Troubleshooting Agile

Continuing our tour of our new book Agile Conversations, we come to our chapter on the foundational method for conversational analysis, the Four Rs. We briefly explain the value of conversational analysis, and share our observation that even highly motivated people who know how much it can help their agile teams find it hard to actually pull out a piece of paper and do an analysis. The reasons for this are very similar to the reasons we need the analysis in the first place—our cognitive biases fool us into thinking we don't need the help, others do. SHOW LINKS: - Extract of Agile Conversations: https://itrevolution.com/conversations-humanitys-secret-weapon/ - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Previous episode on the Four Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs - James Clear, Atomic Habits: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits - London Organisational Learning meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Slack for Conversational Transformation: https://join.slack.com/t/agile-conversations/shared_invite/zt-e7j2fbet-jIjExF5HpWqMWpTJ1RfEfw Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/how-to-improve-and-why-you-wont/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. 
 Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com

The first chapter of Agile Conversations is all about people-centred development, and we tell the story of our own journey from over-determined software factory to today's feature factories, with similar Taylorist theories of management in both. In today's episode, we go into more depth on the causes of this tragic journey, touching on old and new topics like Theories X and Y, the Cynefin framework, and why there isn't a JIRA plugin for conversational quality. SHOW LINKS: - Taylorism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management - Theories X and Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y - 12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory by John Cutler: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Cargo cults: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult and https://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Cargo-Cult-Agile.html - Cockburn on people: https://web.archive.org/web/20140329203655/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear,+first-order+components+in+software+development - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/software-factory-to-feature-factory/ Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list!

Once again we speak with a fellow author - Mik Kersten. His book Project to Product explains, among many other things, why you shouldn't assign developers to more than one value stream—and what a value stream is, anyway! SHOW LINKS: - Mik Kersten: https://projecttoproduct.org - Project to Product: https://projecttoproduct.org/about-the-book/ - IT Revolution discount on 11 May 2020: https://twitter.com/ITRevBooks *** 
 Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out 12th May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! 
 We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. 
 Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com

Our book Agile Conversations is nearly out (publication date is 12 May 2020)! We reflect on how we struggled with agile adoption and accountability in our teams and how we learnt to study and improve our conversations to get dramatically better results and internal commitment, eventually leading to us writing Agile Conversations to help spread the word about these techniques. Transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/road-to-agile-conversations/ SHOW LINKS: - Twitter debate with Benjamin Mitchell: https://twitter.com/benjaminm/status/494397820 - Schwarz, Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf - London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/ - Weinberg on Writing: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/302021.Weinberg_on_Writing Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/road-to-agile-conversations/ *** 
 Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! 
 We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. 
 Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com

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

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

What we're doing these days is not "remote working"—we have people ill, kids at home, and no option to work from a cafe. But even more than this, most of us haven't put in place alignment and accountability mechanisms, and we're operating on shared understanding from March that is going to expire very soon if it hasn't already. We discuss these and other challenges and briefly point to solutions that we've seen work, like briefing and back briefing from Bungay's Art of Action. Transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/pandemicproductivity/ SHOW LINKS: - TBD blog post on remote working: https://www.tbd.community/en/a/what-you-are-doing-not-remote-work-it-coping-global-emergency - Tweets on remote working: https://twitter.com/neilmwebb/status/1245012958415073282 https://twitter.com/techgirl1908/status/1246459512069820418 - Art of Action summary covering briefing and back briefing: https://portal.netobjectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Bungay_ArtOfAction_ChapterRecaps_Article.pdf - Sinek, Start With Why: https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/ Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/pandemicproductivity/ *** 
 Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! 
 We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. 
 Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com

Exploring the challenges and benefits of remote working, the podcast delves into the concept of affordances in communication tools. They discuss strategies for effective collaboration, the significance of non-verbal cues in face-to-face interactions, difficulties in remote training, and leveraging technology for shared experiences. The hosts also explore spatially sensitive voice chat and virtual collaboration in Minecraft, while also promoting audience engagement and sharing updates on their upcoming book and podcast episodes.

Active Listening is very useful for normal conversations and meetings, but even more valuable when everyone's remote. We describe the technique, give listeners a chance to practise it, and give refinements like the Active Listening Relay for group discussions. SHOW LINKS: - Xavier Amador and LEAP: http://dramador.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnbOizw_zS0 - Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26156469-never-split-the-difference - Six Thinking Hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats Episode transcript: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/posts/active-listening-for-remote-working/ *** 
 Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can pre-order and get a free video when you join our mailing list! 
 We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. 
 Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com 
 Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile 
 Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2

Learn how to make sense of the world and adjust your work accordingly using the Cynefin framework. Explore the different domains of the framework and how to navigate chaos. Discover the importance of empathy and understanding in problem-solving.