buritica on Twitter -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Computers think in 1s and 0s, but the best tech teams welcome ambiguity and profit from vagueness. Join us on part two of a 3-part series with special guest Juan Pablo Buriticá to learn about his journey of turning heavy machinery auctioneers, Ritche Bro, into a successful tech company, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Juan's article on the capability framework: https://buriti.ca/from-good-to-great-a-capability-framework-for-building-exceptional-product-engineering-teams-a8ca4e9e8f47 - DORA metrics: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/devops-sre/using-the-four-keys-to-measure-your-devops-performance - Juan's contact info: buritica@gmail.com, @buritica on Twitter -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Computers think in 1s and 0s, but the best tech teams welcome ambiguity and profit from vagueness. Join us on part one of a 3-part series with special guest Juan Pablo Buriticá to learn about his journey of turning heavy machinery auctioneers, Ritche Bros, into a successful tech company, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Juan's article on the capability framework: https://buriti.ca/from-good-to-great-a-capability-framework-for-building-exceptional-product-engineering-teams-a8ca4e9e8f47 - DORA metrics: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/devops-sre/using-the-four-keys-to-measure-your-devops-performance - Juan's contact info: buritica@gmail.com, @buritica on Twitter -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Convincing a peer can feel like painfully pedalling up a mountain, but a dose of curiosity can take you through the pass and whizzing down the other side. Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to learn more about how to approach your conversations with curiosity - as well as the few occasions when you shouldn’t, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Test-Driven Development for People: https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ - 8 Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - Pilots snack during emergency: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEf35NtlBLg -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker.…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Is your tech team always rushing, but never improving? They may have "hurry sickness.” Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to discover if being busy is actually crippling your productivity and what you can do to change it, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Hurry Sickness: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/hurry-sickness - Near Enemy: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/07/change-your-life-near-enemies-buddhism - Squirrel Squadron: https://squirrelsquadron.com -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker.…
Maybe the reason innovation isn't happening is that no one believes you'll really accept failure. But creating some chaos to emphasise risk is OK! Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to discover how you can make innovation and failure part of your company culture, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Peacetime CEO vs Wartime CEO: https://a16z.com/2011/04/14/peacetime-ceo-wartime-ceo/ - Previous episode on commoditisation: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/software-isnt-dead -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker.…
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Troubleshooting Agile

You know investing in skills or tech advancements will speed you up, but how to make it happen? Convincing your boss is all kinds of wrong! On this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile we discuss why and what works better, with your hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Gene Kim, Wiring the Winning Organization: https://myresources.itrevolution.com/id006657164/Wiring-the-Winning-Organization - Slowification episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/gene-kim-on-winning-organisations-part-ii-slowification - Trust Conversation: https://itrevolution.com/articles/trust-and-test-driven-development-for-people/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Use a shared language to ensure good ideas for your product or team aren't crushed before they get a chance to live. Inspired by Elizabeth Van Nostrand’s article, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss the concept of “Butterfly Ideas,” on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Butterfly Ideas: https://acesounderglass.com/2022/02/04/butterfly-ideas/ - Wiring the Winning Organisation, Gene Kim: https://itrevolution.com/product/wiring-the-winning-organization/ - Six Thinking Hats: https://www.debonogroup.com/services/core-programs/six-thinking-hats/ - Brene Brown, Rising Strong: https://brenebrown.com/book/rising-strong/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
ChatGPT is a boring writer, but can be a fantastic teacher. This week on Troubleshooting agile, we discuss how you can use AI language models to learn how to have difficult conversations with colleagues and disappoint them helpfully, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: Roger Schwarz's Ted and Paula conversation: in https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Incompatible regulations, competing customers - this week, a listener in a government IT agency tells us about his team's difficult challenges. Jeffrey and I recommend a (difficult!) path to platform success on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Books by Gene Kim: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/328437.Gene_Kim -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Phoenix Project author, Gene Kim, is back on Troubleshooting Agile to discuss the groundbreaking theories of organizational management described in his new book, Wiring the Winning Organization. In this episode (part three of three), Gene discusses how and why you should be "simplifying” and “amplifying" in your DevOps team. Links: - Wiring the Winning Organization: https://itrevolution.com/product/wiring-the-winning-organization/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealGeneKim - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realgenekim/ - Steve Yegge Amazon Platform Rant: https://gist.github.com/chitchcock/1281611 - Investments Unlimited: https://itrevolution.com/product/investments-unlimited/ - Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist–Shannon_sampling_theorem - High Output Management: https://bookshop.org/p/books/high-output-management-andrew-s-grove/6730629 - Ratio (cookbook) https://bookshop.org/p/books/ratio-the-simple-codes-behind-the-craft-of-everyday-cooking-michael-ruhlman/8881759 -------------------------------------------------- About Our Guest Gene Kim is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, researcher, and multiple award-winning CTO. He has been studying high-performing technology organizations since 1999 and was the founder and CTO of Tripwire for 13 years. He is the author of six books, The Unicorn Project (2019), and co-author of the Shingo Publication Award winning Accelerate (2018), The DevOps Handbook (2016), and The Phoenix Project (2013). Since 2014, he has been the founder and organizer of DevOps Enterprise Summit, studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations. -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Phoenix Project author, Gene Kim, is back on Troubleshooting Agile to discuss the groundbreaking theories of organizational management described in his new book, Wiring the Winning Organization. In this episode (part two of three), Gene describes the “Danger Zone”, and the first of three mechanisms for exiting the high-risk zone: Slowification. Links: - Wiring the Winning Organization: https://itrevolution.com/product/wiring-the-winning-organization/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealGeneKim - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realgenekim/ - The MIT Sailing System: https://videos.itrevolution.com/watch/871558334/ - Look Back Less: https://world.hey.com/jason/look-back-less-848e9db0 -------------------------------------------------- About Our Guest Gene Kim is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, researcher, and multiple award-winning CTO. He has been studying high-performing technology organizations since 1999 and was the founder and CTO of Tripwire for 13 years. He is the author of six books, The Unicorn Project (2019), and co-author of the Shingo Publication Award winning Accelerate (2018), The DevOps Handbook (2016), and The Phoenix Project (2013). Since 2014, he has been the founder and organizer of DevOps Enterprise Summit, studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations. -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Phoenix Project author, Gene Kim, joins us on Troubleshooting Agile to discuss the groundbreaking theories of organizational management described in his new book, Wiring the Winning Organization. In this episode (part one of three), Gene talks about his mission to improve the way work is done at the world’s largest organizations, how that led to his collaboration with coauthor Dr. Steven Spear, and their “parsimonious” theories of workplace organization. Links: - Wiring the Winning Organization: https://itrevolution.com/product/wiring-the-winning-organization/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealGeneKim - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realgenekim/ - The Idealcast: https://itrevolution.com/podcast/ - High Velocity Edge: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-high-velocity-edge-how-market-leaders-leverage-operational-excellence-to-beat-the-competition-steven-spear/8209849 - The Goal: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-goal-a-process-of-ongoing-improvement-eliyahu-m-goldratt/9895070?ean=9780884271956 -------------------------------------------------- About Our Guest Gene Kim is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, researcher, and multiple award-winning CTO. He has been studying high-performing technology organizations since 1999 and was the founder and CTO of Tripwire for 13 years. He is the author of six books, The Unicorn Project (2019), and co-author of the Shingo Publication Award winning Accelerate (2018), The DevOps Handbook (2016), and The Phoenix Project (2013). Since 2014, he has been the founder and organizer of DevOps Enterprise Summit, studying the technology transformations of large, complex organizations. -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Effective executives draw on extensive battle scars for guidance and insight. Join your hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey to discover how to learn from the elders, and become one yourself, on today's episode of Troubleshooting Agile. -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Tech teams operate best with clearly defined "negative space" that's not in scope - and leaders are more receptive to defining it than they think. Join your hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey to learn why the principles of art apply to product development on today's episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Yves Klein: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/klein-ikb-79-t01513 - Kano model: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model - Trust Conversation: https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Your niggling worries and minor observations are "bench sweeps", valuable dust that are worth refining into gold. Listen to this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile to learn why you shouldn't ignore your gut feelings, with your hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey! Links: - Not "Eureka" but "That's Funny": https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/03/02/eureka-funny/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Know what users think of your software as soon as it's done - the secret is immediacy and frequency. Listen to today’s episode to find out how daily feedback is absolutely possible, with your hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey on Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Glidepath Indicator: https://agileconversations.com/blog/glideslope/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Today on Troubleshooting Agile, we answer a listener’s question on how to get disparate teams co-operating on a shared objective - and how to get them sharing bad news! Listen to hear our discussion and solutions, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Trust Conversation: https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ - Psychological Safety: https://amycedmondson.com/psychological-safety/ - Jonah Jameson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Jonah_Jameson -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
What to do when your tech team isn't arguing (productively!)? Join us on Troubleshooting Agile to learn practical ideas for discovering shared facts and creating constructive conflict, with your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey. Links: - Test-Driven Development for People: https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
An underperforming tech team is missing something, but what? This week on Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey share part three of their 3-stage diagnostics for discovering missing conversations. Links: - Stratechery quadrant: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization - The Line: https://themanagershandbook.com/consciousness/the-line - NVC Feelings and Needs: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/nvc-feelings-and-needs-list/ - Amador, LEAP: https://leapinstitute.org/about/ - Schwarz, Eight Behaviours: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
An underperforming tech team is missing something, but what? This week on Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey share part two of their 3-stage diagnostics for discovering missing conversations Links: - Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/7023600 - Liberating Structures: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/ - Anarchic Planning series: - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/citcon-open-space-and-lean-coffee-part-i - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/citcon-open-space-and-lean-coffee-part-ii -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Software has become commoditised, but that doesn’t mean there’s a race to the bottom for efficiency. An accessible foundation means what you build on top can be much more ornate. Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to discover why Squirrel and Jeffrey hold firm in their views that software isn’t dead! Links - Squirrel's commoditization tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1668891393874378754 - Wardley Mapping--Chapter 9, charting the future: https://medium.com/wardleymaps/anticipation-89692e9b0ced -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker.…
Commercial and technical debt are twins: when your product is mispriced, your engineering investment is out of whack too. Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to learn how you can build product plans that scale, with special guest Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt. Links: - Ulrik’s book The Pricing Roadmap: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pricing-Roadmap-Design-Models-Customers/dp/1544536305/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1682577248&sr=8-2 - Ulrik’s website: willingnesstopay.com - Ulrik’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@SaaSPricing - Unselling episode link: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/unselling-your-software -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
If you have one product per customer and aren't charging a princely sum, you're not pricing your customers right. Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to find out how you can take lessons in pricing a train ticket and apply them to your SAAS sales, with special guest Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt. Links: - Ulrik’s book The Pricing Roadmap: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pricing-Roadmap-Design-Models-Customers/dp/1544536305/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1682577248&sr=8-2 - Ulrik’s website: willingnesstopay.com - Ulrik’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@SaaSPricing -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Vague instructions from the Board or CEO are the norm, and in fact mean great opportunity. Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to discover why there's no recipe that gets the right answers to executive problems, with Squirrel & Jeffrey! Links: - The Psychology of being a CEO: https://a16z.com/2011/03/31/whats-the-most-difficult-ceo-skill-managing-your-own-psychology/ - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

You can be your own "devil's advocate" to boost the quality of what you produce. Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting Agile to learn how and why to be self-critical, with Squirrel and Jeffrey! Links: - Devil's Advocate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_advocate - Six Thinking Hats: https://www.debonogroup.com/services/core-programs/six-thinking-hats/ -------------------------------------------------- Order your copy of our book, Agile Conversations at agileconversations.com Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013. A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Flickr started as an online game, but the company quickly learned that they had much greater value on tap as a photo site, and "unsold" their initial customers instead of sticking to their original idea. By being curious, you can learn what the market really needs, jettison the custom-built "products" that are holding you back, and keep the right customers delighted. Listen for more on the art and practise of "unselling"! -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Are you building a house of cards? On this week’s episode, Squirrel talks about how to test the value of what you’re doing using mark to market - and how not to be Silicon Valley Bank! Listen to find out why you should aim to bring new software to the market every day and what methods of testing you can use to make sure that you’re always adding value to your organisation. Links: - Mark to Market: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marktomarket.asp - Elephant Carpaccio episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/summer-shorts-and-learning-loops-elephant-carpaccio -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Are “Try-Hards” slowing down your team? On this week’s episode, Jeffrey describes a type of person that shows up in a lot of organisations - someone who isn’t competent, but sounds like they are! Listen to find out about how you can spot (or self-identify) a “Try-Hard” by discounting their visibility and focussing only on their expertise. Links: - Hobbies article: https://brooker.co.za/blog/2023/04/20/hobbies.html -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Are you pushing alone or pushing together? On this week’s episode, we take a closer look at how to be helpfully demanding and how to identify removable discomfort, with a story about helping a product manager who's "pushing" for progress toward a quarterly goal. Listen to find out how to approach your conversations with more curiosity, so you can uncover better solutions. Links: - Brooks on essential complexity: http://worrydream.com/refs/Brooks-NoSilverBullet.pdf - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Previous episode on being helpfully demanding: https://agileconversations.com/blog/how-to-be-helpfully-demanding/ -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Are assumptions killing your curiosity? On the podcast this week, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss abduction - but not the alien kind!! Listen to learn about the methods of abductive reasoning and coherence busting, and find out how you can apply the principles of Wordle to improve your outcomes. Links: - Abductive reasoning: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abductive_reasoning - Affirming the consequent: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirming_the_consequent - Coherence busting: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2016/04/08/coherence-busting-explained/ -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Are you wearing a Viking helmet, sun hat or graduate cap? On the podcast this week, Squirrel and Jeffrey are joined again by fellow podcast host duo Russell and Ken of the “I Need to F-ing Talk To You” podcast. In this episode, Russell and Ken detail the "hats" they use to identify the different patterns of human behavior that affect conversations, and how they use BEEF and COACH models to improve the outcome of conversations. Links: - Website, Podcast, Book, Course: www.ineedtof-ingtalktoyou.com/ - Ken Cameron: www.corporate-culture-shift.com - Russell Stratton: www.bluegemlearning.com - Forum Theatre: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_theatre - Situational Leadership: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational…eadership_theory -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Can you speed up your learning with improv? On the podcast this week, Squirrel and Jeffrey are joined by fellow podcast host duo Russell and Ken of the “I Need to F-ing Talk To You” podcast. In this episode, Russell and Ken discuss their Forum Theatre for Business methods and Squirrel considers if they’ve been missing a trick by not incorporating real actors in their conversations. Links: - Website, Podcast, Book, Course: https://www.ineedtof-ingtalktoyou.com/ - Ken Cameron: www.corporate-culture-shift.com - Russell Stratton: www.bluegemlearning.com - Forum Theatre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_theatre - Situational Leadership: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Can it really be more effective to throw out the plan? This week on the podcast, Squirrel talks about his late-night escapades at improv classes and why he’d prefer to travel to Mars in a starship, not a rocket. Join Squirrel and Jeffrey to find out how you can use improvisation to benefit your business. Links: - Squirrel's Making It Up event: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2023/03-23-makingitup.html - Impro book: https://www.goodreads.com/cs/book/show/306940 - Previous episode on "Yes And": https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/yes-and -------------------------------------------------- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met while working together at TIM group in 2013 . A decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
Scrum. XP. Kanban. Squads. Pods. Feature teams. Trying to figure out the ideal tech team structure and process? Listen to this first! On this week’s episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why the "right" choice isn’t going to solve your problems, and what you should be focusing on instead. Links: - Squirrel’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1636738222955872256 - Krakow keynote 18 May: https://aceconf.com/speaker/387/douglas-squirrel Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now. Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com About Your Hosts Squirrel and Jeffrey first met at CITCON in 2006 and later worked together at TIM group. 17 years later, they remain united in their passion for growing organisations through better conversations. Squirrel is an advisor, author, speaker, coach, and consultant, helping companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: https://douglassquirrel.com/index.html Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, author and speaker. You can connect with him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey is fresh in from IT Revolution’s DevOps Forum in Portland, where one of his takeaways was the power of streamlining and doing the absolute minimum. Join us on this week’s episode where Jeffrey discusses what tech teams can learn from the calamitous collapse and subsequent rebuilding of a highway outside San Francisco in 2007, and Squirrel shares his “Independence Day method" to discover the limits of what's possible. Links: - IT Revolution Guidance papers: https://itrevolution.com/resources/ - Overpass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacArthur_Maze#2007_I-580_East_Connector_collapse - Independence Day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(1996_film) - Krakow keynote 18 May: https://aceconf.com/speaker/387/douglas-squirrel Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Study Groups are a great way of developing new skills in the team and strengthening the learning culture in your organisation, but if not executed currently, their impact can be limited. Listen to this week’s episode to discover how to get company-wide benefits from your study group, and why you shouldn’t look at learning activities as “perks” for your team - even if they come with pizza! Links: - https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1631284049971953665 - Getting Started with Radical Collaboration: https://itrevolution.com/articles/getting-started-with-radical-collaboration/ - Podcast: Learning Through Action: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-action - Podcast: A Radical Enterprise: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/a-radical-enterprise-part-i and https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/a-radical-enterprise-part-ii Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Is there a place for Stack Ranking? Squirrel and Jeffrey concur that Stack Racking can be problematic, but Jeffrey has some ideas about where this sub-par practice comes from, which underline the importance of difficult conversations about performance no matter how you create them (even with a stack rank) Links: - Vitality Curve (Stack Ranking):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve - Poppendiecks on compensation: http://www.poppendieck.com/pdfs/Compensation.pdf - Chesterton’s Fence: https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Chesterton%27s_Fence Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Could Chat GPT improve our conversations? While pondering a difficult conversation with an unhappy client, Squirrel took to Chat GPT to see if he could recreate the dialogue. Listen to this week’s episode to discover his findings, and learn about how you could use prompt engineering and role playing with chatbot to get better results from your conversations. Links: - ChatGPT @ OpenAI: https://chat.openai.com/chat - Agile Conversations Dojo: https://www.meetup.com/agile-conversations-dojo/ - Conversational Dojo kit: https://itrevolution.com/product/conversational-dojo-kit/ Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! Go to agileconversations.com to order your copy. Plus, get access to a free mini training video about the technique of Coherence Building when you join our mailing list. We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
This week, Jeffrey is joined by guest Elisabeth Hendrickson, who shares her powerful dream that inspired a new theory of office politics. Elisabeth and Jeffrey discuss the behaviors that lead to toxicity, and how to utilise the core value of consent to evoke positive change. Recorded live at CITCON. Links: - Elisabeth’s company, Curious Duck: https://curiousduck.io - Elisabeth’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/testobsessed/ - CITCON: https://citconf.com Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

