Troubleshooting Agile

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

“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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected] -- 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

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]