Troubleshooting Agile

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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