In this week’s episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how you can use emotional outcomes in your conversations to build trust and evoke more positive responses from your customers, rather than relying solely on intellectual ones. Listen to see how you can incorporate lessons from “Emotional Rugby” in your sales and customer relations, as well as across your workplace practices. Links: - “Many of us have faced buyers who seem to agree with everything we say…but never sign the contract. We have played intellectual chess with them but not emotional rugby.” – Alan Weiss and Nancy McKay, The Modern Trusted Advisor - Simon Sinek Start With Why: https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/ Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
After last week's episode on starting before you're ready, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss some ways you can encourage this behaviour—while still providing a safety net for participants and the wider organisation. SHOW LINKS: - Toyota Kata: https://agileconversations.com/blog/we're-the-aliens-three-ways-to-seek-safety/ - How to be helpfully demanding: https://agileconversations.com/blog/how-to-be-helpfully-demanding/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel and Jeffrey note examples of teams who never get started because they're aiming to do a project "right", and contrast with those who get started without being ready. SHOW LINKS: - https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1593243886180216832 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss two examples where engineers are trying to get accurate answers, when getting a (slightly) wrong result would actually be better for speed or learning. --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey continue discussing why you and your team might need a coach—for techniques and skills that they are already good at. This week they concentrate on practical steps for finding internal and external sources of instruction and inspiration. SHOW LINKS: - Pair Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_programming - Mob Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_programming --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
An article by Atul Gawande on coaching for surgeons inspires Squirrel and Jeffrey to reflect on why you and your team might need a coach—for techniques and skills that they are already good at. SHOW LINKS: - Personal Best: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/personal-best - Mundanity of Excellence: https://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-mundanity-of-excellence-an-ethnographic-report-on-stratification-and-olympic-swimmers - Our podcast episode on Principle 12 of the Agile Manifesto: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/finding-the-motivation-to-learn-stay-agile --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
This week on Troubleshooting Agile, we revisit another one of our “Greatest Hits” In this episode, we look at how the Ladder can help you discover your own reasoning as well, to discover ways to promote mutual learning with your own behaviour. SHOW LINKS: - Top Business Podcasts for CEOs, from Fiona Anderson: https://www.rocktime.co.uk/insights/listen-and-learn-the-art-of-podcasting-for-ceos/ - The Ladder of Inference (annotated by Jeffrey): https://agileconversations.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf - The London Organisational Meetup: www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
This week on Troubleshooting Agile, we revisit one of our “Greatest Hits” In this episode, we start describing our favourite trust-building technique: the Ladder of Inference. Our take this week is on using the Ladder to understand someone else's reasoning and align your stories, creating trust as a foundation for further improvement in your agile team. Surprisingly, the experience of using the Ladder in this way is similar to Test-Driven Development: careful, understandable, small steps with confidence, and meaningful signals from both success and failure. SHOW LINKS: - Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ELY7OW/re…ding=UTF8&btkr=1 - The Ladder of Inference (annotated by Jeffrey): troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadd…nference.pdf - Cognitive biases book and more: youarenotsosmart.com/ - Schwarz on unilateral control (again!): www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-per…tionships-2/ - TDD for people video: www.douglassquirrel.com/how-i-work.html - Schwarz 8 behaviours (Paula/Ted are on page 4): www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf…arter-Teams-2.pdf --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A listener asks, "how will we know it's working?" when considering changes of process or technology. Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss how to set "imperfect indicators" to measure your progress—or lack thereof!—along the J-shaped curve that takes you through learning to improvement. SHOW LINKS: - Tic-Tac Change: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/07/07/tic-tac-change-slides/ - J-Curve episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/a-tale-of-two-change-models-part-ii-getting-better-by-getting-worse --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey remarks that he's working with a software team whose code is "done", that is, the organisation wants to keep using it but doesn't want to invest more in changing it. He and Squirrel reflect on when this make sense and how "software doneness" affects processes and measurements. SHOW LINKS: - Control Chart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_chart - Principles of Product Development Flow: https://www.pdma.org/page/review_principles_pr --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
It is easy to see our dominant organizational structure of teams divided by roles as natural. But Jon Smart, author of the book Sooner, Safer, Happier, points out that this goes against 1.9 million years of evolution. In this podcast Jon and Jeffrey discuss the link between the outcomes we’re getting and how we organize, and thus how changing our organization can change incentives, which in turn shape behaviors to get us better outcomes. Recorded live at DevOps Enterprise Summit 2022 in Las Vegas. SHOW LINKS: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathansmart/ - https://soonersaferhappier.com - Dr Ron Westrum: A typology of organisational cultures: https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/qhc/13/suppl_2/ii22.full.pdf - NUMMI : This American Life: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/403/nummi-2010…
Do you find the yourself constantly fighting for making even small improvements? Randy Shoup has a way to avoid such “nickel and dime” conversations: agree with your peers on an innovation budget. In this episode Randy Shoup and Jeffrey discuss why these strategic conversations require learning how to speak executive, and why new engineering leaders often struggle to live up to their role in these conversations. Recorded live at DevOps Enterprise Summit 2022 in Las Vegas. SHOW LINKS: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randyshoup/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/randyshoup - Communicating Effectively with Your Business Partners (video): https://www.infoq.com/presentations/communication-business-partners/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Dominica Degrandis is an expert on flow and helping companies get the benefits of using flow metrics to make systemic improvements. What does she find as the biggest obstacle to success? A proper investment in change. In this conversation Jeffrey and Dominica talk about the importance of a daily change budget, time you’d expect people to be working in the new way, with some advice for both leaders and practitioners. Recorded live at DevOps Enterprise Summit 2022 in Las Vegas. SHOW LINKS: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicadeg/ - Dominica Degrandis: https://ddegrandis.com - Making Work Visible, 2nd Edition: https://itrevolution.com/making-work-visible-by-dominica-degrandis/ - Dominica Degranids past episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?i=1000458010204 - Donald Reinertsen Principles of Product Development Flow: http://reinertsenassociates.com/books/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Audit, compliance, security, and governance: these words all carry the heavy weight of bureaucracy, the feeling of a burden to be overcome. In the recently published learning novel Investments Unlimited Bill Bensing and coauthors introduce the idea of automated governance, and in this conversation Bill and Jeffrey explore the difference between “governance theater”, automating away bullshit, and acting to get the real benefit. SHOW LINKS: - Investments Unlimited: https://itrevolution.com/investments-unlimited-book/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billbensing/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillBensing - Bill Bensing: https://billbensing.com - Jon Willis part 1: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/john-willis-on-devops-past-present-and-future - Jon Willis part 2: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/john-willis-devops-past-present-future-part2 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
If you want to create a “value flywheel” where success breeds success, you need to start with clarity of purpose. Join Jeffrey and his guest David Anderson to learn how David uses the technique of Wardley Mapping to generate shared understanding. But don’t make the mistake of thinking the map is the point! David says throwing away the map is just as important as creating it in the first place. SHOW LINKS: - The Value Flywheel Effect: https://itrevolution.com/the-value-flywheel-effect/ - David Anderson @ The Serverless Edge: https://theserverlessedge.com - Twitter: https://twitter.com/ServerlessEdge - Wardley Mapping: https://learnwardleymapping.com --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Want to know the agenda? We aren’t going to tell you! Join Jeffrey with guests Pascal Dufour & Ronald Doelen to talk about how the “tilted slider” applies to meetings just as much as other software development process. Recorded live at CITCON. SHOW LINKS: - Pascal Dufour: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascaldufournl/ - Ronald Doelen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdoelen/ - Episode: Tilted Slider: https://agileconversations.com/blog/dont-add-more-metrics/ - Open Space: https://citconf.com/openspace.php - Lean Coffee: http://leancoffee.org - Liberating Structures: TRIZ: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/6-making-space-with-triz/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Following last week's debate, Squirrel and Jeffrey share their different takes on the value of having estimated a tech team's planned work when it comes to a retrospective at the end of a cycle, like a sprint or a quarter: Jeffrey sees that checking what the team achieved against what they planned can lead to important lessons about dependencies, inefficiencies, and skills gaps, while Squirrel thinks the risk of the estimates "escaping" is too high, and that the team ought to be able to notice process failings as they go without the "crutch" of estimates. SHOW LINKS: - LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dsquirrel_my-friends-at-cto-craft-are-45-right-about-activity-6983761206993899522-raHE - Squirrel Tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1578315480472985602 - You’re Not So Smart : https://www.davidmcraney.com/new-page-1 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey have different takes on the value of estimating a tech team's planned work at the beginning of a longer cycle, like a sprint or a quarter: Jeffrey says the discussion of an estimate often leads to insights and better outcomes, and Squirrel says you can get the same results without the estimates. Both agree that sharing and measuring against the estimates outside the team is counterproductive! SHOW LINKS: - LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dsquirrel_my-friends-at-cto-craft-are-45-right-about-activity-6983761206993899522-raHE - Squirrel Tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1578315480472985602 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss various ways to make statements about the future ("this feature will take a week" or "users will buy 20% more if we cut prices in half") and disagree about exactly how valuable they are and how to use them. SHOW LINKS: - Tilted Slider: https://agileconversations.com/blog/dont-add-more-metrics/ - Toyota Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html - Thinking in Bets: https://www.annieduke.com/thinking-in-bets/ - Estimates are Lies: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/09-15-estimates.html - Superforcasting: https://www.amazon.com/Superforecasting-Science-Prediction-Philip-Tetlock/dp/0804136718 - Betting Market: https://manifold.markets Events: - Jtf at CITCON Europe Oct 14th & 15th: https://citconf.com/zwolle2022/ - Jtf at DevOps Enterprise Summit Oct 18th-20th: https://events.itrevolution.com/lasvegas/ - Squirrel live in Vienna Oct 20th: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/10-20-vienna.html - Squirrel live in Miami early November: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/11-09-miami.html --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
One of Jeffrey's clients solves their burnout problem, and then the same problem comes up in other coaching sessions: needing the freedom to disagree. Squirrel finds a related problem of burnout from being unwilling to disappoint others. Both the need to disagree and to disappoint require difficult conversations, but you can’t really say yes without being able to say no! SHOW LINKS: - The Uncanny Valley of a Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ - Amy Edmondson (author of Teaming): https://amycedmondson.com/#books - Hard Work Not Hard Conversations: https://agileconversations.com/blog/hard-work-not-hard-coversation/ Upcoming Events: - Squirrel live in Berlin Sept 29th: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/09-29-berlin.html - Jtf at CITCON Europe Oct 14th & 15th: https://citconf.com/zwolle2022/ - Jtf at DevOps Enterprise Summit Oct 18th-20th: https://events.itrevolution.com/lasvegas/ - Squirrel live in Vienna Oct 20th: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/10-20-vienna.html - Squirrel live in Miami early November: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/11-09-miami.html --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel has a suggestion for collaborating with people who are irrationally wedded to particular "agile processes", and Jeffrey has related ideas for working to their polar opposite, the anti-zealots who say no process will ever work. SHOW LINKS: - Squirrel's tweet on zealotry: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1570321020543696897 - CITCON Europe: https://citconf.com/zwolle2022/ - DevOps Enterprise Summit: https://events.itrevolution.com/lasvegas/ - Squirrel in Berlin and Vienna: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events.html - Xavier Amador, LEAP: http://dramador.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnbOizw_zS0 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel describes how deals with overly vague strategy descriptions: tune them until they’re specific enough that someone could disagree with them. He and Jeffrey discuss how this applies beyond strategy, the value of asking probing questions, and the productive conflict that can arise from getting past the "motherhood and apple pie" answers. SHOW LINKS: - Podcast episode, Adversarial Analysis: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/scoring-briefing-and-back-briefing - Agile Conversations: https://agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel describes how he tells clients to handle overly specific, too-coherent directions: consider what an adversary would do to comply with the direction and still get bad results. He and Jeffrey discuss illustrative examples and applications from military history, economics, and pizza delivery. SHOW LINKS: - Little Bobby Drop Tables: https://xkcd.com/327/ - Goodhart’s Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law - Pizza Arbitrage: https://www.readmargins.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage - Art of Action, Briefing and Back-briefing: https://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Podcast episode, Briefing and Back-Briefing: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/briefing-and-back-briefing - Podcast episode, Scoring Your Briefing and Back-Briefing: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/scoring-briefing-and-back-briefing --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
A client challenges Squirrel on his directive style when coaching, wondering whether this clashes with his espoused belief in joint design and inquiry. Jeffrey and Squirrel reflect on the crucial differences between being asked for advice and help, and manipulating the situation and information flow to "win" an argument. These considerations turn out to be relevant to product and technical decisions too! SHOW LINKS: - Unilateral control & mutual learning values: https://infed.org/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Model_I_and - Coaching Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/The_Coaching_Kata.html --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey trade stories about leaders who live in fear of key software developers leaving, and therefore avoid honest feedback and effective reprimands. The ironic result is that this "skilled incompetence" leads to exactly what they're trying to avoid: the best engineers do leave because of the negative and secretive culture. The way out, of course, is the Accountability Conversation. SHOW LINKS: - Tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1559121793830379521 - Squirrel Squadron: https://squirrelsquadron.com - One Minute Manager: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Minute_Manager - Unilateral control values: https://infed.org/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Model_I_and - Accountability Conversation episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/accountability-leaders-are-accountable-too --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Responding to a listener's question, Jeffrey and Squirrel reflect on the difference between a product owner and a process owner, and how IT projects differ from building products for external users. Unsurprisingly, methods for delivering value and saying no feature prominently! SHOW LINKS: - Project to Product: https://itrevolution.com/book/project-to-product/ - Mik Kersten interview: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/project-to-product-with-mik-kersten - Reengineering the Corporation: https://bookshop.org/books/reengineering-the-corporation-a-manifesto-for-business-revolution/9780060559533 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Description: Squirrel and Jeffrey ponder the seemingly forgot lore of their younger days and ask how those lessons will make it to the next generation. Or does such a fast moving industry have no time to learn from the past? SHOW LINKS: - Livestream: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/04-21-continuous-integration.html - Doing the impossible 50 times a day: http://timothyfitz.com/2009/02/10/continuous-deployment-at-imvu-doing-the-impossible-fifty-times-a-day/ - Refactoring Databases book: https://www.databaserefactoring.com - Working Effectively with Legacy Code: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Feathers/dp/0131177052 - Mythical Man-Month: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month - Peopleware: https://bookshop.org/books/peopleware-productive-projects-and-teams-revised/9780321934116 - Code complete: https://bookshop.org/books/code-complete/9780735619678 - Pragmatic programmer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pragmatic_Programmer - Agile Conversations Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/agile-conversations/shared_invite/zt-17ut4px4y-gvPXpbYhf2tf0nvzZN1u5A --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey develop a metaphor describing effective product alignment, and suggest some ways to apply and misapply it. SHOW LINKS: - Getting To Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Jeffrey defines "product-led" organisations and contrasts with "commercially-led", "project-led", and "technology-led" organisations. Squirrel disagreed with the verb "led" as it could leave out important opportunities to bring everyone in on a product-minded culture, and we settle on "product-aligned" as a better way of describing an effective end state. SHOW LINKS: - Project to Product: https://projecttoproduct.org/ - Livestream on Continuous Integration: https://squirrelsquadron.com/events/2022/04-14-psychology.html --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
We describe Marquet's "Psychological Ownership" and how it goes beyond the "turn signal" we've advocated before when building trust with stakeholders. Then we go into applications to our clients, Microsoft Excel date formats, and the candy preferences of heavy metal bands. SHOW LINKS: - Inno-Versity Presents: "Greatness" by David Marquet : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqmdLcyES_Q&t=260s - https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/06/16/my-first-billg-review/ - https://www.insider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel notices that when a client starts by telling him how great her relationship is with someone, it almost always signals a lack of true collaboration and productive conflict. Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the difference between friendly and effective and the common confusion between being liked and being successful. SHOW LINKS: - Matt Parker on collaboration: https://twitter.com/realMattKParker/status/1507513202522918917?s=20&t=l3vMCiBGPf172Ht0M5XRzQ - https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com -- Join the Squirrel Squadron, a vibrant community of tech and non-tech leaders who are learning together. Experience exciting free events that will boost your leadership, improve tech/business dialogue, and give you surprising new ways to revolutionise tech in your organisation. Join for free: https://squirrelsquadron.com/index.html…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel relates the tale of a sad client who refined their MVP so much all the business value was lost. Squirrel and Jeffrey reflect on the true meaning of "viable" and how boredom can be a sign your team has lost sight of delivering customer value. SHOW LINKS: - Elephant Carpaccio: https://blog.crisp.se/2013/07/25/henrikkniberg/elephant-carpaccio-facilitation-guide - Walking Skeleton: https://wiki.c2.com/?WalkingSkeleton --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey meditate on Brian Marick's announcement that he will no longer accept talk invitations on agile development, and the (different) reasons that both of them still use term "agile". Topics include joy at work, how it leads to profit, and the "near enemy" of that joy, which can lead to disillusionment. SHOW LINKS: - Listener Poll Results: https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile/status/1478640273991294983 - Brian's tweet: https://twitter.com/marick/status/1499905649970397189 - Brian's article on things left out of the Agile Manifesto: http://www.exampler.com/blog/2007/05/16/six-years-later-what-the-agile-manifesto-left-out/ - Joy at Work: http://dennisbakke.com - Joy Inc: https://menloinnovations.com : Joy, Inc. - Near Enemies: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/07/change-your-life-near-enemies-buddhism - Alistair Cockburn on the "death" of agile development: https://heartofagile.com/agile-is-not-dead-quite-the-opposite/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Dragan returns to talk with us about why small batch sizes are valuable, and how to apply this idea way beyond just release frequency, to pull requests, co-creation, and more. Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/smallest-batch-is-pair-dragan-pt2/ SHOW LINKS: - Dragan: - draganstepanovic.com - https://twitter.com/d_stepanovic - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstepanovic/ - Systems Thinking: https://www.extremeuncertainty.com/an-introduction-to-systems-thinking/ - Promiscuous Pairing: https://csis.pace.edu/~grossman/dcs/XR4-PromiscuousPairing.pdf - Theory of Constraints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints - Donald Reinertsen, The Principles of Product Development Flow: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6278270-the-principles-of-product-development-flow --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Dragan Stepanović joins us to discuss emotions as system signals, why intervening at the emotional level has less value, and why you should get back on the horse. Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/monitoring-intervening-pairing-mobbing-pt1/ SHOW LINKS: - Dragan: - draganstepanovic.com - https://twitter.com/d_stepanovic - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstepanovic/ - Mobbing for Safety episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/mobbing-for-safety - Dragan’s tweet: https://twitter.com/d_stepanovic/status/1470009166353907716 - Systems Thinking: https://www.extremeuncertainty.com/an-introduction-to-systems-thinking/ - Causal loop diagrams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causal_loop_diagram - Woody Zuill / Mob Programming: https://woodyzuill.com - Timothy Clark: https://www.leaderfactor.com/psychological-safety-keynote\ - Amy Edmondson: https://www.chrisclearfield.com/podcast/18 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
We're joined once again by Jim Euchner, author of Lean Startup in Large Organizations. This week we discuss how the pioneers/settlers/town-planners model applies to large organisations and how to involve all three types to ensure you combine product experimentation with financial stability and avoid cannibalising your existing business. Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/lean-startup-large-organizations-pt2/ SHOW LINKS: - Jim’s website: https://jimeuchner.com - Book url: https://leanstartup.biz - Pioneers, Settlers, and Town Planners: https://wardleypedia.org/mediawiki/index.php/Pioneers_settlers_town_planners - Double Loop Learning: https://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Single-loop_and_double-loop --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.…
We're joined by Jim Euchner, author of Lean Startup in Large Organizations, and discuss how to overcome the "antibodies" that big companies have against experimentation (and why those antibodies are actually healthy). Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/lean-startup-large-organization-pt1/ SHOW LINKS: - Jim’s website: https://jimeuchner.com - Book url: https://leanstartup.biz - Lean Startup by Eric Ries : http://theleanstartup.com - Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank : https://bookshop.org/books/the-four-steps-to-the-epiphany-successful-strategies-for-products-that-win/9781119690351 - Alex Osterwalder, creator of the Business Model Canvas: https://www.alexosterwalder.com - Clayton Christensen, Innovator's Dilemma: https://bookshop.org/books/the-innovator-s-dilemma-when-new-technologies-cause-great-firms-to-fail/9781633691780 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
We are once again joined by Matt Parker, author of the new book A Radical Enterprise, this time discussing specific examples of organisations operating as Matt describes (and discover along the way that everything is evolving toward the shape of a crab). Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/radical-enterprise-pt2/ SHOW LINKS: - Matt's website: http://mattkparker.com - A Radical Enterprise: https://itrevolution.com/a-radical-enterprise/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation - Meme as unit of culture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
We are joined by Matt Parker, author of the new book A Radical Enterprise, and discuss how many organisations are achieving significant success with astonishing levels of autonomy and devolution. Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/a-radical-enterprise-pt1/ SHOW LINKS: - Matt's website: http://mattkparker.com - A Radical Enterprise: https://itrevolution.com/a-radical-enterprise/ - Deming pay system: https://deming.org/what-would-deserve-a-raise-within-the-deming-management-context/ - Meme as unit of culture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey continue discussing what to do with a giant backlog of work for your tech team, and suggest ways to think about paying off your tech debt and thin your features for faster feedback. SHOW LINKS: - Feature thinning: http://www.agilekiwi.com/other/agile/feature-thinning/ - Technical debt: http://wiki.c2.com/?WardExplainsDebtMetaphor --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how to help a listener whose team has a mountain of work growing beyond all proportion, and how to work with sponsors to tame (or even better, delete!) a 5-year backlog. SHOW LINKS: - Gold Owner / Goal Donor: https://wiki.c2.com/?GoalDonor - Mythical Man-Month: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month - Induced demand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We look at why "prop trading" companies like Jane Street have phenomenally profitable technology operations, and how we can learn from them and improve, even in organisations where IT is a "cost centre". SHOW LINKS: - Jane Street article: https://www.thediff.co/p/jane-street - DevOps Enterprise Summit: https://events.itrevolution.com/virtual/ - Spike and Stabilise: https://dzone.com/articles/patterns-effective-delivery-%E2%80%93 - Previous episode on ROI: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?i=1000574885063 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey look at two ways to "thin" features to achieve a better return on investment, for both customer features and productivity improvements. SHOW LINKS: - Squirrel’s tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1554153810876157953 - Feature thinning: http://www.agilekiwi.com/other/agile/feature-thinning/ - Poppendieck lean book: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/194338.Lean_Software_Development --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss a learning loop topic, Summer Shorts and Learning Loops: OKRs, in five minutes or fewer. Take just a few minutes with us to improve your team's learning and speed! --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss a learning loop topic, Summer Shorts and Learning Loops: Retrospectives, in five minutes or fewer. Take just a few minutes with us to improve your team's learning and speed! --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss a learning loop topic, Summer Shorts and Learning Loops: Walking the board, in five minutes or fewer. Take just a few minutes with us to improve your team's learning and speed! --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss a learning loop topic, Summer Shorts and Learning Loops: Elephant carpaccio, in five minutes or fewer. Take just a few minutes with us to improve your team's learning and speed! --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss a learning loop topic, Summer Shorts and Learning Loops: Weekly planning, in five minutes or fewer. Take just a few minutes with us to improve your team's learning and speed! --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Taking iterative development to heart, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss a learning loop topic, Basic daily learning loop, in five minutes or fewer. Take just a few minutes with us to improve your team's learning and speed! --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey trade stories about tech organisations who are effectively improving incrementally -- and examples of those who are just doing and not learning. Rother's Coaching Kata and Torres's Opportunity Solution Tree prove helpful in illustrating how to shift to this mindset. SHOW LINKS: - What is kaizen? : https://www.kaizen.com/what-is-kaizen - Plan-Do-Check-Act: https://deming.org/explore/pdsa/ - Opportunity Solution Tree: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/opportunity-solution-tree/ - The Toyota Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html - Coaching Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/The_Coaching_Kata.html --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

