Troubleshooting Agile

By A weekly problem-solving session for all things agileBusiness

Troubleshooting Agile episodes

June 17, 2020 Commitment: Engagement is Not Enough
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]
16 min
June 10, 2020 Why: Finding the Balance for Joint Design
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]
21 min
June 03, 2020 Fear: The Original Sin of Unproductive Conversations
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]
19 min
May 27, 2020 A Sense of Security, Gained & Lost
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]
18 min
May 20, 2020 How To Improve and Why You Won't
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]
19 min
May 13, 2020 Software Factory to Feature Factory
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!
21 min
May 11, 2020 Project to Product with Mik Kersten
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]
26 min
May 06, 2020 The Road to Agile Conversations
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]
31 min
April 29, 2020 Team Topologies
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]
24 min
April 22, 2020 The Cultural Negotiator
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]
29 min

About Troubleshooting Agile

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Troubleshooting Agile is a problem-solving session for agile teams. Jeffrey Fredrick and Douglas Squirrel look at common problems agile teams face and provide practical, immediately useful advice for…