Troubleshooting Agile

What is ‘movie logic’ and how does it work in real life? Listen to this episode of Troubleshooting, as Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about how movies rely on artificial drama and withheld information to create tension, but open communication and marginal gains is how effective teams really thrive.

Links:

- Cate Hall, "Are You Stuck In Movie Logic?": https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/are-you-stuck-in-movie-logic

- James Clear on UK Cycling's marginal gains: https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

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About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

What happens when you have the knowledge but not the skills? On this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey continue to discuss the three basic elements of learning, how they apply to software development, and what problems arise when you have one or two of them, but not all three.

Links:

- Orienteering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienteering

- Building to learn: https://www.strategyzer.com/library/dont-build-when-you-build-measure-learn

- Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow

- Three Types of Learning Venn Diagram: https://squirrelsquadron.com/images/threetypesoflearning-25Nov2025.png

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

What can we learn about learning from driving in Alabama? On this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the challenges and rewards of learning and focus on three times of learning - knowledge, methods and skills - and how Squirrel applied all of them (but not quite well enough) when he had to drive in Alabama to visit family.

Links:

- CFAR workshop: https://www.rationality.org/workshops/upcoming

- Mundanity of Excellence paper: https://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-mundanity-of-excellence-an-ethnographic-report-on-stratification-and-olympic-swimmers

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

Is “Systems Thinking is dead” the new “Agile is dead”? In this episode, we do a summary episode on what became a 4 episode series stemming from a disparaging article about systems thinking by Ed Braden. We react to the article, get Ed’s response and then - using a little help from Google Ai - offer successful examples of implementing systems in large government projects.

Links:

- Bradon's article: worksinprogress.co/issue/magical-systems-thinking/

- Bradon's self-responses on X: x.com/EdBradon/status/1966470317288616342

- Ed's reply on Twitter: x.com/EdBradon/status/1971266284990976361

- Gall's Law: www.driverlesscrocodile.com/processes-w…-galls-law/

Shape Up episodes:

Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part I

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-i

Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part II

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-ii

Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part II

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-iii

Full episodes on this topic:

Someone is wrong on the internet about systems thinking! https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/someone-is-wrong-on-the-internet-about-systems-thinking

Systems Thinking rant redux, Part I https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/systems-thinking-rant-redux-part-i

Systems Thinking rant redux, Part II https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/systems-thinking-rant-redux-part-ii

Systems Thinking rant redux, Part III

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/systems-thinking-rant-redux-part-iii

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes.

You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

What can a solo around-the-world sailing race teach us about software development? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the ‘Maintenance Race’ - a story of robust preemptive maintenance, which highlights the importance of proactive maintenance in your agile team.

Links:

- Stewart Brand's chapter: https://books.worksinprogress.co/book/maintenance-of-everything/the-maintenance-race/the-maintenance-race/7

- Brian Marick, Ease and Joy: http://exampler.com/ease-and-joy/

- Previous episode on root-cause analysis: https://agileconversations.com/blog/root-causes/

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

We’ve got examples! In the third episode of a three-part series, Squirrel and Jeffrey revisit the contentious discussion around system thinking and their reaction to an article by Ed Braden.They look at successful examples of systems thinking implemented in both small and large government projects, like the UK's automatic enrollment in pensions and Vietnam's education reforms.

Links:

- Ed Bradon's article: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/magical-systems-thinking/

- Parts I and II of this series:

- Part I - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/systems-thinking-rant-redux-part-i

- Part II - https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/systems-thinking-rant-redux-part-ii

- Gall's Law: https://personalmba.com/galls-law/

- Religion and Science episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/religion-and-science

- How Big Things Get Done: https://sites.prh.com/how-big-things-get-done-book

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

Systems thinking isn’t the problem! In the second episode of a three-part series, Squirrel and Jeffrey revisit the contentious discussion around system thinking and their reaction to an article by Ed Braden. They clarify misconceptions about systems thinking, argue its benefits, and propose that it has shifted the 'Overton window' in project management.

Links:

- Ed Bradon's article: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/magical-systems-thinking/

- Part I of this series: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/systems-thinking-rant-redux-part-i

- Works in Progress magazine: https://worksinprogress.co/

- Strangler Fig pattern: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/StranglerFigApplication.html

- Overton window: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

- Case studies Ed referred to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/systems-thinking-for-civil-servants/case-studies

--------------------------------------------------

You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

Were we wrong about systems thinking? In the first episode of a three-part series, Squirrel and Jeffrey revisit the contentious discussion around system thinking and their reaction to an article by Ed Braden. They hear from listeners, as well as Ed himself, emphasizing the importance of precise language and shared understanding.

Links:

- Ed Bradon's article: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/magical-systems-thinking/

- Ed's reply on Twitter: https://x.com/EdBradon/status/1971266284990976361

- Previous episode/rant: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/someone-is-wrong-on-the-internet-about-systems-thinking

- Shape Up episodes:

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-i

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-ii

https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/ryan-singer-on-basecamp-and-shape-up-part-iii

--------------------------------------------------

You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

This episode, we are at CITCON 2025, answering listeners’ questions live. Join Squirrel, Jeffrey and our live audience as we discuss integrating tools from methodologies beyond Agile, borrowing practices from different domains such as CBT, Lean Manufacturing, and strategic selling, and Squirrel’s spontaneous approach for solving problems.

Links:

- David Burns: https://feelinggood.com/list-of-feeling-good-podcasts/

- CBT: https://beckinstitute.org/

- Shu Ha Ri: https://www.pluralsight.com/tech-blog/shu-ha-ri/

- Red Green Refactor: https://www.jamesshore.com/v2/blog/2005/red-green-refactor

- Boy Scout Rule: https://medium.com/engineering-managers-journal/the-boy-scout-rule-for-better-code-e6ffda090902

- MCP: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/

- Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/114683/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel-kahneman/

--------------------------------------------------

You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/

This episode, we are at CITCON 2025, celebrating 400 episodes of Troubleshooting Agile. Join Squirrel and Jeffrey as they look back on the past 400 episodes, discuss how the podcast served as a tool to flesh out ideas for their book ‘Agile Conversations’ and what they would do differently in the past - or might do differently in the future!

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You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com

And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at [email protected]

--------------------------------------------------

About Your Hosts

Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication.

Squirrel is an advisor, author, keynote speaker, coach, and consultant, and he's helped over 300 companies of all sizes make huge, profitable improvements in their culture, skills, and processes. You can find out more about his work here: douglassquirrel.com/index.html

Jeffrey is Vice President of Engineering at ION Analytics, Organiser at CITCON, the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference, and is an accomplished author and speaker. You can connect with him here: www.linkedin.com/in/jfredrick/