“We may disagree but that doesn’t mean we’re going to have another meeting”. Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss what happens when you run out of difficult conversations and consensus isn't going to happen--and what to do next. SHOW LINKS: - Advice process: https://reinventingorganizationswiki.com/en/theory/decision-making/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey and Squirrel reflect on a tweet from Ken Kocienda about what worked for Apple in designing the iPhone, what they think is missing from this advice, and what it tells us about improving our own delivery. SHOW LINKS: - Ken Kocienda’s tweet https://twitter.com/kocienda/status/1526564985995857921 - Creative Selection: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37638098-creative-selection --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey are both seeing faster results from coaching clients through the amazing technique of just asking them to go faster -- and explaining the reason. They explain why and how this works and how you can put it into practice too. SHOW LINKS: - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Near enemy: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/07/change-your-life-near-enemies-buddhism --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel advocates the radical view that data consistency is a shibboleth and an inadequate excuse. He and Jeffrey explore this position and wonder why companies are so obsessed with having a single source of truth. SHOW LINKS: - The Cuckoos’ Egg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cuckoo%27s_Egg_(book) - Squirrel's sources of truth tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1525435952503693315 --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey describes a new idea from Marquet, the division between "red work" (execution) and "blue work" (thinking and planning). He and Squirrel discuss how to balance these methods in agile teams, and when an imbalance might be useful. SHOW LINKS: - Leadership is Language: https://davidmarquet.com/leadership-is-language-book/ - Inno-Versity Presents: "Greatness" by David Marquet : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqmdLcyES_Q - In Praise of Taylorism episode: https://agileconversations.com/blog/in-praise-of-taylor/ - Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel notices a pattern among his coaching clients: some prefer to work themselves and their teams much harder, rather than questioning a requirement or discussing trust issues. He and Jeffrey describe ways you can detect and overcome this habit or "twitch". SHOW LINKS: - Agile Conversations Dojo: https://www.meetup.com/Agile-Conversations-Dojo/ - Agile Conversations Book: https://agileconversations.com/agile-conversation-book/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel describes an amazing Christmas present that captures perfectly why user empathy is vital for all types of agile teams — even in hardware. SHOW LINKS: - The Braille Cube: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1476967045430398979 --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey trade stories about two types of organisations: ones that want to give developers perks and opportunities to learn, and those that actually want disruptive change and new ideas. Then they invite listeners to weigh in on what they're aiming to get from this podcast, on a Twitter or LinkedIn poll (see below). SHOW LINKS: - Twitter poll: https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile/status/1478640273991294983?s=20 - LinkedIn poll: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dsquirrel_activity-6884405619382657024-WOdG - Reg Revans on learning and action: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12842253-abc-of-action-learning --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Continued conversation with one of our favourite authors, James Shore, who joins us to discuss the new edition of his semnal book, The Art of Agile Development. SHOW LINKS: - Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesshore - Website: https://www.jamesshore.com - AOD2: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/books/aoad2 - Bookclub: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/books/aoad2/book_club - Book: Accelerate: https://itrevolution.com/book/accelerate/ - Blog: Why I hate CruiseControl: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/blog/2005/why-i-dont-like-cruisecontrol - Tilted Slider: https://agileconversations.com/blog/dont-add-more-metrics/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
One of our favourite authors, James Shore, joins us to discuss the new edition of his seminal book, The Art of Agile Development. SHOW LINKS: - Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesshore - Website: https://www.jamesshore.com - AOD2: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/books/aoad2 - Bookclub: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/books/aoad2/book_club - Book: Accelerate: https://itrevolution.com/book/accelerate/ - Blog: Why I hate CruiseControl: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/blog/2005/why-i-dont-like-cruisecontrol - Tilted Slider: https://agileconversations.com/blog/dont-add-more-metrics/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Responding to a provocative Twitter thread, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why pull requests may be harmful to collaboration, and explore the seemingly mad world of mob programming (20 people and 1 keyboard?!). We discover how these "co-creation" techniques can help increase psychological safety and reduce errors. SHOW LINKS: - Dragan's Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/d_stepanovic/status/1470009166353907716 - Mob Programming: https://mobprogramming.org --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
This week, we bring you one of our most popular previous episodes to refresh your memory or listen to for the first time. The first chapter of Agile Conversations is all about people-centred development, and we tell the story of our own journey from over-determined software factory to today's feature factories, with similar Taylorist theories of management in both. In today's episode, we go into more depth on the causes of this tragic journey, touching on old and new topics like Theories X and Y, the Cynefin framework, and why there isn't a JIRA plugin for conversational quality. SHOW LINKS: - Taylorism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management - Theories X and Y: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - 12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory by John Cutler: cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre…n-a-feature-factory - Cargo cults: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult and www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Cargo-Cult-Agile.html - Cockburn on people: web.archive.org/web/2014032920365…tware+development - Cynefin: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework Episode transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/software-factory-to-feature-factory/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey and Squirrel draw lessons from unlikely sources like Henry Ford and Eliezer Yudkowsky on creating a culture that favours innovation and inquiry. SHOW LINKS: - Henry Ford article: https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/experts/ - Hero License: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/dhj9dhiwhq3DX6W8z/hero-licensing - Dan Luu on productivity: https://danluu.com/productivity-velocity/ - Chris Matts on experts: https://twitter.com/PapaChrisMatts/status/1462379387471511553 - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

When your team misses a sprint goal, or you let down a stakeholder, you or your team may feel guilty—but we make concrete recommendations, using Pixar movies and Adlerian psychology, for grief as a more effective alternative that leads to faster recovery and improvement. SHOW LINKS: - The Courage to be Disliked: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43306206-the-courage-to-be-disliked - Feeling Good podcast: https://feelinggood.com - Wisdom at Work meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Wisdom-at-Work-Online-MeetUp - Sadness and Joy from Inside Out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT6FdhKriB8 - Just Say No to Need: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/just-say-no-to-need --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Continuing from last week's episode on Gemba Walks, we explore how leaders can use information they gather from the "coal face" to tell compelling stories and change culture and direction. SHOW LINKS: - Last week's episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/gemba-walks-and-ride-alongs - Three Perspectives on Future Search: http://www.marvinweisbord.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Future%20Search%20Perspectives.pdf - Pixar Story Course: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/hass-storytelling/storytelling-pixar-in-a-box --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey tell two stories of leaders who "walked the floor" to see what work was being done, in two very different situations, and how the resulting stories helped transform their teams. SHOW LINKS: - Gemba Walk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemba - Container Stacking blog post: https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2021/10/28/an-unexpected-victory-container-stacking-at-the-port-of-los-angeles/ - Container Stacking twitter thread: https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/1451543776992845834 - Secrets of Consulting: http://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Consulting_Secrets.html --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel and Jeffrey consider the benefits and risks of building a feature for just one user. When is this advisable and when is it a product cul-de-sac? SHOW LINKS: - Alan Cooper on personas: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44098.The_Inmates_Are_Running_the_Asylum - Poppendiecks on lean software (waste of software development): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194338.Lean_Software_Development --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A listener asks about "de-silo-ifying" data science and how to match cadences between data teams and product teams. Data expert Ian Ozsvald tells stories of insurance forms and data horrors as he helps us explore ways to address this cadence mismatch. SHOW LINKS: - Ian Ozsvald: https://ianozsvald.com - PyData London: https://london.pydata.org/ - Gemba walk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemba#Gemba_Walk --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel and Jeffrey explore their different reasons for recommending that you remove the word "need" from your vocabulary. SHOW LINKS: - “Need” tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1445683926983340037 - Correct vs useful episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/correct-vs-useful --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A listener asks about conditions where ringfencing might make sense, and we explore the differences among ringfencing, focus, and empowerment. SHOW LINKS: - Listener question: https://twitter.com/DeliverItCast/status/1443304167313915907 - Ringfencing episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-ringfencing-trap - The Goal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_(novel) --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey tells the story of his team writing code that gives incorrect but still useful results, and we reflect on why it can be hard to choose to "pay to learn". SHOW LINKS: - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Worse is Better: https://dreamsongs.com/WorseIsBetter.html --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel tells the story of an exec who operates at warp speed and leaves his director of technology behind in his wake. How can we best handle these rapid-fire questions and instant decisions? We have concrete suggestions for being productive and successful when your style doesn't match that of a stakeholder. SHOW LINKS: - Burying the lede: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bury_the_lede --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Squirrel tells the story of a conversation that took a sudden difficult turn, and we discuss methods like the Disarming Technique for handling surprises like this effectively. SHOW LINKS: - Roger Schwarz, Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - David Burns, the Disarming Technique: https://feelinggood.com/2017/12/11/066-five-secrets-training-the-disarming-technique/ - Finnish Agile Circle: https://www.meetup.com/Agile-Finland-Helsinki-Coaching-Circle/ - London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.…
A listener asks us about why social hierarchy and popularity norms matter so much in team discussions. We riff on a number of ideas this inspires including the Tyranny of Structurelessness and the Core Protocols. - Tyranny of Structurelessness article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tyranny_of_Structurelessness - Project Aristotle (Google study): https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html?smid=pl-share - Core Protocols: https://liveingreatness.com/files/core-protocols-3.03.html - Liberating Structures: https://www.liberatingstructures.com - Six Thinking Hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats - Google Re:Work: https://rework.withgoogle.com/ - Schwarz, Skilled Facilitator: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221980.The_Skilled_Facilitator ---- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
At #citcon Virtual 2021, Andy Parker makes the case that Fredrick Taylor, whom we sometimes like to bash as the father of the feature factory, created the foundation of our work as software teams. - CITCON: https://citconf.com/ - Fredrick Taylor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor - Previous Fredrick Taylor episode: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/in-praise-of-taylor/ - Productive Workplaces Revisited: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1268463.Productive_Workplaces_Revisited - Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Our friends at CITCON help us think about why we feel like we're covering the same agile lessons over and over, like breaking epics down into very small stories. An analogy to teaching long division turns out to be surprisingly helpful. - CITCON: https://citconf.com/ - Moore, Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Chris Matts, community of needs: https://snowbirdcollaboratory.org/community-of-needs/ - Alistair Cockburn: https://alistair.cockburn.us/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We describe some data scientists we know who are stuck in a tricky bind - why won't others in their organisation listen to their insights? This is the "Last Mile" problem of data science, for which we recommend (surprise!) building relationships through better conversations. - Last Mile problem of Data Science: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/07/23/solving-the-last-mile-problem-for-data-science-project-success/ - Devops Enterprise Forum: https://itrevolution.com/forum-paper-downloads/ - High Agency: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1276956836856393728?lang=en Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

"We'll keep an eye on it". "It's on our backlog." "It's on our tech debt list". These are all examples of voodoo charms, reassuring phrases that make you feel better but don't create real change. We suggest several ways to overcome the real fear behind your use of the voodoo charm. SHOW LINKS: - public pronouncements don’t work: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/culturing-science/new-years-resolution/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Squirrel tells a dramatic story about preparing for a meeting under huge pressure, and we discuss how valuable it is to have a solid relationship to build on when negotiating over something as important as survival of your startup. SHOW LINKS: - Your first 30 Days as an Agile Manager: https://xebia.com/academy/en/training/first-30-days-agile-manager --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Vasco Duarte, master of Scrum, issues a call to arms for all scrum masters: you have nothing to lose but your estimates and feature factories! Noted Scrum sceptic Squirrel questions Vasco vigorously on what Scrum Masters do and discovers that Vasco's view of the role is very different from the traditional one. SHOW LINKS: - Vasco: http://softwaredevelopmenttoday.com/ , https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/ - Scrum Master Summit: https://scrummastersummit.org - No Estimates book: https://oikosofyseries.com/no-estimates-book-order --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.…
Vasco Duarte, master of Scrum, issues a call to arms for all scrum masters: you have nothing to lose but your estimates and feature factories! Noted Scrum sceptic Squirrel questions Vasco vigorously on what Scrum Masters do and discovers that Vasco's view of the role is very different from the traditional one. SHOW LINKS: - Vasco: http://softwaredevelopmenttoday.com/ , https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/ - Scrum Master Summit: https://scrummastersummit.org - No Estimates book: https://oikosofyseries.com/no-estimates-book-order --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.…
Alan Weiss has written over 60 books on consulting and advocates a no-holds-barred approach, "the martial arts of language", to business problems. He eats difficult conversations for breakfast! We find out why language controls business, how us engineers can drive strategy by emphasizing results and not technology , and what tough love is and why it's so effective. SHOW LINKS: - Alan Weiss: https://alanweiss.com - Business as a Second Language workshop: https://alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/bsl/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
In the second of a two-part series, Johan Abildskov of Eficode has a conversation with Jeffrey and Squirrel about tools for using conversations to implement agile and DevOps methods, including Test-Driven Development for People (aka the Ladder of Inference). SHOW LINKS: - Eficode: https://www.eficode.com/ - TDD for People: https://www.douglassquirrel.com/how-i-work.html --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
In the first of a two-part series, Johan Abildskov of Eficode has a conversation with Jeffrey and Squirrel about culture, transparency, curiosity, and how to use all three to adopt DevOps methods successfully. Special addition: a video version of today's podcast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6c8qIJUdwo SHOW LINKS: - Eficode: https://www.eficode.com/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We discuss two very different stories about leaders that communicate a cultural message pithily and clearly, and reflect on why these stories were effective and how all of us can communicate culture in this way. SHOW LINKS: - Steve Jobs aquarium story: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/10/in-praise-of-bad-steve/246242/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

If your boss isn't helping like you think she should, maybe she's not from Mars, but actually trying to give you more autonomy. We reflect on this in light of real-world coaching stories. SHOW LINKS: - Situational Leadership: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Squirrel helps teams split their work into tiny "slices" they can release daily or weekly, and finds that the biggest obstacle is all the things that developers think they know about users, many of which they have to first unlearn. SHOW LINKS: - Original tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1435602671306674176 - Falsehoods programmers believe about names: https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ - Elephant carpaccio: https://alistair.cockburn.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Elephant-Carpaccio-exercise-instructions.pdf - Will Rogers: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/11/18/know-trouble/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel tells stories of clients whose attempt to ringfence developers on certain tasks ended badly, and we explore why hiding from a difficult conversation with "dedicated" engineers doesn't work. SHOW LINKS: - Original tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1435602662796537861 - https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/solving-the-problem-of-siloed-it-in-organizations/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
We discuss making radical change in an organisation by violating its norms in use and producing productive conflict. SHOW LINKS: - How Should the Company Decide?: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-should-the-company-decide --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We consider the dynamics—or perhaps statics!—of an organisation that is stuck running the same agile processes or following an unchanging strategy, even though it isn't providing any improvement, and consider why an organisation might get stuck in this way. SHOW LINKS: - Double-Loop Learning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-loop_learning --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
We discuss why daily delivery via "elephant carpaccio"—already challenging for engineers—is doubly difficult for designers, and what to do about it. SHOW LINKS: - Elephant Carpaccio: https://alistair.cockburn.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Elephant-Carpaccio-exercise-instructions.pdf --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A listener asks how to find a great company to work for, and Jeffrey and Squirrel share a few opinionated, biased heuristics for discovering great environments to work in. SHOW LINKS: - CITCON conferences: https://citconf.com/ - DevopsDays: https://devopsdays.org/ - DOES conference: https://events.itrevolution.com - Joel Test: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-steps-to-better-code/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey trade stories about coaching people who feel trapped by a decision seemingly outside their control—and how a recursive question can help unlock more options and a better result. SHOW LINKS: - Unilateral control: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i - Mutual learning: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/mutual-learning-model-part-one - Eight behaviors: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - Drive by Daniel Pink: https://www.danpink.com/books/drive/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Continuing our discussion of codewords as a signal of intimacy, we look at how team cohesion changes as a team grows or shrinks, and how you can anticipate this and retain positive cultural elements as your team evolves. SHOW LINKS: - Alistair Cockburn communication graph: p. 6 of https://alistair.cockburn.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A-concise-theory-of-software-development-in-pictures.pdf - Missing Affordances of Remote Work episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/missing-affordances-for-remote-working - Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/growth-loss-emojis/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel explains how a telephone emoji helped a coaching client and we discover how codewords help build trust. SHOW LINKS: - Code words tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1421016370850971650 - Alistair Cockburn communication graph: p. 6 of https://alistair.cockburn.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/A-concise-theory-of-software-development-in-pictures.pdf - Schwarz, Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf -Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/codewords-and-confidants/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

