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. 
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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

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. 
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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

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

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

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@conversationa

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 tr

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 ne

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

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. 
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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.conversationaltra

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 Compass

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://conversa

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:/

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,