If you're already struggling to hit targets, don't add more! Recommendations for improving performance without overcomplication. SHOW LINKS: - Tilted slider: p. 139 of https://itrevolution.com/agile-conversations/ - Metrics tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1418149716584501254 - Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/dont-add-more-metrics/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Squirrel rants about matrix management and then Jeffrey calms him down by describing self-managing team structures that work better. They agree that multiplying responsibilities and separating them from the place where the work happens is a bad idea. SHOW LINKS: - How Shirt / What Shirt episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-two-shirt-solution-for-agile-chaos - Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/tech-lead-team-lead/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel tweets about isolated data-science teams, and Jeffrey tells stories of close collaboration between engineers and data scientists, even pairing! SHOW LINKS: - Squirrel's tweet: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1411980591617163267 - DataOps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataOps - Patrick Debois: http://www.jedi.be/ - Transcript: https://agileconversations.com/blog/datasciops/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Squirrel and Jeffrey shock a leader they're coaching by telling him to aim to increase complaints. It turns out that Amy Edmondson, ALCOA, and Toyota all agree with this seemingly counterintuitive advice. SHOW LINKS: - Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7023600-teaming - Andon light: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_light - Toyota Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html - Paul O’Neill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_H._O%27Neill - Idealcast episode 7: The Topography of Problems and the Importance of Distributed Problem Solving (Part 2) : https://itrevolution.com/the-idealcast-episode-7/ - Invite to the Agile Conversations Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/agile-conversations/shared_invite/zt-nuw1f84n-62CQworE~PpuR7WOUCZp4g --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Our old friend Chris Clearfield explains how he helps leaders identify and fix overwhelmingly complicated organisational problems. SHOW LINKS: - Chris’s workshop: https://pages.chrisclearfield.com/webinar/?sc_ref=55TfdIkc52FEI1EH - Chris’s email, site, and podcast: chris@chrisclearfield.com , https://www.chrisclearfield.com/ , https://www.chrisclearfield.com/podcast - Meltdown: https://www.meltdownbook.net/ - Previous episode with Chris: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/meltdown-part-i - Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Jeffrey and Squirrel show you how to use "paradoxical agenda-setting" to help ensure a team or organisation is really committed—or to find out why commitment would be a very bad idea! - Invite to the Agile Conversations Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/agile-conversations/shared_invite/zt-nuw1f84n-62CQworE~PpuR7WOUCZp4g - Paradoxical Agenda-Setting: https://feelinggood.com/tag/paradoxical-agenda-setting/ - Chris Clearfield: https://www.chrisclearfield.com/podcast - The Uncanny Valley of a Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ - Collaboration Theater: https://twitter.com/Grundlefleck/status/1398282369577230336 --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
A reader asks whether following the "bad idea" advice from last episode can lead to an unrecoverable local maximum, sentencing the team to endless patches and obscure bugs. Squirrel and Jeffrey have different takes on this based on their ancient greybeard stories. SHOW LINKS: - The Power of a Bad Idea episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-power-of-a-bad-idea - Local maximum: https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/functions-maxima-minima.html - The Strangler Fig Application: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerFigApplication.html --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Drawing lessons from Squirrel's driving test experiences, we explore why making a cultural or process change that's intentionally suboptimal can be surprisingly valuable. SHOW LINKS: - Driving Lessons episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/driving-lessons - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Kaizen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We start with a listener question on roles in an agile team, but quickly divert to Squirrel's "driftwood theory" of hiring and role specification, which turns out to be based on effective conversations and flexible problem solving (what a surprise!) SHOW LINKS: - We're the Aliens episode: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/we're-the-aliens-three-ways-to-seek-safety/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

How giving work to your boss positions you as the driving force, not the bottleneck—and more methods and mindset shifts to change the perception "gee, that tech team sure is slow". SHOW LINKS: - Squirrel's workshop on “Decoding Tech Talk”: https://www.douglassquirrel.com/resources.html - Nudge book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_(book) - Radiate Intent, Elizabeth Ayer: https://medium.com/@ElizAyer/dont-ask-forgiveness-radiate-intent-d36fd22393a3 - Art of Action, Stephen Bungay: https://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We discover that we've given opposing advice about asking "Why" questions—including in our chapter on the Why Conversation! It turns out that a big factor in the success or failure of a "why" is your intent, and that (as usual) greater transparency can avoid misunderstandings and help you find new options. SHOW LINKS: - Never Split the Difference: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the-difference - Yes, And - https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/yes-and/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Jeffrey tells us stories about three ways agile teams deal with uncertainty: seeking cover by looking to a single source of truth, or seeking similar cover by following a process, or seeking true psychological safety through conversations. We analyse why the first two often don't work and why the third is so threatening to adopt. SHOW LINKS: - Psychological safety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8 - Argyris on defensive routines: http://www.clevelandconsultinggroup.com/articles/theories-in-action.php - Apollo 13 scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry55--J4_VQ - Westrum cultures: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1765804/pdf/v013p0ii22.pdf --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
The fabulous Johanna Rothman, author of 18 books on tech and management, joins us for part II to describe what modern management is and how empathy, safety, and purpose can motivate and inspire your agile team. SHOW LINKS: - Johanna: jrothman.com , createadaptablelife.com - Behind Closed Doors: https://www.jrothman.com/books/behind-closed-doors-secrets-of-great-management/ - Modern Management Made Easy: https://leanpub.com/b/modernmanagementmadeeasy - Bob Sutton on friction: https://www.bobsutton.net/friction-project/ - Lindsay Holmwood on management as a career change: https://fractio.nl/2014/09/19/not-a-promotion-a-career-change/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
The fabulous Johanna Rothman, author of 18 books on tech and management, joins us to describe what modern management is and how empathy, safety, and purpose can motivate and inspire your agile team. SHOW LINKS: - Johanna: jrothman.com , createadaptablelife.com - Behind Closed Doors: https://www.jrothman.com/books/behind-closed-doors-secrets-of-great-management/ - Modern Management Made Easy: https://leanpub.com/b/modernmanagementmadeeasy - Bob Sutton on friction: https://www.bobsutton.net/friction-project/ - Lindsay Holmwood on management as a career change: https://fractio.nl/2014/09/19/not-a-promotion-a-career-change/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

After last week's episode on ahas in 2020, we describe what we're planning to do to help people do the work, move faster, and be productive. SHOW LINKS - 2020 Ahas episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/our-biggest-a-has-of-2020 - London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Episode on Conversational Dojos: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/conversational-dojos - Round Tuit: https://www.quantumenterprises.co.uk/roundtuit/traditional_round_tuits.htm Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We describe our big ahas of a weird and somehow still educational year, including insights on productivity, deliberate practise, and speed of change. SHOW LINKS - Software Factory to Feature Factory episode: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/software-factory-to-feature-factory/ - London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Blog post on Conversational Dojos: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/conversational-dojos/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel and Jeffrey deconstruct the defensive reasoning behind planning 110% of velocity in each sprint. Hidden conversations and assumptions abound, including the perception that this is normal, that the team will do more as a result, and that we know what 110% is in the first place. SHOW LINKS: - Slack book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123715.Slack Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel tells the story of a client who was asked an impossible question about agile team productivity, and we explore why such impossible questions are actually valuable and worth investigating with curiosity. SHOW LINKS: - Kobayashi Maru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru - Mu: http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/m/mu.html https://wiki.c2.com/?MuAnswer --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
A listener asks us to explain the link between "normalisation of deviance" and fear. Using examples like an agile team dropping its retrospectives, or NASA launching the Space Shuttle in too-cold conditions, we illustrate how being afraid can drive a group away from its espoused norms and toward dangerous alternatives, and conversely how you can use examples of "normalised deviance" to find and mitigate hidden fears. SHOW LINKS: - Idealcast with Gene Kim: https://itrevolution.com/the-idealcast-episode-14/ - Mitigating fears through expressing emotion on an oil rig: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/17/482203447/invisibilia-how-learning-to-be-vulnerable-can-make-life-safer - The Fear Conversation chapter discussion: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/fear-the-original-sin-of-unproductive-conversations/ - Previous episode on normalisation of deviance: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/overcoming-normalisation-of-deviance --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel tells the story of an agile team faced with seemingly irresistible demands, and describes how switching to the "Yes, And" stance (originating from improvisational theatre) helped them find a solution that worked for everyone. SHOW LINKS: - "Yes, And" in improv and brainstorming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and… - CTO Craft: How to Talk with Your CEO and Other Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwg-x5X3450 - Dr. Burns's Disarming Technique: https://feelinggood.com/tag/disarming-technique/ - Our MIT Sloan Management Review article on the Walled Garden: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/solving-the-problem-of-siloed-it-in-organizations/ - Nonviolent communication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication - Six thinking hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We look at two elements - Collaboration and Reflection - of the Heart of Agile approach developed by our friend Alistair Cockburn, and illustrate how conscious and attentive listening and reflection on emotions make a big difference for agile teams. SHOW LINKS: - Motherhood and Apple Pie: https://hotidioms.com/2012/02/21/motherhood-and-apple-pie/ - Collaboration Cards: https://www.collaborationcards.com , https://web.archive.org/web/20170621140230/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Collaboration+Cards - Collaboration Cards article: http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/702523/26767147/1451886700677/201601-Cockburn.pdf?token=oTGZ9syVsnh4d%2BtW8ggVolCglEM%3D - Collaboration Cards course: https://www.heartofagile.academy/courses/using-collaboration-cards - Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html - Thanks for the Feedback: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114120-thanks-for-the-feedback - Previous episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/alistair-cockburn-heart-of-the-heart-of-agile --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We look at two elements - Collaboration and Reflection - of the Heart of Agile approach developed by our friend Alistair Cockburn, and illustrate how conscious and attentive listening and reflection on emotions make a big difference for agile teams. SHOW LINKS: - Heart of Agile tweet: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair/status/1312407646364991489 - Alistair Cockburn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Cockburn - Conversational Dojo kit: https://itrevolution.com/build-agile-conversations-with-conversational-dojo-webinar/ - Active Listening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening - London NVC Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Nonviolent-Communication-NVC-London/ - London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Ladder of Inference: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/a-sense-of-security-gained-lost - Above the Line: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/walking-the-line-emotional-unawareness --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We are joined by the wise and thoughtful Misha Glouberman, who organises Internet cocktail parties and better, more human-friendly meetings for organisations and teams—and the two turn out to have a lot in common. SHOW LINKS: - Misha: http://www.mishaglouberman.com - Trampoline Hall: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/trampoline-hall/id1190668782?mt=2 - Internet Cocktail Party Instructions: https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-run-a-zoom-cocktail-party-and-have-better-classes-conferences-and-meetings-too-dc2c5b58f8be - Gather.town: https://gather.town/ - CITCON: https://citconf.com --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel is gobsmacked by user stories that appear to be about aliens, who want "intuitive interfaces" and "modern technology", where customers from Earth want "fun with my kids" or "relief from boredom". Jeffrey reminds us that such stories can lead to conversations that tease out the emotions and the human stories behind the words. Both agree that once we revise our stories to create empathy, we also allow the team to discover amazing new ways to solve problems. SHOW LINKS: - Personas: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/personas-why-and-how-you-should-use-them - User stories as conversation promises: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story - Feature factory: https://medium.com/hackernoon/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-44a5b938d6a2 - User Stories Gone Wrong: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/user-stories-gone-wrong/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Jessica Katz is an agile coach who uses curiosity and conversational skills to help agile teams perform better. She explains why you need to liberate the elephant in the room, how you can do that through nonviolent communication, and how one person saying "good morning" unlocked better performance for a whole team. SHOW LINKS: - Jessica Katz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeskatz/ https://liberatedelephant.com/events/2020/10 - Agile Ireland talk: https://www.agileleanireland.org - “Creating Boundaries, Practicing Curiosity, and Making Requests” - Gallup poll: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/284180/factors-driving-record-high-employee-engagement.aspx - B Corporation: https://bcorporation.net/ - Dare to Lead: https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/ - Nonviolent Communication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Jeffrey is inspired by Jon Smart and the DOES Virtual conference to discuss homeostasis as a source of resistance to change, and Squirrel tells a client story about curiosity as a way to help a complex system adapt. SHOW LINKS: - DOES Virtual "Las Vegas": https://events.itrevolution.com/virtual/ - Jon Smart: https://itrevolution.com/sooner-safer-happier/ - Complex Adaptive Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_adaptive_system - Paradoxical Agenda-Setting: https://feelinggood.com/tag/paradoxical-agenda-setting/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Following last week's praise of Taylorism, a suitable approach for making complicated problems simple, this week we look at a similar revolution in democratising innovation and creating a learning organisation—by uncovering hidden complexity and removing status as a barrier to discovery of error. SHOW LINKS: Team of Teams: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22529127-team-of-teams - Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Art of Action: https://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - High Velocity Edge: http://www.thehighvelocityedge.com/ - Don’t be a Zombie Organisation: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dont-be-a-zombie-organiza_b_3306513 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6kqnQZuIHg - Normalization of Deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance - Status as obstacle to learning: https://pedestrianobservations.com/2020/09/19/learning-worst-industry-practices/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Frederick Taylor gets a bad rap - even from us, as we had a lot to say in Agile Conversations about how his methods have been misapplied in "software factories". But in the right circumstances, his ideas about repeatable, simple processes have a lot of value, and can lead directly to valuable automation opportunities. We describe examples including how continuous integration developed from an arcane art to a routine process along Taylorist lines. SHOW LINKS: - Taylorism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Team of Teams: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22529127-team-of-teams - IdealCast: https://itrevolution.com/the-idealcast-episode-11/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Both of us learned to improve our conversations through regular practise with others - and today we describe how you can do that too, by organising a Conversational Dojo using our (free!) kits and videos. SHOW LINKS: - Free Dojo kit: https://itrevolution.com/conversational-dojo-kit-free-download/ - Conference talk on conversational dojos: https://events.itrevolution.com/virtual-programming/ - London Organizational Learning meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Action Design: https://actiondesign.com/ - Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

One of Squirrel's clients finds herself "harping on" a particular point in her technical team, and is frustrated that behaviour doesn't change. Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how this and other "tells" indicate that you're stuck and how to come up with a pre-planned action to address these that will help you be curious and get to improved performance. SHOW LINKS: - Self-sealing: https://pages.uoregon.edu/mgall/designmemo%233.htm - Bozo bit: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-bozo-bit-and-duelling-ladders --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Reacting to an insightful comment from Elisabeth Hendrickson, Squirrel and Jeffrey have a minor tussle over how to interpret the idea of "reflecting and adapting". They eventually agree that adapting works, but only if your definition of "team" is broad enough. SHOW LINKS: Idealcast with Gene Kim and Elisabeth Hendrickson: https://itrevolution.com/idealcast/idealcast-episode-3/ Elisabeth Hendrickson: https://twitter.com/testobsessed Single Loop vs Double Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-loop_learning CITCON: https://citconf.com/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A client tells Squirrel about a "horrible" meeting where his team accused him of pushing them to overwork and take shortcuts, but we discover it was actually a great breakthrough. Learning is the detection and correction of error, and in this case, Squirrel's client discovered a major cultural problem that he's now able to correct. We reflect on why feeling horrible can be a great indicator of valuable learning. SHOW LINKS: Burn up chart: https://www.modernanalyst.com/Careers/InterviewQuestions/tabid/128/ID/3433/What-is-a-Burn-Up-Chart-and-how-does-it-differ-from-a-Burn-Down-Chart.aspx Kathryn Schulz on being wrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QleRgTBMX88 Theory X and Theory Y: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-cannot-learn-damn-thing-from-semco-toyota-niels-pflaeging/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
The Shoe Principle says that if you buy a pair of shoes, you have to get rid of one. We hadn't heard of it until a client brought it up as a way to introduce a new process without overloading the team. We see lots of places where agile teams could apply the Shoe Principle, including alerting systems that no one looks at or standups that have become rote and useless. Like Marie Kondo, we suggest asking whether each team activity "sparks joy", and if not, try parking it for a week to see if you really need it. SHOW LINKS: Marie Kondo: https://konmari.com Normalization of deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance Agile Retrospectives book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/721338.Agile_Retrospectives --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Squirrel describes two shirts he makes for clients, the How Shirt and the What Shirt, that provide a brief and memorable description of the roles of a technical leader and a product leader respectively, reducing chaos and confusion in agile teams. You may not need job descriptions if four words on a shirt suffice, and as a bonus, the shirts can help your team define what they are doing and how they are working toward business goals—and importantly, what they are *not* doing. SHOW LINKS: - Negative space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We welcome agile thinker and experienced CTO Chris Parsons, whose blog Delivery Doubled makes the case that cookie-cutter agile approaches don't work. We discuss why out-of-the-box agile training doesn't work, whether we'll have figured out the "right" way to agile a few hundreds of years hence, and how one client discovered that everything Chris was teaching wouldn't work for them and what he and they did about it. Free webinar upcoming with Squirrel and Jeffrey on Monday 17th August - see https://itrevolution.com/conversational-dojo-webinar-sign-up/ SHOW LINKS: Chris Parsons, Delivery Doubled: https://deliverydoubled.com The Mundanity of Excellence: https://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-mundanity-of-excellence-an-ethnographic-report-on-stratification-and-olympic-swimmers Dan North, Accelerated Agile: https://dannorth.net/courses/accelerated-agile/ Martin Fowler State of Agile podcast episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/fowlers-state-of-agile-2018-part-one Squirrel/Jeffrey article on agile training: https://trainingindustry.com/blog/it-and-technical-training/agile-training-isnt-enough-the-key-is-conversations-not-rituals/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel describes a client of his that is "thrashing"—trying to do so many different things that they aren't getting anything finished. We reflect on why this happens, including the idea that being busy feels good while increasing focus can mean disrupting comfortable routines. We suggest asking "why can't we finish this today?" as a forcing mechanism for discovering bottlenecks and alternative approaches. SHOW LINKS: - Theory of Constraints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints - Domenica DeGrandis, Making Work Visible: https://itrevolution.com/book/making-work-visible/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We're joined by Steve Berez, partner at Bain and co-author of Doing Agile Right: Transformation Without Chaos. Steve tells us some stories from his 30-year consulting career, illustrating missteps he's seen in digital transformations like "You Folks Do Agile" and "Agile as a Quick Fix". He advocates the metric of "team fun" as the best way to determine whether you're doing agile right. SHOW LINKS: - Steve's book and other material: https://www.bain.com/agile - Article on the Agile C-Suite: https://hbr.org/2020/05/the-agile-c-suite - Previous podcast episode mentioning Cargo Cult Agile: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/software-factory-to-feature-factory/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
A reader points out that our example conversations often show people masking emotions, but we don't say as much about what to do when someone is being rude or when you yourself feel your emotions are out of control. We suggest ways to increase your sense of safety with an escape plan, but also demonstrate methods for staying in the conversation and learning from it even if it's challenging to do so. SHOW LINKS: - Stratechery 2x2 chart: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ - Brene Brown: https://brenebrown.com/ - LOL meetup on working with emotions: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/events/xbtmspybcfbgc/ - Nonviolent Communication and receiving empathetically: http://laurelandassociates.com/tip-319-nonviolent-communication-10-receiving-with-empathy/ - Dr. David Burns talking with your EAR: https://daviddburnsmd.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/the-five-secrets-v-1.pdf - Emotions in decision-making: https://hbr.org/2006/01/decisions-and-desire --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We respond to an article on user stories that has some good points (user stories are prompts for conversations) and, in our view, misses the mark on others (claiming that tasks are better than user stories for technical work). This leads us to propose "human stories" which may not involve traditional users but do involve humans who are affected by the software we're building in some way (partners, investors, regulators, and more). Finally, we apply these ideas to answer a question from a listener on handling complex technical changes with user stories. SHOW LINKS: User stories article: https://www.lullabot.com/articles/not-everything-is-a-user-story Rant on non-functional requirements: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/squirrels-rant Agile Manifesto episode on face-to-face interaction: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/efficiency-effectiveness-through-face-to-face-conversation --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Clarke Ching has been studying bottlenecks and constraints for thirty years, and has lots of stories and insights for us. He explains why bottlenecks are important, why your developers should always be your bottleneck, and how to explain the theory of constraints using a herd of buffalo. SHOW LINKS: Our Sloan Management Review article: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/solving-the-problem-of-siloed-it-in-organizations/ Clarke online: https://www.clarkeching.com/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarkeching/ Free book from Clarke: https://share.toc.guide Theory of Constraints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints Sixth Sense movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense Cheers TV show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Jeffrey and Squirrel had very different experiences at recent tech conferences including DOES London/Virtual. We describe what worked and what didn't for us, and how listeners can apply the lessons to their own remote attendance at conferences and meetings. SHOW LINKS: Audiobook Companion at IT Revolution site: https://itrevolution.com/agile-conversations Podcasts on remote working and affordances: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/active-listening-for-remote-working/ https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/missingaffordances/ Alistair Cockburn's People and Methodologies in Software Development: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253582591_People_and_Methodologies_in_Software_Development Links from DOES London Virtual: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FsWkeoweWDPYjDDbukCnH4Hj3LLRV3RobIUKa2qWdwk/edit DOES London Virtual Slack archive: https://devopsenterprise-archive.itrevolution.com/ask-the-speaker-keynote/2020-06-25 Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/lessons-for-remote-work-from-does-london-virtual/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Coming to the final chapter of Agile Conversations, we look at how leaders can not only provide accountability for others, but be accountable themselves, including stories from the early days of agile and from today's clients. SHOW LINKS: - XP Explained book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67833.Extreme_Programming_Explained - Rapid Development book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93892.Rapid_Development - Dynamics of Software Development ("don't flip the bozo bit"): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1416996.Dynamics_of_Software_Development - Nurtureshock: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6496815-nurtureshock - Greenshifting: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/greenshifting - Kent Beck Ease at Work: https://www.infoq.com/news/2007/04/beck-ease-at-work/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeA4CBInqKo - The Art of Action: https://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Radiating Intent: https://medium.com/@ElizAyer/dont-ask-forgiveness-radiate-intent-d36fd22393a3 - Accountability and Compassion: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/mutual-learning-model-accountability-and-compassion Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/accountability-leaders-are-accountable-too/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Moving on to Chapter 6 of Agile Conversations, it's time to talk about commitment. Not engagement, which we argue is insufficient to produce effective results, only enthusiasm that is far too often misdirected out of confusion about what important words mean and how to measure progress. We offer specific tools for effective commitments and hear a story about a company that created a pile of bones instead of a Walking Skeleton. SHOW LINKS: - Events we're speaking at soon, including IT Pro Live and DOES London: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/events/ - Domain-Driven Design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design - Big Book of Concepts: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-book-concepts - Specification by Example: https://gojko.net/books/specification-by-example/ - Walking Skeleton: https://wiki.c2.com/?WalkingSkeleton Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/commitment-is-not-enough/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Although we talk about joint design a lot, we haven't managed to do an episode on it. As we get to chapter 4 in our tour through Agile Conversations, it's time to rectify that! We focus on a common error that we didn't cover in depth in the book: how trying to "convince" someone through advocacy fails. Using the Four Rs, we roleplay an ineffective advocacy-heavy conversation about tech team execution, and then revise it to increase curiosity, reduce defensiveness and achieve greater internal commitment. SHOW LINKS: - Getting to Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes - David Burns on (not) trying to help: https://feelinggood.com/2019/10/28/164-how-to-help-and-how-not-to-help/ - Previous episodes and blog posts on joint design: - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/mutual-learning-model-part-one - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-ii - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iii - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iv - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-v Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/why-finding-the-balance-for-joining/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We're up to chapter 4 of Agile Conversations: "Fear: The Default Feeling". We look at why defaulting to fear was a successful adaptation for our ancestors and why it serves us poorly now, for example leading to the phenomenon of "greenshifting" that can lead to catastrophic misunderstandings. We explain why starting sentences with the phrase "I'm afraid that..." can help you expose and reduce fear in your team. SHOW LINKS: - Previous episodes and blog posts on fear and related techniques: - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/overcoming-normalisation-of-deviance - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/removing-the-blame-frame - https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2016/04/08/coherence-busting-explained/ - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/greenshifting - Greenshifting: https://www.drdobbs.com/dr-dobbs-agile-newsletter/191600661 Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/fear-the-original-sin-of-unproductive-conversations/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
We reflect on chapter 3 of Agile Conversations, all about building trust as the first step to a successful agile team. We respond to a reader who had an interesting understanding of the "Test-Driven Development for People" technique and relate the Trust Conversation to vulnerability, exploratory testing, and the painful process of learning. SHOW LINKS: - Previous episodes on trust: - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-first-thing-to-build-is-trust - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/be-predictable-to-build-trust - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/test-driven-development-for-people - Squirrel's video on TDD for people: https://www.douglassquirrel.com/how-i-work.html - Kristine Casas blog post: - https://testkeis.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/read-agile-conversations/ - https://medium.com/@rocketkeis/on-the-ladder-of-inference-64493f7f8e00 - via https://softwaretestingweekly.com/issues/20 Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/a-sense-of0security-gained-and-lost/ --- Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Continuing our tour of our new book Agile Conversations, we come to our chapter on the foundational method for conversational analysis, the Four Rs. We briefly explain the value of conversational analysis, and share our observation that even highly motivated people who know how much it can help their agile teams find it hard to actually pull out a piece of paper and do an analysis. The reasons for this are very similar to the reasons we need the analysis in the first place—our cognitive biases fool us into thinking we don't need the help, others do. SHOW LINKS: - Extract of Agile Conversations: https://itrevolution.com/conversations-humanitys-secret-weapon/ - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Previous episode on the Four Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - James Clear, Atomic Habits: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits - London Organisational Learning meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Slack for Conversational Transformation: https://join.slack.com/t/agile-conversations/shared_invite/zt-e7j2fbet-jIjExF5HpWqMWpTJ1RfEfw Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/how-to-improve-and-why-you-wont/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
The first chapter of Agile Conversations is all about people-centred development, and we tell the story of our own journey from over-determined software factory to today's feature factories, with similar Taylorist theories of management in both. In today's episode, we go into more depth on the causes of this tragic journey, touching on old and new topics like Theories X and Y, the Cynefin framework, and why there isn't a JIRA plugin for conversational quality. SHOW LINKS: - Taylorism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management - Theories X and Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - 12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory by John Cutler: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Cargo cults: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult and https://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Cargo-Cult-Agile.html - Cockburn on people: https://web.archive.org/web/20140329203655/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear,+first-order+components+in+software+development - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/software-factory-to-feature-factory/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list!…
Once again we speak with a fellow author - Mik Kersten. His book Project to Product explains, among many other things, why you shouldn't assign developers to more than one value stream—and what a value stream is, anyway! SHOW LINKS: - Mik Kersten: https://projecttoproduct.org - Project to Product: https://projecttoproduct.org/about-the-book/ - IT Revolution discount on 11 May 2020: https://twitter.com/ITRevBooks *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out 12th May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Our book Agile Conversations is nearly out (publication date is 12 May 2020)! We reflect on how we struggled with agile adoption and accountability in our teams and how we learnt to study and improve our conversations to get dramatically better results and internal commitment, eventually leading to us writing Agile Conversations to help spread the word about these techniques. Transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/road-to-agile-conversations/ SHOW LINKS: - Twitter debate with Benjamin Mitchell: https://twitter.com/benjaminm/status/494397820 - Schwarz, Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Weinberg on Writing: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/302021.Weinberg_on_Writing Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/road-to-agile-conversations/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We reach into the archives for an interview with Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, authors of the definitive guide to optimizing software team structures: Team Topologies. SHOW LINKS: - Team Topologies book: https://teamtopologies.com/ - Webinar: https://itrevolution.com/webinar-sign-up/ - One-day discount info on the IT Revolution Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/ITRevBooks/status/1252854902214340608 Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/team-topologies/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We welcome a guest today - Mark Davis, the Cultural Negotiator. He uses a "cultural intelligence framework" to suggest how one might approach difficult negotiations with customers and team members, in a way that is sensitive to their values and capabilities. SHOW LINKS: - Mark Davis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theculturalnegotiator/ and https://culturalq.com - Cultural intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_intelligence and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercultural_competence - The OODA loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/cultural-negotiator/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
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Troubleshooting Agile

What we're doing these days is not "remote working"—we have people ill, kids at home, and no option to work from a cafe. But even more than this, most of us haven't put in place alignment and accountability mechanisms, and we're operating on shared understanding from March that is going to expire very soon if it hasn't already. We discuss these and other challenges and briefly point to solutions that we've seen work, like briefing and back briefing from Bungay's Art of Action. Transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/pandemicproductivity/ SHOW LINKS: - TBD blog post on remote working: https://www.tbd.community/en/a/what-you-are-doing-not-remote-work-it-coping-global-emergency - Tweets on remote working: https://twitter.com/neilmwebb/status/1245012958415073282 https://twitter.com/techgirl1908/status/1246459512069820418 - Art of Action summary covering briefing and back briefing: https://portal.netobjectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Bungay_ArtOfAction_ChapterRecaps_Article.pdf - Sinek, Start With Why: https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/ Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/pandemicproductivity/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Switching to remote working means big shifts in the communication patterns of our teams, and the tools we use to do that make some things harder and others easier—they have different "affordances". We explore these differences and suggest strategies for better effective collaboration. SHOW LINKS: - Classic book on affordances: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Design_of_Everyday_Things - Concept Board: https://app.conceptboard.com - Sococo: https://www.sococo.com/ Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/missingaffordances/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com…
Active Listening is very useful for normal conversations and meetings, but even more valuable when everyone's remote. We describe the technique, give listeners a chance to practise it, and give refinements like the Active Listening Relay for group discussions. SHOW LINKS: - Xavier Amador and LEAP: http://dramador.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnbOizw_zS0 - Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the-difference - Six Thinking Hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/active-listening-for-remote-working/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
With a pandemic raging around the world, how can you and your agile team make sense of the world around you and adjust accordingly? The Cynefin framework gives you a way to categorise known and unknown information and figure out how to approach and change your work appropriately. We describe the framework (including how to pronounce Cynefin!) and explain how you might use it to help your agile team cope and even thrive in a challenging environment. SHOW LINKS: - The Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Detailed Cynefin drawing by Edwin Stoop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework#/media/File:Cynefin_framework_by_Edwin_Stoop.jpg - James Gleick Chaos book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos:_Making_a_New_Science Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/cynefinsensemaking/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

When a client tells Squirrel "of course there are no releases on Fridays", it's a red rag to a bull. After Squirrel rants for a bit, he calms down and we argue strongly for releasing often, even when it hurts—in fact particularly when it's difficult!—to "bring the pain forward" (Jez Humble). SHOW LINKS: - Jez Humble on doing painful things more often: https://continuousdelivery.com/ - Dr. David Burns on anxiety and exposure: https://feelinggood.com/tag/exposure/ Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/doreleaseonfridays/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
Following up from last week, we propose some ways to become emotionally aware, which we argue again is a key skill for success in an agile team. We suggest enriching your feeling vocabulary, self-distancing through disciplined recording of your conversations, and using check-in methods to spread the practise across your team. SHOW LINKS: - Center for Nonviolent Communication Feelings Inventory: https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/feelings-inventory - David Burns Feeling Chart: https://feelinggood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Feeling-Words-Chart-with-Five-Secrets-v-2.pdf - The Four Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - Check In from the Core Protocols: https://liveingreatness.com/files/core-protocols-3.03.html#check-in Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/emotionalawareness/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Prompted by a listener, we look at a tool from Jim Dethmer called The Line. This leads us to discuss the value of being emotionally self-aware with a variety of examples from our recent consulting practise and bringing in several tools for increasing this awareness, including Six Thinking Hats, the Ladder of Inference, and the Core Protocols. SHOW LINKS: - Jim Dethmer on "Leading Above the Line": https://fs.blog/jim-dethmer/ - Naive realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism - Feeling Good podcast on "Hidden Emotion": https://feelinggood.com/2020/02/24/181-live-therapy-with-sarah-shrinks-have-feelings-too/ - London Organisational Learning meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Ladder of Inference: https://www.foresightdesign.org/blog/2017/12/21/what-does-the-ladder-of-inference-even-mean - Six Thinking Hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats - Core Protocols check-in: https://liveingreatness.com/files/core-protocols-3.03.html#check-in - Past episode on transparency and curiosity: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/mutual-learning-model-transparency-and-curiosity - Past episode on the 4 Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

How do you know if a software team is any good? How can you compare teams and the commercial value they are producing? And what are metrics good for anyway? We discuss these, especially the latter, concluding that metrics are triggers for questions not answers in themselves. We look at burn-up and burn-down charts and cycle time, though none of these are fully satisfying. SHOW LINKS: - Phases of team activity: https://image.slidesharecdn.com/2015-150507130312-lva1-app6891/95/agile-is-for-wimps-toplevel-software-development-in-the-21st-century-19-638.jpg?cb=1431003851 - Burn-up and burn-down charts: https://stayrelevant.globant.com/en/why-you-should-use-burn-up-chart-in-agile-instead/ - Cycle time: https://codeclimate.com/blog/software-engineering-cycle-time/ - Momentum vs urgency: http://testobsessed.com/2020/02/momentum-urgency/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on conversationaltransformation.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A listener asks us what to do when a story takes longer than one sprint. Our suggestions involve turpentine, slicing elephants and walking skeletons. SHOW LINKS: - Story splitting: https://agileforall.com/new-story-splitting-resource/ - Elephant carpaccio: https://alistair.cockburn.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Elephant-Carpaccio-exercise-instructions.pdf - Walking Skeleton: https://gojko.net/2014/06/09/forget-the-walking-skeleton-put-it-on-crutches/ - Feature thinning: http://www.agilekiwi.com/other/agile/feature-thinning/ - Unmade: http://unmade.com - Releasing 50x/day: http://timothyfitz.com/2009/02/10/continuous-deployment-at-imvu-doing-the-impossible-fifty-times-a-day/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

We tell the story of a company demanding that developers finish a huge project "so they can test it just once", and then explain why this is only a good idea if you intend to shield yourself from all learning. SHOW LINKS: - The Goal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_(novel) - Externalities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel tells the story of the most painful manual testing experience he's ever been part of, and we discuss the value of manual testing, how humans differ from machines, and approaches to application verification that don't involve torture. SHOW LINKS: - Cockburn's "Characterizing people as non-linear 1st order components in software development": https://ameyakarve.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/characterizing-people-as-non-linear-1st-order-components-in-software-development-cockburn-us/ - The Unicorn Project: https://itrevolution.com/the-unicorn-project/ - Testing vs Checking: https://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/856 - Exploratory testing: https://www.satisfice.com/exploratory-testing - Explore It!: https://pragprog.com/book/ehxta/explore-it - CITCON: https://citconf.com/ - CruiseControl: http://cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Squirrel's client is struggling to deliver because product managers are a bottleneck. The Theory of Constraints gives us a framework for addressing these problems - and typing faster or adding developers are not part of the solution! SHOW LINKS: - The Goal: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113934.The_Goal - Theory of Constraints; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints - Subordinating to the constraint: http://www.sixsigmatrainingconsulting.com/six-sigma-tools/3rd-step-subordinate-all-other-tasks-to-the-constraint/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

No matter how safe you make your retrospectives and other discussions, if your team don't have the skills to share information, you're running a substantial risk that someone will withhold information and you'll make a less than informed decision. We discuss ways to acquire and use information-sharing skills yourself and with your team. SHOW LINKS: - Blog post on withholding information: https://softwarelifecycle.wordpress.com/2020/01/16/withholding-information/ - Google on psychological safety: https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/understanding-team-effectiveness/steps/foster-psychological-safety/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We talk to Mirco Hering about agile dogmatism, the value of diversity, how to experiment with your processes, using stories to drive change, and his book Devops for the Modern Enterprise. SHOW LINKS: - Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Devops for the Modern Enterprise: https://itrevolution.com/book/devops_modern_enterprise/ - Mirco: https://twitter.com/mircohering *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
A special episode - audio of our talk on "conversational transformation" at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit. Practical steps you can take today to get your team on track to a successful digital/agile/devops transformation, using effective if difficult conversations. - Video of the talk and info on the book: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
After Squirrel argued passionately in a previous episode that non-functional requirements should be eliminated, we invite medtech expert and portfolio CTO Alex Hudson to visit and describe why he finds NFRs helpful. It turns out that the two positions are closer together than we might have thought, and we get fascinating stories about medical device design and 30-second page loads along the way. SHOW LINKS: - Alex Hudson: https://twitter.com/ealexhudson and https://alexhudson.com/ - Previous rant episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/squirrels-rant - Twitter debate with Alex: https://twitter.com/douglassquirrel/status/1207400245002457090 - The "ilities": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-functional_requirement *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We review our holiday reading and watching plans for listeners who might want to join us in exploring lean and agile ideas over the break. We also list our top 5 episodes from 2019 and preview a few events planned for 2020. SHOW LINKS: - Ed Catmull on conversations and other challenges at Pixar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc - Kent Beck on throughput vs latency: https://medium.com/@kentbeck_7670/inefficient-efficiency-5b3ab5294791 - Mark Schwartz, War and Peace and IT: https://itrevolution.com/war-and-peace-and-it/ https://twitter.com/schwartz_cio - Subscribed by Tien Tzuo and Gabe Weisert.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscribed_(book) - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Lencioni : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21343.The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team - Lean Thinking by Womack and Jones: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/289467.Lean_Thinking - The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17255186-the-phoenix-project - The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44333183-the-unicorn-project - Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762542.The_Four_Steps_to_the_Epiphany - The Reflective Practitioner by Donald Schön : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29916803-the-reflective-practitioner - The Lean Startup by Eric Ries : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10127019-the-lean-startup - The Principles of Product Development Flow by Donald Reinertsen : https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6278270-the-principles-of-product-development-flow - Team Topologies by Skelton and Pais: https://itrevolution.com/team-topologies/ Top 5 episodes in 2019: 5. How to Detect Agile BS - Part 1 : https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-detect-agile-bs-part-1 4. Values of the Give Up Control Model : https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/values-of-the-give-up-control-model 3. Mutual Learning Model: Accountability and Compassion : https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/mutual-learning-model-accountability-and-compassion 2. Agile is Dead, Long Live Agile : https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/agile-is-dead-long-live-agile 1. Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part I : https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-i *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Squirrel gets hot under the collar about non-functional "requirements", and after he gets his rant off his chest, we discover NFRs are all too often just excuses to avoid a conversation. In addition, we touch on the "ilities", security, and ethical considerations for software developers. SHOW LINKS: - The "ilities": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-functional_requirement *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Mark Schwartz, author of War and Peace and IT, describes his experience in the CIO trenches, where low trust between "the business" and IT bogs the organisation down in lengthy acquisition processes and contract negotiations rather than delivering business objectives. We touch on value stream mapping, how to use devops and its relatives devsecops and finops, briefing and back briefing, and what we see as the root of the disconnect between business and tech, a lack of trust. SHOW LINKS: - Mark Schwartz, War and Peace and IT: https://itrevolution.com/war-and-peace-and-it/ https://twitter.com/schwartz_cio - Value Stream Map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-stream_mapping - Briefing and Back Briefing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Action-Leaders-between-Actions/dp/1857885597 *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Last week, Domenica DeGrandis talked with us about making work visible. Today, we distinguish that idea from a related one, that of making your *output* visible. How can your team show its results frequently? What symptoms indicate that this might help you? What results can you expect from showing meaningful business value often? SHOW LINKS: - Domenica's Making Work Visible book: https://itrevolution.com/book/making-work-visible/ - Lean Thinking: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Thinking-Banish-Create-Corporation/dp/0743231643 - Genchi Genbutsu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genchi_Genbutsu - Alistair Cockburn on Elephant Carpaccio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lNvr2RWbFo *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! New video of us at the Las Vegas Devops Enterprise Summit 2019 is now available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Sunday is the new Monday, and that’s a bad thing - says our guest today, Dominica DeGrandis, author of Making Work Visible. How can you move from default yes to an effective, smooth flow of work? Dominica addresses this question while touching on queueing theory, empathy, and hope! SHOW LINKS: - Dominica’s Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/dominicad - Domenica’s web site: https://ddegrandis.com/ - Kanban book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402/ref=asc_df_0984521402/ - Queueing theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queueing_theory - Paul Graham on Maker and Manager Schedules: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Have you ever "flipped the bozo bit" on someone, concluding that he or she is completely clueless and communication is hopeless? We tell some tales of bozo bits we've seen flipped, describe some causes and consequences including the idea of "duelling ladders", and suggest how to get out of the bozo bit trap. SHOW LINKS: - The Bozo Bit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozo_bit - Jim McCarthy's book on the Bozo Bit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dynamics-Software-Development-Jim-McCarthy/dp/1556158238 - Previous episode on the Ladder of Inference: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/introspection-with-the-ladder-of-inference - Fear is the Mind Killer: https://dune.fandom.com/wiki/Litany_Against_Fear - Squirrel and Jeffrey speaking on Conversational Transformation at DOES Las Vegas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMT_Tqzf_vc *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Today we finish our conversation with author, podcaster, and DevOps expert John Willis https://twitter.com/botchagalupe . John covers a wide variety of topics at lightning speed, including: SHA - a hash algorithm, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-1 CAB - Change Advisory Board, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change-advisory_board Jim Benson on Kanban - http://personalkanban.com/pk/about-us/team/jim-benson/ Andreesen on “software eating the world” - https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world/ Knight Capital disaster - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Capital_Group#2012_stock_trading_disruption CAMS - https://medium.com/@brunodelb/the-cams-model-to-better-understand-the-devops-movement-ffe6713c3fd7 Deming 14 points - https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_75.htm Peter Senge 5th Discipline - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Discipline Equifax breach - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49070596 Air France 447 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447 Sidney Dekker Murphy’s Law - http://raeda.com.au/murphys-law-is-wrong-everything-that-can-go-wrong-usually-goes-right/ David Foster Wallace “This is Water” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Water *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itrevolution.com/book/agile-conversations/ to pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Today we speak to author, podcaster, and DevOps expert John Willis https://twitter.com/botchagalupe . John covers a wide variety of topics at lightning speed, including: SHA - a hash algorithm, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-1 CAB - Change Advisory Board, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change-advisory_board Jim Benson on Kanban - http://personalkanban.com/pk/about-us/team/jim-benson/ Andreesen on “software eating the world” - https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world/ Knight Capital disaster - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Capital_Group#2012_stock_trading_disruption CAMS - https://medium.com/@brunodelb/the-cams-model-to-better-understand-the-devops-movement-ffe6713c3fd7 Deming 14 points - https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_75.htm Peter Senge 5th Discipline - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Discipline Equifax breach - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49070596 Air France 447 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447 Sidney Dekker Murphy’s Law - http://raeda.com.au/murphys-law-is-wrong-everything-that-can-go-wrong-usually-goes-right/ David Foster Wallace “This is Water” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Water *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itrevolution.com/book/agile-conversations/ to pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Listener Jamie let us know about a sequel to one of our favourite blog posts, John Cutler on the Feature Factory. We focus on just one of John's well-made points, the idea of lowering Work In Progress to improve throughput. We tell a story about on "death by spreadsheet" project management and the futile and counterproductive attempt to get utilisation to 100%. This brings us back to lean methods, kanban, and the Theory of Constraints. SHOW LINKS: - 12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Feature Factory 3 Years Later: https://amplitude.com/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-3-years-later - Kanban book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402 - The Goal: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0566086654 - Slack (the book not the software!): https://www.amazon.com/Slack-Getting-Burnout-Busywork-Efficiency/dp/0767907698 *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itrevolution.com/book/agile-conversations/ and get ready to pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Our new book is all about what people miss in their digital/agile/lean/devops transformations: cultural changes that underlie human-centred development and the conversations that can lead you to those changes. Inspired by the book Accelerate!, we look at Westrum's Three Cultures and reflect on how the culture you're in affects how you transform to the culture you want. SHOW LINKS: - Accelerate!: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Accelerate-Software-Performing-Technology-Organizations/dp/1942788339 - Westrum on Three Cultures: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1765804/pdf/v013p0ii22.pdf - Gale, Digital Helix: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Helix-Transform-Aspect-Organization/dp/1626344647 - Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X/ref=sr_1_1 - Previous episode on the 4 Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itrevolution.com/book/agile-conversations/ and get ready to pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Alistair Cockburn gets us thinking about how agile methods are spreading, even to non-software teams like sales. Further, we bring in the idea of Wardley Mapping to see how, ironically, this very spread can lead to the conclusion that agile development is headed for the dustbin, but conclude (phew!) that agile methods have a healthy future. Apologies for a minor audio problem about 12 minutes in. SHOW LINKS: - Alistair Cockburn says Agile isn't dead: https://heartofagile.com/agile-is-not-dead-quite-the-opposite/ - Moore, Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Sheridan, Joy, Inc.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joy-Inc-Built-Workplace-People/dp/1591847125 - Wardley Maps: https://www.slideshare.net/swardley/an-introduction-to-wardley-maps - Previous episode on Agile beyond software: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/agile-outside-software-teams - Heresy.io: https://heresy.io/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itrevolution.com/book/agile-conversations/ and get ready to pre-order! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Following on further from Avery Pennarun's intriguing article on "what executives do", we ask how, exactly, executives (and others!) can trigger action, if they are not themselves going to carry it out? It turns out we've covered our favourite technique for this before - Bungay's Briefing and Back Briefing - but this time we have a scoring checklist that can help you use the technique, and two new stories about successful and unsuccessful delegation. SHOW LINKS: - What do executives do, anyway? by Pennarun: https://apenwarr.ca/log/20190926 and Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21088425 - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Previous episode on Bungay: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/briefing-and-back-briefing *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We respond to an intriguing and dense article from Avery Pennarun about what executives do. He takes us back to Andy Grove’s classic High Output Management and we reflect on the leverage leaders can use, how they and their staff can fool themselves into thinking they have the right information, and a mindset exercise to help you find “unknown unknowns”. SHOW LINKS: - What do executives do, anyway? by Pennarun: https://apenwarr.ca/log/20190926 and Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21088425 - Andy Grove, High Output Management: https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Argyris, Organizational Traps: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8633384-organizational-traps - Unknown Unknowns, Rumsfeld: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We conclude our conversation with Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp and author of Shape Up, by asking him how the team functions without requiring code reviews or QA checks. Then he goes on to describe in detail their "hill" metaphor for progress measurement and why this method provides a useful narrative that goes way beyond sprint duration or story points. SHOW LINKS: - Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup/?ref=df - Daring Fireball intro to Shape Up: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up - Extreme Programming Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Petition the King: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/petitiontheking/ - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We continue chatting with Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp and author of Shape Up. Ryan explains the "shaping" and "betting" processes in more detail, including who does the various roles and what is crucial to get right when you set up a design-and-build system like the one they advocate. SHOW LINKS: - Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup/?ref=df - Daring Fireball intro to Shape Up: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up - Extreme Programming Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Petition the King: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/petitiontheking/ - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We start our conversation with Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp, by asking him to help us understand how their Shape Up process works and how they developed it. He explains how the fear of not shipping drove their movement to frequent delivery of carefully designed (or "shaped") features, why their teams avoid single-page apps to ensure designers can make the maximum contribution, and why they have neither front-end devs nor back-end specialists. SHOW LINKS: - Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup/?ref=df - Daring Fireball intro to Shape Up: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up - Extreme Programming Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Petition the King: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/petitiontheking/ - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Squirrel adds to last week's story, describing how being transparent and curious helped him uncover a conflict that helped lead to insight and better alternatives. SHOW LINKS: - The HiPPO effect: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/10/26/data-driven-decision-making-beware-of-the-hippo-effect/ - The Uncanny Valley of a Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Squirrel tells a story in which digging for emotional signals helps a technical team find alternatives to an arbitrary-looking initiative. Jeffrey explains how nonviolent communication provides a framework for seeking emotional understanding first. SHOW LINKS: - Nonviolent communication: https://www.cnvc.org - Feelings inventory: https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/feelings-inventory - Kano model: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2013/07/using-the-kano-model-to-prioritize-product-development/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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We saw last week how inflexible implementation killed checklists at hospitals - and the same disease affects agile development, we've found. Do you think there's a single "recipe" for agile, like our friends at Basecamp who claim they're not agile because they don't use post-its, backlogs, or standups? If so, we think you're missing some important opportunities for building internal commitment and improving your practise. SHOW LINKS: - Hospital checklists fail: https://www.nature.com/news/hospital-checklists-are-meant-to-save-lives-so-why-do-they-often-fail-1.18057 - Fix XP: http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/fixit.html - Anand's comment on Agile as chocolate-chip cookie: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:6432900799365419008/ - Basecamp ShapeUp: DaringFireball https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up and announcement https://basecamp.com/shapeup - Heart of Agile: https://heartofagile.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Troubleshooting Checklists Checklists are a great way to capture learning in any organisation, but sometimes they don't work - why not? A recent study of hospitals with varying levels of success in adopting checklists helps us reflect on similar adoption challenges for agile methods. SHOW LINKS: - Checklist article from Nature: https://www.nature.com/news/hospital-checklists-are-meant-to-save-lives-so-why-do-they-often-fail-1.18057 - Agile principle 12 on reflection and improvement: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/12-principles-behind-the-agile-manifesto/ - Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto: http://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/ - Ignaz Semmelweis, promoter of hand-washing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/just-culture/ - Dunbar’s number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number - Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X - Jon Ronson So You've Been Publicly Shamed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed - Gary Klein, Pre-Mortem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortem…
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Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/just-culture/ - Dunbar’s number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number - Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X - Jon Ronson So You've Been Publicly Shamed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed - Gary Klein, Pre-Mortem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortem *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/just-culture/ - Dunbar’s number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number - Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X - Jon Ronson So You've Been Publicly Shamed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed - Gary Klein, Pre-Mortem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortem *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/just-culture/ - Dunbar’s number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number - Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X - Jon Ronson So You've Been Publicly Shamed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed - Gary Klein, Pre-Mortem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-mortem *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss the history of “software for humans”, the agile, lean, and devops movements. No links this week as the book deadline looms, but feel free to ask us if you can’t find a reference. Normal service will resume shortly! *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A listener question about running a Troubleshooting Agile study group inspires advice on keeping your learning from becoming lunchtime entertainment, as well as surprisingly relevant stories about a pottery class, a management seminar, and the Israeli military. SHOW LINKS: - Joel's tweet requesting advice on his study group: https://twitter.com/joelchippindale/status/1143137854278840321 - Our series on the twelve agile principles: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-importance-of-the-agile-principles - Pottery story from Art & Fear: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961454733/ via https://stratechery.com/2015/buzzfeed-important-news-organization-world/ - Joel Spolsky on Fire and Motion: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ - Reg Revans on action and learning: http://actionlearning.academy/benefits.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

The engineers know the project is in terrible trouble, but the executives think it's going great. This "greenshifting" anti-pattern occurs at NASA, software companies, and everywhere in between. We tell a few related stories, including a fable, and suggest methods that might work to counteract the greenshifting tendency in your organisation. SHOW LINKS: - "The Mushroom Song" by Steve Savitsky: http://steve.savitzky.net/Songs/mushroom/ - The SNAFU Principle (communication fable) from the Jargon File: http://skeptictank.org/files//cowtext/jargn10.htm - Appendix F on the Challenger disaster, by Richard Feynman: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt - Scott Ambler on Greenshifting: https://www.drdobbs.com/dr-dobbs-agile-newsletter/191600661 - Alistair Cockburn on information radiators: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=24486&ranMID=24808 - Brian Marick on lava lamps as build status indicators: https://gist.github.com/marick/3ec112bc38b2af267e15 *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
You can invest a lot of your time in making your software delivery predictable (a la NASA) or in making your team productive (a la early stage startups). Which is best? We introduce the idea of a "tilted slider" to explain this tradeoff, and the "gravity" that pulls you toward predictability even when it may not be the best emphasis. And as usual, we have stories of effective and ineffective action from our own experiences. SHOW LINKS: - Cowboy coding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_coding *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
How are you briefing your team? What measurements are you using to help them learn? Today, we discuss cases where giving the team incentives to make more mistakes produces positive results, and others where urging them to make fewer is catastrophic. SHOW LINKS: - Andon cord: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andon_(manufacturing) - Toyota Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html - NTSB immunity for pilots: https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/overview/immunity.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Today we describe a technique for avoiding micromanagement and promoting autonomy - first pioneered by the Prussian military! We describe how briefing and back briefing help Boeing build airplanes and how the method increases efficiency and reduces drama in the agile teams we work with. SHOW LINKS: - Art of Action by Bungay: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Boeing weight economy: in https://www.amazon.co.uk/Serious-Play-Companies-Simulate-Innovate/dp/0875848141 *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Today we relate three great stories we heard or told at CITCON in Ghent, all starting with different answers to Jeffrey's question, "Why can't we ship that today?" The answers lead us to different suggestions for helping teams to move faster and get customer feedback. SHOW LINKS: - Value stream mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-stream_mapping - CITCON notes: https://citconf.com/wiki/index.php?title=WarStoriesAndSuccesses - Poppendieck and Poppendieck, Lean Software Development: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Software-Development-Agile-Toolkit/dp/0321150783 *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
After the Mutual Learning and Unilateral Control models, this week we examine one more model for working with your team, perhaps the easiest: giving up! This one feels the best, since everyone is involved and gets to express his or her feelings. But unsurprisingly, giving up control means you give up valuable information that could help you make a better decision. SHOW LINKS: - Giving Up Control article: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/hr/moving-away-control - Adding Your Own Egg (Weinberg): http://stevenjackson.github.io/notebook/weinberg - Briefing and Back Briefing (Bungay): https://www.amazon.com/Art-Action-Leaders-between-Actions/dp/1857885597 *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
After our series on mutual learning values, we look at those of an alternative, the Unilateral Control Model, which match our default behaviour but don't normally lead to the type of learning your team is probably looking for. We look at why convincing others usually doesn't work and welcome Al Pacino for a brief cameo. SHOW LINKS: - Unilateral Control article by Roger Schwarz: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - "One More Inch" speech from Al Pacino: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk - previous series on unilateral control: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-ii https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iii https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iv https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-v - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Third in our series on using the Mutual Learning Model to improve your agile team. We look at accountability as a frightening prospect and as a route to ease at work (thanks Kent Beck). Then we consider how you might benefit from compassion - not only for your team and stakeholders, but also for leaders and for yourself. SHOW LINKS: - 8 Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - Accountability for sheriffs in the time of Henry II: http://historyoflaw.co.uk/exchequer-time-of-henry-ii/ - Ease at Work from Kent Beck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeA4CBInqKo and https://www.infoq.com/news/2007/04/beck-ease-at-work - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Agile teams do better, we find, when they are transparent ("here's what I did last sprint") and curious ("what business problem are you trying to solve?"). Most people we meet claim they are both transparent and curious in their conversations and processes - but usually their actual behaviour when there's something at stake is very different. We introduce a 2x2 matrix that can help you measure whether you are managing to be transparent and curious, and help you improve if you're not. SHOW LINKS: - Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - Dr. David Burns and the relationship journal: https://feelinggood.com/tag/relationship-journal/ - Previous episode on learning with the "four Rs": https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
First of a series on using the Mutual Learning Model to get better results in your agile team. Today, why informed choice can help us avoid mistakes as minor as missing a requirement or as major as launching a rocket with a fatal flaw. SHOW LINKS: - The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team - 8 Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - Feynman on Challenger disaster: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt - Actions Science blog posts: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/tag/action-science/ - Previous episodes on How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally and the 4 Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-ii https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iii https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iv https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-v https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

When your team talks about "what the business wants", do they know who they mean? Do they have evidence for the wishes of this amorphous group? It's impossible to negotiate with an undefined entity, but we offer some not-too-surprising ideas for making progress and discovering the real needs of "the business". SHOW LINKS: - XP Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

Triggers and Tells We explain how to use observations of your own and others' behaviour to understand how to improve your conversations and get better agile results! SHOW LINKS: - Previous episode on learning from observations: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - Previous episode on "why" as a trigger: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/why-is-a-trigger-not-a-question - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile…
In response to Michael Bolton's comment on last week's episode, we discuss genuine questions, reminding yourself to be curious, and converting your internal "why" to a more constructive question. SHOW LINKS: - Tweets from Michael Bolton and Brian Deyo: https://twitter.com/michaelbolton/status/1111083757971345413 and https://twitter.com/briandeyo/status/1111252749658869760 - Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805/ - CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

What Happens After Why Last week we explained how asking the simple question “why?” can help you make big improvements in your agile team - and this week we prove it, with two examples from Jeffrey. In one case his company landed a big client, and in the other an angry person actually listened to him! Hear more in this week’s episode! SHOW LINKS: - David Burns, the disarming technique: https://daviddburnsmd.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/the-five-secrets-v-1.pdf - Chris Voss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guZa7mQV1l0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llctqNJr2IU - Previous podcasts on coherent stories: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/why-you-shouldnt-listen-to-your-brain and on the 4 Rs of learning: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - 7 habits of highly effective people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People - Squirrel and Jeffrey talk on leadership techniques: https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11800-leadership-matters *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

In which we meet Squirrel's client Mr. Why, who wants to know the reasoning behind requests he gets but never actually asks, and we describe how this pattern holds back agile teams and how to break out of it. Surprisingly, lawyers feature prominently in this episode, as both positive and negative examples of effective "why" communication! SHOW LINKS: - Lawyers don't ask "why?": https://aqrlaw.ca/blog/five-questions-you-should-never-ask-on-cross-examination *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Last week we emphasised the importance of practise to help you have better agile conversations and negotiations, and this week we describe two ways to practise - Argyris's two-column case studies and Dr. Burns's relationship journal - and a framework to use with both: record, reflect, revise, and roleplay. Join us in London on 19 March for our talk on "Sprinting In Place: The Cost of Missing Leadership Conversations"! SHOW LINKS: - Argyris's two column case study: https://blog.benjaminm.net/2011/02/16/argyriscasestudylearningmodelii/ https://hbr.org/1986/09/skilled-incompetence - Dr. David Burns's Interpersonal model & relationship journal https://feelinggood.com/2017/10/16/057-interpersonal-model-and-its-all-your-fault-part-4/ https://feelinggood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/rj-revised-v-1c-dvl-v-1.pdf - Our SkillsMatter talk on 19 March: https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11800-leadership-matters *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Today, we explain that when you learn a new skill - whether it's playing the piano, kitesurfing across a lake, or negotiating with others inside and outside your agile team - it's vital to practise to develop your abilities. Don't jump onto the double black diamond run the first time you hit the slopes; instead, find a coach and watch her carefully as she goes down the mountain first. You'll learn to act in unintuitive ways and discover new possibilities you wouldn't have thought of. The same is true of learning to have the difficult conversations you need to improve your agile team - you can listen to us all you want, but you'll need to try (and fail!) to really master the methods. We get started on some methods for effective practise, including the use of a feeling chart, with more to follow in the next episode. Join us in London on 19 March for our talk on "Sprinting In Place: The Cost of Missing Leadership Conversations"! SHOW LINKS: - Jeffrey's blog post on the piano analogy: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/06/07/the-piano-analogy-some-practice-required/ - London Organisational Learning meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - NVC 4-part process: https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/aboutnvc/4partprocess.htm - NVC feelings inventory: https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/feelings-inventory - Our SkillsMatter talk on 19 March: https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11800-leadership-matters *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Your brain has two halves - not called left and right, but System 1 and System 2. Today we explain how these two halves of your own brain wind up fooling you and your team into believing things like "New York decided to do this", "customers don't want that feature", and "the business won't let us write tests" - and what you can do to keep your brain from tricking you into believing suspiciously coherent stories. Join us in London on 19 March for our talk on "Sprinting In Place: The Cost of Missing Leadership Conversations"! SHOW LINKS: - Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0141033576 - Our SkillsMatter talk on 19 March: https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11800-leadership-matters *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
The agile principles talk about empowerment and autonomy, but do we have to make a complete switch from our current centralised-decision culture to a fully autonomous one? The Satir curve, six thinking hats, and a theory of Tic Tac change (really!) from Jeffrey and Alistair Cockburn, shows us a way to make a series of small changes rather than one big shift. SHOW LINKS: - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - The Uncanny Valley of A Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ - Satir curve (J-curve): http://dhemery.com/articles/managing_yourself_through_change/ - Tic Tac presentation (Fredrick/Cockburn): http://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/sdbp06tictactalk.pdf - Six Thinking Hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Theory X organisations don't trust their people - or do they? To be agile we have to move our organisations to a Theory Y model with empowerment and autonomy - or do we? Organisational change has to be painful - or does it? And what does all this have to do with creepy robots? SHOW LINKS: - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - J Jonah Jameson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhDBWiTfNCU - The Uncanny Valley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley - The Uncanny Valley of A Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Due to illness and travel, Jeffrey and Squirrel present one of their greatest hits of the past! *** Squirrel and Jeffrey look at a recent article by Luke Tomas on the "employee engagement industry" (we didn't even know it *was* an industry!) Jeffrey rapidly links this to Brian Marick's idea of Ease and Joy at work and we all agree that engagement, happiness, and joy are all useful, but lagging, indicators of team success - so you can't improve them directly with bigger bonuses or tougher objectives. Instead alignment, focus, and autonomy work to create these results by creating the conditions for happiness and good performance. SHOW LINKS: - Luke Tomas, The Employee Engagement Myth: medium.com/@lukethomas14/the-e…t-myth-3885526782d7 - Brian Marick, Ease and Joy at Work: exampler.com/ease-and-joy/ - Previous episode on technical excellence: Troubleshootingagile – Fowlers-state-of-agile-part-two - Reinventing Organisations (Teal and other colours): www.reinventingorganizations.com/ - Theory X and Theory Y: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - Daniel Pink, Drive (video): www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc - Niko Niko: www.agilealliance.org/glossary/nikoniko/ - Small Improvements: www.small-improvements.com/ - Joy, Inc : www.menloinnovations.com/joyinc/ - Joy At Work: www.dennisbakke.com/joy-at-work *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
The US Defense Department (yes, the huge bureaucratic government body) recently released a brief and readable guide to troubleshooting your agile team. We have a look at three more of its key recommendations for figuring out whether you're agile team is really agile - which leads us to discuss when software developers should wield soldering irons and how continuous integration is better with a rubber chicken. SHOW LINKS: - Detecting Agile BS: https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF - The Defense Innovation Board: https://innovation.defense.gov - Continuous Integration on a Dollar a Day (aka the Rubber Chicken): https://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Continuous-Integration-on-a-Dollar-a-Day.html - IMVU continuous deployment: http://timothyfitz.com/2009/02/10/continuous-deployment-at-imvu-doing-the-impossible-fifty-times-a-day/ - CITCON (Continuous Integration and Testing Conference): https://citconf.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
The US Defense Department (yes, the huge bureaucratic government body) recently released a brief and readable guide to troubleshooting your agile team. We have a look at three of its six key recommendations for figuring out whether you're agile team isn't really agile - which leads us to discuss what end-users really are and why financial traders are so insane. SHOW LINKS: - Detecting Agile BS: https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF - The Defense Innovation Board: https://innovation.defense.gov *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Once you've been vocally critical and identified areas to improve in your agile team, what next? "We should" too often turns into "We won't", so good intentions aren't enough. Jeffrey tells the story of teaching TDD and the tools he learnt and developed to foster internal commitment to change - paradoxically, this involves questioning whether the change is actually worth doing! SHOW LINKS: - SPIN selling book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SPIN-Selling-Neil-Rackham/dp/0566076896 - Previous episode on earning trust through vocal self-criticism: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/earning-trust-at-amazon - Previous series on unilateral control: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Inspired by a listener comment, we look at one of Amazon's leadership principles, which describes how leaders are expected to earn trust in that organisation. It seems to us that the principle lays the foundation for effective psychological safety for the avoidance of error, but there are some traps to watch out for on the way to that end. SHOW LINKS: - Amazon leadership principles: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles - Ladder of inference annotated diagram: http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
In our one-year anniversary episode, we start with a story about "flickering" tests and generalise to look at the idea of normalisation of deviance. We suggest that psychological safety lets you hear from those who see the deviance but aren't speaking up, with examples from oil rigs, and tie to pair programming as a way to create a safe environment for reiterating agreed non-deviant behaviour. SHOW LINKS: - Diane Vaughan and links to normalisation of deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Vaughan - Bystander effect and smoke experiment; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect#Social_psychology_research - Psychological safety: https://www.businessinsider.com/amy-edmondson-on-psychological-safety-2015-11?r=UK&IR=T - Oil rig creating psychological safety: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/17/482203447/invisibilia-how-learning-to-be-vulnerable-can-make-life-safer and https://hbr.org/2008/07/unmasking-manly-men *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We've been talking about building trust in agile teams by aligning your stories; an important ingredient for this is being predictable, so others can believe you actually have a story they can align with. We tell an extended story about a developer with a severely misaligned story and how Squirrel's route to trust with him included crawling around on the floor reconfiguring cables. SHOW LINKS: - Argyris, Espoused Theory vs Theory in Use: http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Theories_of_action - Previous podcast on acting unilaterally: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iv - Annotated Ladder of Inference diagram: http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf - Schwarz, Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We answer a listener question about standups for feature teams, but we think the problem is actually a larger one of disengagement. A common symptom is people sitting down for their standup (oxymoron alert!) We recommend some ways to overcome disengagement using Coherence Busting and the Ladder of Inference, tools we've been discussing on recent podcasts. SHOW LINKS: - Feature teams: http://featureteams.org - Ladder of Inference episodes: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/test-driven-development-for-people and https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/introspection-with-the-ladder-of-inference - Coherence busting: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2016/04/08/coherence-busting-explained/ and https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/removing-the-blame-frame *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Last time we talked about sharing reasoning and building trust in your agile team using TDD for People, one way to use the Ladder of Inference. Today we look at how the Ladder can help you discover your own reasoning as well, to discover ways to promote mutual learning with your own behaviour. SHOW LINKS: - Top Business Podcasts for CEOs, from Fiona Anderson: https://www.rocktime.co.uk/insights/listen-and-learn-the-art-of-podcasting-for-ceos/ - The Ladder of Inference (annotated by Jeffrey): http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf - The London Organisational Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
As promised, we start describing our favourite trust-building technique: the Ladder of Inference. Our take this week is on using the Ladder to understand someone else's reasoning and align your stories, creating trust as a foundation for further improvement in your agile team. Surprisingly, the experience of using the Ladder in this way is similar to Test-Driven Development: careful, understandable, small steps with confidence, and meaningful signals from both success and failure. SHOW LINKS: - Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ELY7OW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 - The Ladder of Inference (annotated by Jeffrey): http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf - Cognitive biases book and more: https://youarenotsosmart.com/ - Schwarz on unilateral control (again!): http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - TDD for people video: https://www.douglassquirrel.com/how-i-work.html - Schwarz 8 behaviours (Paula/Ted are on page 4): https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We start previewing the ideas in our forthcoming book on using conversations to improve your agile results. First up: why you need trust before you do anything else (including hold a standup, write unit tests, or move your desks together). Next week, a step-by-step technique to build trust. SHOW LINKS: - The first thing to build is trust, Brad Appleton: http://bradapp.blogspot.com/2005/02/first-thing-to-build-is-trust.html - Psychological safety: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2666999?origin=JSTOR-pdf&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents - The story I'm telling myself: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/08/31/the-story-im-making-up/ - Naive realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism_%28psychology%29 and previous TA episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We cap our five-part series on undermining your agile team with the pinnacle of ineffective behaviour: the belief that you are not contributing to the problem. Inaccurate estimates, useless meetings, directionless standups - so long as you're sure all these are entirely someone else's fault, you'll be sure never to fix them, and thus leave your team high and dry. Master this technique and never worry about having an effective team again! Bonus at the end on what's next for the podcast... SHOW LINKS: - Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - Belief bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief_bias - Emotional reasoning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_reasoning *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
In this week's podcast we move on to the final Agile Principle, number 12: "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly." The hard truth is that learning is horrible. It means coming face to face with your own inadequacies, and challenging them. Consequently, mustering up the motivation to learn is too easily and too often avoided. Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss their own experiences with the importance of reflection and some troubleshooting techniques to make learning easier. They also discuss: -How we all need to keep sharpening the saw, because if we're constantly producing we're not learning. -Using Production Vs Production Capacity, from 7 Habits of Highly Influential People, to remind ourselves of this. -How Marginal Gains, just 1%-per-day, compound to make a huge difference over time. -How, unexpectedly, it is often something as simple as poor relationships that are blocking the natural learning a company would like to have. It's much easier to blame the circumstances than have difficult conversations, and this blocks development. Therefore, we have a challenge for our listeners: Look at your current circumstances, at what you think the problems are, reflect, and then ask yourself: what's currently preventing you from taking action on those problems (and that means YOU. You individually. Saying your boss is an idiot is not an answer). There are always opportunities available to you, should you choose to take them. If you agree or disagree with us, let us know, via email, Twitter or in a review below. We'd love to take on some of your cases in upcoming episodes. *** SHOW LINKS: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -James Clear on Marginal Gains: https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains -The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R Covey: https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit7.php -London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
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This week we take a short break from the Agile Principles to discuss The Squirrel Test - 12 questions to help founders improve their scale-up company's performance. We also find out if Squirrel, in creating the test, has practiced what he's preached regarding the agile principles. Has he produced working software? Sought early feedback? Kept it simple? Made the most of face-to-face communication? Retained a constant pace? Created a supportive environment for his team? Find out in this week's podcast. We'd like to apologise for the sound quality this week. With Jeffrey on the road we had some mic difficulties that we were unable to fix. We thought about not posting an episode at all, but didn't want to disappoint regular listeners by missing a week. So, again, our apologies for the quality. Next week we will be back to a silky smooth sound. *** LINKS: -The Squirrel Test: http://squirreltest.com -The Joel Test: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-steps-to-better-code/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
In this week's Podcast we're on to the penultimate Agile Principle, number 11: 'The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.' Amongst much more, we discuss: -How what should actually constitute a team is the sharing of a problem, not a manager. -The importance of employing a dynamic team approach, rather than a static one, to solving problems. -How the unique specificity of this principle is designed to get us away from the old 'phase' approach and avoid costly hand-offs. -Specific techniques to inspire a mutiny and become a self-organizing team, with some lessons from Stephen Bungay's 'The Art of Action', such as how to employ Direct Opportunism. -The Spotify model and the importance of shunning the easy route of adopting an off-the-shelf model. *** SHOWNOTES: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -Alistair Cockburn's mighty fine Koan for Agile development: "Management tells the workers to mutiny. The workers refuse" http://alistair.cockburn.us/Self-organization+means+mutiny -Stephen Bungay's brilliant book, 'The Art of Action': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Action-Leaders-between-Actions/dp/1857885597/ -The unique case of the General Electric plant in Durham, North Carolina: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/28/ge.html -Spotify's self-organised teams, not an off-the-shelf model to copy: https://labs.spotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/ -Sign up to CITCON in Vienna, there aren't many spaces left: http://citconf.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
We're on to Agile Principle 10 this week: "Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential." In comparison to the dark old days when the Agile Manifesto was written, the way projects are simplified and broken down seems a huge improvement. But simplicity plays an essential role in achieving the all-important first Agile Principle of "satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software," so Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why this principle is still so important today. They discussed: -How simplicity asks you to exercise discipline and restraint. -How Elephant carpaccio helps to provide an environment in which that restraint is easier. -How simplicity is not just a call for businesses to restrain themselves in their demand for features, but for developers to restrain themselves in their demand for best practices- and how they can employ YAGNI instead. -What YAGNI is. -How to build a whole application's worth of software without actually writing any software. *** SHOWNOTES: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -Alistair Cockburn's brilliant Elephant Carpaccio lesson: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Elephant+carpaccio -What is YAGNI?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it -Zapier: https://zapier.com/ -IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
This week on the Troubleshooting Agile podcast it's Agile Principle 9: "Continued attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility." The dark old days of big up-front design may send shivers down the spine, but the Lean Startup 'move fast and break things' approach of scrapping design altogether goes too far. Jeffrey and Squirrel ask how principle #9 can be used to find balance between the two. They also discuss how a shared body of knowledge is the key to making quicker and better decisions in regards to technical excellence and good design; and ways in which managers can expand this body of knowledge through Lunch and Learns and making bad judgements well. *** SHOWNOTES: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -The Boy Scout Rule, from Uncle Bob: http://programmer.97things.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/The_Boy_Scout_Rule -Uncle Bob himself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Martin - Martin Fowler on Event Sourcing: https://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/EventSourcing.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
In this week's episode of Troubleshooting Agile we are on to Agile Principle 8: "Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely." Drawing on sport psychology, Al Pacino movies and their years of consulting experience, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss and troubleshoot a number of fascinating issues surrounding this principle: -How many people find this the easiest Agile Principle to argue with, and, in doing so, entirely miss the point. -Why the Hollywoodesque idea of "Crunch Time" and pulling-an-all-nighter may appeal to Theory X bosses and the delusional, but is detrimental to productivity and long-term effectiveness. -Why you need to ensure that exceptions to your sustainable pace really are the exception. -How, when it comes to psychology, recovery, nutrition, environment and support, Software Developers and Professional Athletes are not so dissimilar, if long-term effectiveness is what you're after. -How constant pace works as a counter-balance to the dangers of a team focussed purely on Customer Delivery. *** LINKS: -The Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -Cost of Delay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_delay - The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Challenger-Launch-Decision-Technology-Deviance/dp/0226851761 -Any Given Sunday, with Al Pacino and the "Inch by Inch" speech: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Any_Given_Sunday *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode. You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or find our website, here: troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2 If you have a moment, please like, subscribe and share with your friends. We really appreciate it.…
It's Episode 9 of the Troubleshooting Agile podcast! This week we're discussing Agile Principle 7: "Working software is the primary measure of progress." Some of the topics we cover are: -The importance of "moving past the 'phase model' or the 'percent-of-budget model'" in measuring progress. -How Burn-Up/Down Charts simplify and optimise the process of measuring progress by assigning value only to that which provides value to the customer. -And how they also build trust between the business and software development sides of a company by delivering regularly. -The dangerous pitfall of taking Agile Principal 7 too literally and finding yourself toiling away in a Feature Factory. -How to avoid this pitfall by motivating your team with Type Y Management - perhaps taking inspiration from Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard - and focussing on Business Outcomes. -That an unexpected outcome of focussing on 'working software' is often less software. 'But the software you end with, you know works. And you know it matters.' ** LINKS: -The 12 Agile Principles - http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -An extract from Alistair Cockburn's brilliant Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams on Earned-Value and Burn-Charts - http://alistair.cockburn.us/Earned-value+and+burn+charts -Mary and Tom Poppendieck's brilliant book on Lean Software Development - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Software-Development-Agile-Toolkit/dp/0321150783 -John Cutler's blog on how to tell if you're working in a Feature Factory - https://hackernoon.com/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-44a5b938d6a2 *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode. You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or find our website, here: troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2 If you have a moment, please like, subscribe and share with your friends. We really appreciate it.…
In Episode 8 of Troubleshooting Agile it's Agile Principle 6: "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation." A few of the things we discuss: -The pros and cons of different communication channels. -Looking at Alistair Cockburn's book "Agile Software Development", why micro-gestures and physical interaction make face-to-face communication so much richer. -Why we need to remember that "a Story Card is a promise for a conversation". -The origins of CRC Cards back in the 90, and their real value as a conversational tool and in building a shared understanding. -How effective communication also increases the effectiveness of isolated reflective thought. -How to apply this principle effectively to distributed and remote teams. -"Don't measure your software productivity by linear feet of documentation on the shelf." *** LINKS: -Chapter 3 of Alistair Cockburn's Agile Software Development: http://alistair.cockburn.us/ASD+book+extract%3A+%22Communicating,+cooperating+teams%22/v/slim -Alistair's Richness of Communication graph: http://alistair.cockburn.us/get/2287 -Alistair on coining "A story card is a promise for a conversation": http://alistair.cockburn.us/Origin+of+user+story+is+a+promise+for+a+conversation -CRC Cards: http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/crccards.html -Jeff Bezos's Management Tool for Self-Discipline: http://blog.idonethis.com/jeff-bezos-self-discipline-writing/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode. You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or find our website, here: troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2 If you have a moment, please like, subscribe and share with your friends. We really appreciate it.…
This week, in Episode 7 of Troubleshooting Agile, we discuss Agile Principle Number 5: "Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done." Talking points this week include: -Why perceptions of this principle differ immensely depending on whether your adopt Theory X or Theory Y. -Directed Opportunism - and who used it better, General Clausewitz in 1870 or Darth Sidious a long, long time ago. -How trusting your team and recognising the ingenuity inherent within all employees creates psychological safety that motivates your staff and advances your business. -Different ways to deal with an unyielding Theory X-er. -How to recognise when it's come down to a case of "change your organisation or change your organisation." And finally, can you can think of a good Theory Y boss/environment depicted in TV or Film? (think corporate Mr Miyagi) Let us know down below, or Tweet us @TShootingAgile and we'll give your ideas a shout out in an upcoming episode. *** LINKS: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -Stephen Bungay's 'The Art of Action': https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HPVHLHG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 -The LEAP Institute: http://dramador.com/the-leap-institute/ -Niels Pfläging's blog, 'Why we cannot learn a damn thing from Semco, or Toyota': https://vision.haufe.de/blog/en/why-we-cannot-learn-a-damn-thing-from-semco-or-toyota/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode. You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or find our website, here: troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2 If you have a moment, please like, share and subscribe. We really appreciate it.…
In Episode 6 of Troubleshooting agile we talk about the Fourth Agile Principle: 'Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.' Some of the topics discussed are: -Why this is the only principle containing the word MUST. -How to easily overcome a principle which at first sight can appear impractical to implement. -What business people can do that developers can't. -The importance of customer proxies in bridging the communication gap between departments. -How this speeds everything up and helps developers maintain their flow. -As well as motivating teams, through trust and inclusion, in a way that can spark innovation. -Eating your own dogfood *** LINKS: -The 12 Agile Principles: agilemanifesto.org/principles.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode. You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Or send us a tweet, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or you can find our website, here: troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2 Please like, share and subscribe.…
In episode 5 of Troubleshooting Agile we discuss the Third Agile Principle: 'Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.' Evolution in our thinking, since the Agile Manifesto was written back in 2001, makes what was once considered 'shorter timescales' seem laughable now, but, when retrospecting, 'working software frequently' remains one of the core agile disciplines. But, as Squirrel and Jeffrey highlight through various client stories, it is far from easy to implement continuously. We hear where, why and how so many companies fail to fully employ this principle, and Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss some interesting techniques to overcome common problems - from slicing up elephant carpaccio to employing continuous integration with nothing more than a rubber chicken. *We apologise for a few sound difficulties at the start of the episode with Jeffrey's mic. Stick with it and they soon pass.* *** Squirrel and Jeffrey have told us which common obstacles they regularly witness that prevent organisations from delivering working software frequently. Now we want to hear from you guys on the matter. You can leave your answers in the comments below, you can email us at agile@troubleshootingagile.com, or you can find a poll on our Twitter feed @TShootingAgile. What are the obstacle for your organisation to delivering working software frequently? 1. The tech team aren't offering to do this, or don't know how. 2. Customers (external or internal or both) don't know it's possible or how to use it if offered. 3. Both 1. and 2. 4. Neither - we already deliver frequently! *** SHOWNOTES: -Agile Manifesto Principles - http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -Continuous Delivery, by Jez Humble and David Farley - https://martinfowler.com/books/continuousDelivery.html -Continuous Delivery - https://continuousdelivery.com -CITCON - https://citconf.com -James Shore's blog: "Continuous Integration on a Dollar a Day - http://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Continuous-Integration-on-a-Dollar-a-Day.html -Alistair Cockburn's blog: "Elephant Carpaccio" - http://alistair.cockburn.us/Elephant+carpaccio *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode (or regarding anything else for that matter). You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Or send us a tweet, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or you can find our website, here: troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2 If you feel like liking, Sharing and/or Subscribing, we'd really appreciate it.…
In this episode Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the Second Agile Principle: ‘Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.’ We hear how the principle is closely related to Lean Startup and Minimal Viable Product, and how, at its core, it is about understanding and learning from one’s environment as quickly and as often as possible. This reminds Squirrel of the OODA loop, the decision cycle developed by military strategist and US Air Force Colonel John Boyd, and he tells us a story about fighter jet dogfights in the Korean War. Jeffrey also tells us a story, about a startup he started way way back in the first dotcom bubble in 1999, which brings to mind another military lesson that ‘no plan survives contact with the enemy.’. Finally, we hear examples of common errors witnessed over the years, such as refusals to fully embrace the Second Agile Principle in favour of misguided efficiency and an often irrational attachment a plan. *** SHOWNOTES: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -The OODA Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop -Lean Startup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_startup *** We’d love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode (or regarding anything else, for that matter). You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Or send us a tweet, here: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Or you can find our website, here: http://troubleshootingagile.com/ Also, here is a link to our iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2 If you felt like liking, Sharing and/or Subscribing, we’d really appreciate it.…
In this third episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey take a look at the first of the 12 Agile Principles: "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” As Jeffrey point out, this principle contains so much that it "could have been an agile manifesto in itself.” Squirrel and Jeffrey both tell stories about previous consulting experiences to highlight where clients have failed to fully deliver on this vital principle in the past, and how businesses can troubleshoot various common problems that arise. Show Notes: - The 12 Agile principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html - “The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement”, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0566086654/ref=sr_1_1 - CITCON website: http://citconf.com/ We’d love to hear any thoughts you have about this Agile Principle, or about the podcast in general. You can email us, here: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Or send us a tweet, here: https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, why not Like, Share and Subscribe. We’d really appreciate it.…
In episode 2 of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey look at what to do when you've adopted good agile practices but are not seeing good business outcomes; how the most beautiful kanban board on earth doesn't necessarily mean results; and why the 12 agile principles work as a form of feedback and a great guide. Shownotes: - Jeffrey's 2008 blog post – https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/11/08/searching-for-an-agile-core/ - The 12 agile principles – http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html - Chris Matts's blog – https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/ Why not let us know what you think on Twitter @TShootingAgile https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile…
In this week's podcast Jeffrey tells us a story about the dangers of blaming human error in the workplace, and we discuss root cause analysis, the blameless postmortem approach and how these are essential components in building productive systems and a great agile team. Normal Accidents – http://bit.ly/2CtawMg http://troubleshootingagile.com/…
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A few more thoughts on alignment, inspired by a list of "XP Mistakes" from the great J. B. Rainsberger. We look at some of the antipatterns and lessons learnt and, as usual, tell a few of our own stories about mistakes we've made and observed. SHOW LINKS: - XP, My Greatest Misses: https://blog.jbrains.ca/permalink/xp-my-greatest-misses - CITCON: http://citconf.com/ - "Are you frustrated? It's probably your fault": https://vimeo.com/131854234 - Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team - Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - The First Thing to Build is Trust: https://bradapp.blogspot.com/2005/02/first-thing-to-build-is-trust.html - Cockburn article on people in software development: http://web.archive.org/web/20170620211523/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear%2c+first-order+components+in+software+development *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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The final episode of our mini-series on achieving alignment. We list five different objections we hear to the goals or process of alignment, and suggest ways to address them. We also tell a success story based on achieving alignment. SHOW LINKS: - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - Alistair Cockburn's mutiny koan: https://staging.cockburn.us/self-organization-means-mutiny/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Episode 3 of our mini-series on achieving alignment. This week, we finally explain some methods for aligning with your team, your boss, or your peers. Methods include Test-Driven Development for People (aka the Ladder of Inference) and a creative use of the two-column case study. Next time - questions from listeners and common concerns we hear when moving to alignment. SHOW LINKS: - Chris Argyris on alignment and skilled incompetence: https://hbr.org/1986/09/skilled-incompetence - Video on Test-Driven Development for People: http://douglassquirrel.com/how-i-work.html - Guide to the two-column case study technique: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/04/11/using-the-two-column-case-study/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile…
Our next instalment on alignment as a tool for agile success. If alignment is as valuable as we claimed in the previous episode, why doesn't every organisation have it? We use ideas from Dr. David Burns to classify resistance to alignment into "outcome" and "process" resistance, then give examples of each and tell a story about a startup where the founders are (according to them) totally aligned, but no one else is. Next time: steps to achieve alignment despite resistance. SHOW LINKS: - Dr. David Burns, Feeling Good: https://feelinggood.com/ - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - Thinking Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Today, the first instalment of a little series on a big problem affecting agile teams: alignment. What does it mean when your team or company isn't aligned? How does misalignment show itself and what effects does it have on your progress? Jeffrey and Squirrel describe four different alignment patterns and tell real-life stories about the woes of misaligned teams. Future episodes in the series will cover resistance to alignment and how to get everyone headed in a common direction. SHOW LINKS: - Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - “Prevent Your Strategy Offsite from Being Meaningless”: https://hbr.org/2014/09/prevent-your-strategy-offsite-from-being-meaningless - Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Lencioni/dp/0787960756/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
How do you provide focus and drive for a team using kanban? There's no natural "sprint" unit to hang a goal on, it seems. Jeffrey and Squirrel answer this listener question and explain how to create a product narrative, avoid the feature factory, and start with "Why"? SHOW LINKS: - Kanban book: https://www.amazon.com/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402 - When Kanban Fails: https://kanbantool.com/kanban-library/kanban-results/when-kanban-fails - Feature Factory: https://hackernoon.com/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-44a5b938d6a2 - Start with "Why": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA and https://fortressofs.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/diagram_1.png *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel address a common frustration: "With all these retrospectives and planning games, when do we actually get some work done?" They cover single and double loop learning, the mundanity of excellence, and how to avoid learning in two distinct ways. SHOW LINKS: - J-curve / Satir Change Model: https://stevenmsmith.com/ar-satir-change-model/ - Mundanity of Excellence: https://www.jstor.org/stable/202063 - Tic-tac change: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/07/07/tic-tac-change-slides/ - Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X - Single- and double-loop learning: http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Single-loop_and_double-loop *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe, you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel answer a question from CruiseControl founder Paul Julius about what agile practises they've left behind. Surprising answers include iterations, predictability, and planning. SHOW LINKS: - PJ: http://www.pauljulius.com/ - Abnormally terminating a sprint - https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/making-the-decision-to-abnormally-terminate-a-sprint - Kanban: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development) - Elephant Carpaccio: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Elephant+carpaccio - Searching for an Agile Core: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/11/08/searching-for-an-agile-core/ - Planning Game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming_practices#Planning_game - TDD: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Test-Driven-Development-Addison-Wesley-Signature/dp/0321146530 - Cruise Control: http://cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net/ - GitFlow: https://datasift.github.io/gitflow/IntroducingGitFlow.html - Chris Matts: https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel help a listener with the role of design and architecture in an agile team. The answer involves arcane-sounding but fun concepts like elephant carpaccio, evolutionary design, and YAGNI. SHOW LINKS: - YAGNI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it - Elephant Carpaccio: http://alistair.cockburn.us/elephant+carpaccio - Evolutionary Design: https://martinfowler.com/tags/evolutionary%20design.html - XP Explained: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extreme-programming-explained-kent-beck/1119347147 - GOOS book: http://www.growing-object-oriented-software.com/ - Sprint zero: https://www.frontrowagile.com/blog/posts/125-sprint-zero-for-product-owners - Trim the tail and order by risk: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Design+as+Knowledge+Acquisition - Up-front design in a previous episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/enhancing-agility-through-technical-excellence-and-good-design *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
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This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel look at how to learn new skills in your agile team or elsewhere, and recommend frequent failure as a useful heuristic. SHOW LINKS: - Graham Lee blog post: https://www.sicpers.info/2018/02/to-become-a-beginner-first-become-an-expert/ - No True Scotsman fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman - TDD (Test-Driven Development): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development - Agile principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel describe some of the methods they used to improve their own skills in implementing and troubleshooting agile methods. They describe techniques from rubber ducking to doppelgängers. Enjoy! SHOW LINKS: - CITCON: http://citconf.com - Breakfast with Squirrel: http://douglassquirrel.com - Communities of Needs and Solutions: https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/ - Dr. David Burns: https://feelinggood.com/ - Paradoxical Double Standard: https://feelinggood.com/tag/paradoxical-double-standard/ - Rubber Duck Debugging: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging Alberto Savoia, older wiser self: http://www.albertosavoia.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: see link on http://troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
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This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss how to avoid blame - adopting a frame of ownership or problem-solving is a useful concrete action to try to achieve this - and tell a story about replacing one problem with a much bigger one to achieve team improvement. SHOW LINKS: - The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html - Alex Hudson blog post on blame: https://www.alexhudson.com/2018/01/03/troubleshooting-agile-new-podcast-notes-ownership/ - Mark Coleman: https://www.implicit-explicit.com/ - The Power of Habit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Habit - https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2016/04/08/coherence-busting-explained/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
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This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel each tell a story about how teams they've worked with handled deadlines. SHOW LINKS: - The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - Burndown charts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_down_chart *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
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This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel are on the road at CITCON Vienna, interviewing Lydia Tripp about her journey through a wide variety of agile software development teams and her evolving approach to improving delivery and quality. SHOW LINKS: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -CITCON: http://citconf.com/ -Extreme Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming -Lydia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydia-tripp-988a79/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel are on the road at CITCON Vienna, interviewing participants about how they use agile techniques and principles outside development. SHOW LINKS: -The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html -CITCON: http://citconf.com/ -London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show. Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2…
Why listen to team members and peers when your feelings and behaviours are obviously justified? We continue our how-to series on undermining your agile team with two stories about people who, believing they are clearly correct about how to improve their agile teams, move to shut down communication and manipulate the environment to ensure their approaches are adopted - with, predictably, zero internal commitment from the rest of the team. SHOW LINKS: - Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - Jeffrey's "Frustrated? It's Probably Your Fault" session: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/07/18/video-frustrated-it-is-probably-your-fault/ - Model I characteristics: http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Model_I_and *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Another in our top tips for ensuring your agile team does not achieve its goals - assume you have pure motives and others are actively malicious. We describe several helpful biases that, if adopted, can help you take up this mindset, and describe a founder duo with negative beliefs about each other who had mastered the art of "Getting to No" - until they read Fisher/Ury and discovered they actually had a common interest and positive motives. SHOW LINKS: - Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - Geoff Watts Top Ten Agile Podcasts: https://twitter.com/geoffcwatts/status/1057310923218698241 - Biases: Bias blind spot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_blind_spot , Negativity bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias , and naïve cynicism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_cynicism - Getting To Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
More this week on ways to fail with agile by making unilateral assumptions - this week's tip is to believe you are right and everyone else is wrong. In fact, even the underlying assumption that there is a single right answer should get you a long way to fracturing your team and ensuring discord. Squirrel tells a story of someone particularly skilled at explaining why he knows the One True Agile Way and Jeffrey recalls that Mark Twain quote about the problem being what you know that ain't so (and one thing that ain't so is that the quote is from Mark Twain!) SHOW LINKS: - Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - Dan North: https://dannorth.net/ - Jon Allspaw on the root cause fallacy: https://www.kitchensoap.com/2012/02/10/each-necessary-but-only-jointly-sufficient/ - Twain's quote (or not): http://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain-things-we-know-that-just-aint-so/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Turning our usual subject on its head, this week we start a short series on how to make sure your team does NOT improve. The first assumption to this end: the belief that you understand the situation while others don't. The change that's needed is obvious; all you have to do is convince others to adopt it. Easily adaptable to kanban, scrum, SAFe, or any other method that seems (to you!) to be the solution to your problems. Try it today, and tune in to further episodes for more ways to ensure you don't succeed in making effective changes! SHOW LINKS: - How Unilateral Control Undermines Team Results and Relationships, Schwarz: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/ - Naive realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Squirrel and Jeffrey look at a recent article by Luke Tomas on the "employee engagement industry" (we didn't even know it *was* an industry!) Jeffrey rapidly links this to Brian Marick's idea of Ease and Joy at work and we all agree that engagement, happiness, and joy are all useful, but lagging, indicators of team success - so you can't improve them directly with bigger bonuses or tougher objectives. Instead alignment, focus, and autonomy work to create these results by creating the conditions for happiness and good performance. SHOW LINKS: - Luke Tomas, The Employee Engagement Myth: https://medium.com/@lukethomas14/the-employee-engagement-myth-3885526782d7 - Brian Marick, Ease and Joy at Work: http://exampler.com/ease-and-joy/ - Previous episode on technical excellence: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/fowlers-state-of-agile-part-two - Reinventing Organisations (Teal and other colours): http://www.reinventingorganizations.com/ - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - Daniel Pink, Drive (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc - Niko Niko: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/nikoniko/ - Small Improvements: https://www.small-improvements.com/ - Joy, Inc : https://www.menloinnovations.com/joyinc/ - Joy At Work: http://www.dennisbakke.com/joy-at-work *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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Troubleshooting Agile

A Squirrel-only show since Jeffrey's away. Squirrel described the Post-It Factory Game which illustrates both work-in-progress limits and the more general notion of "Throughput over Utilisation" - as well as making your colleagues fall over themselves trying to produce blue squares at top speed. SHOW LINKS: Kanban by David Anderson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402 Similar games to illustrate agile and kanban ideas: https://availagility.co.uk/resources/games/lego-flow-game/ https://www.agile42.com/en/training/kanban-pizza-game/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Last (for now) in our series responding to Martin Fowler's State of Agile 2018 speech. This week we look at Fowler's third claim - that software projects should be replaced by software products - and go further, arguing that organising around user conversations is the key to a successful business outcome. SHOW LINKS: - Fowler on the State of Agile 2018: https://martinfowler.com/articles/agile-aus-2018.html - Commandos, Infantry, Police: https://devblog.timgroup.com/2013/07/24/invading-the-product-landscape-a-metaphor/ - Wardley mapping: https://medium.com/wardleymaps/doctrine-8bb0015688e5 *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We continue our series responding to Martin Fowler's State of Agile 2018 speech. This week we look at Fowler's second claim - that agile software development has forgotten that it's about software, and that technical excellence in practises like refactoring, testing, and architecting should be (but isn't) central to discussions of good agile practise. We agree with Fowler and go even further, arguing that we should be making the (strong) case for technical excellence as a source of business value - to make our products more flexible, easier to use, and more satisfying to users. SHOW LINKS: - Fowler on the State of Agile 2018: https://martinfowler.com/articles/agile-aus-2018.html - Marick on forgotten agile ideas: http://www.exampler.com/discipline-and-skill.html and http://www.exampler.com/blog/2007/05/16/six-years-later-what-the-agile-manifesto-left-out/ - Reinertsen, The Principles of Product Development Flow (cost of delay): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Product-Development-Flow-Generation/dp/1935401009 - Accelerate book: https://itrevolution.com/book/accelerate/ - Our previous episode on technical excellence and the agile principles: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/enhancing-agility-through-technical-excellence-and-good-design *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Martin Fowler gives us lots to chew on in the form of a speech on the state of agile software development in 2018. We start a series responding to Fowler by examining the Agile Industrial Complex - proponents of the "one true way" of agile development and out-of-the-box methodologies - and why Squirrel thinks the buyers and sellers of these "solutions" are doomed to failure by their "Theory X" cultures. SHOW LINKS: - Fowler on the State of Agile 2018: https://martinfowler.com/articles/agile-aus-2018.html - Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - The Military-Industrial Complex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex - Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Cynefin Framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Community of Solutions and Community of Needs: https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/ - CITCON: http://citconf.com/…
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A listener asks us how we reconcile the perceived conflict between learning and design - if you're iterating fast, how can you also build solid, scalable architecture? With examples from OO and Domain-Driven Design, we describe how early agile adopters addressed this issue (and how the meaning of "design" has evolved), and then make suggestions for modern teams. SHOW LINKS: - Elephant Carpaccio: https://dzone.com/articles/elephant-carpaccio-user - OO design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_design - DDD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Once you have a bunch of great ideas from your reflection, how can you make sure you and your team actually use what you've learnt? We illustrate several variations on one of our favourite learning-capture methods, the humble checklist - including self-improving lists and an idea that survived ten years by migrating among multiple checklist formats, from wiki page to slackbot. SHOW LINKS: - The Checklist Manifesto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Checklist_Manifesto - Jeffrey's Glider Training Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6QcOQ3olbE - Elizabeth Hendrickson's Testing Cheat Sheet: http://testobsessed.com/2007/02/test-heuristics-cheat-sheet/ - Making Software Like Intensive Care or Bombing Missions: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/09/10/making-software-like-intensive-care-or-bombing-missions/ - Exploratory Testing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratory_testing - Human in the Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-in-the-loop *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We continue our mini-series on how to learn by considering ways to realise your learning - that is, how to convert what you've learnt (say, from a retrospective) into changed behaviour. We discuss how and why to create pre-planned actions in response to situations where you'd like to do better, for instance software outages or suspiciously optimistic delivery dates. SHOW LINKS: - Feynman on the Challenger disaster: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt - Reg Revans, Action Learning: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/theories.html#action - Helicopter pilot story: https://www.verticalmag.com/features/ejection-decision/ - Ejection Decision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa1Ba_NEobs *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
Second of two episodes on reflection. We often say that learning is horrible and suggest you do it anyway - but how exactly can you learn? We use a model from Chris Argyris - single-loop and double-loop learning - and concentrate today on the double-loop style, which you might want to try if you want to radically change your thinking and try something completely new (which might or might not work!) SHOW LINKS: - Argyris on single- and double-loop learning: https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations - Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Innovator's Dilemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma - The Lean Startup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lean_Startup *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
First of two episodes on reflection. We often say that learning is horrible and suggest you do it anyway - but how exactly can you learn? We use a model from Chris Argyris - single-loop and double-loop learning - and concentrate today on the single-loop style, most appropriate for gradual improvement of a particular metric or characteristic. SHOW LINKS: - Argyris on single- and double-loop learning: https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations - Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
We have a look at Jason Palmer's "You Don't Need Standup" with a mutual learning, curious attitude. What can we learn from Jason? What information does he have that we don't? Where do we agree with him? We conclude that indeed some teams may be better off without standups - see Fred George's Programmer Anarchy for example - but before embarking on the experiment, it's worth asking "how will I know if it's working or not?" SHOW LINKS: - You Don't Need Standup: https://medium.com/@jsonpify/you-dont-need-standup-9a74782517c1 (By Jason Palmer, https://twitter.com/palmerj3 ) - Hacker News discussion of YDNS: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17671464 - Fred George on Programmer Anarchy: https://www.slideshare.net/fredgeorge/programmer-anarchy-and-managerless-processes - Cockburn on people in software development: http://web.archive.org/web/20170620211523/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear%2c+first-order+components+in+software+development *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2…
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