Troubleshooting Agile

What can the TV show House teach us about centralisation? In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about centralised communication, how it contributed to them first meeting and what to do when there’s an imbalance of expertise in the room.

SHOW LINKS:

- Peer Review article: https://defenderofthebasic.substack.com/p/we-know-how-to-fix-peer-review-part

- CITCON: https://citconf.com/london2025/

- Cynefin: https://thecynefin.co/about-us/about-cynefin-framework/

- Situational Leadership: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situational_leadership_theory

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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/

Death of the junior developer but long live the co-conspirator! In this re-worked bumper episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss two of their biggest takeaways from Citcon: the evolving role of AI in coding and how ‘co-conspirators’ have been pivotal in their careers and client work.

SHOW LINKS:

- CITCON London 2025: https://citconf.com/

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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/

Are you being unFAIR with your information-sharing? In this episode, Jeffrey talks us through the F.A.I.R principles of scientific publishing and how they can be applied to software development. Learn why you should prioritise open, accessible information and what you can do to put it into practice.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Weirdly named blog: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/

- Peer review article: https://defenderofthebasic.substack.com/p/we-know-how-to-fix-peer-review-part

- Linus's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus's_law

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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/

Forget the elevator pitch, you need a “napkin strategy!” In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey explore the idea of using models instead of talking, which often leads to confusion and frustration. Find out how you can collaborate better with your team when you share explicit and visually mutable models.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Balsamiq's Draft mode: https://balsamiq.com/support/docs/wireframing/editor-overview/project-properties/

- Previous episode on religion and science: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/religion-and-science

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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 demarcation stunting your business? In this episode, Squirrel tells us about how his 500-year-old house restoration reminded him of dealing with team members whose strict adherence to demarcation i.e. “That’s not my job!” led to mistakes, poor communication and lack of problem-solving - and why un-demarcation is the best route forward.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Demarcation: https://www.fordtransition.org.uk/stories/trade-unions-at-ford/demarcation

- Psychological safety: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_safety

- Seven Habits book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

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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/

The search for ultimate truth has no place in an effective business! In this episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel explain how to detect when your team are stuck in the “rightness” trap and how to move from abstract debate to scientific experiments that help you discover what actually works.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Less Wrong: https://www.lesswrong.com/

- Less Online: https://less.online/

- Abor Summer Camp: https://www.arborsummer.camp/

- Manifest: https://manifest.is/

- Driftwood hiring episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/driftwood-vs-planks-agile-team-roles-and-skills

- Socratic Dialogues: https://dn790004.ca.archive.org/0/items/PlatoDialogues/Plato_dialogues.pdf

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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/

With so many great reader emails recently Jeffrey and I haven’t got around to discussing CitCon on the podcast yet! This week we do just that, with Jeffrey’s reflections from discussions on the evolving role of AI in coding including Steve Yegge’s new article which revisits whether the ‘death’ of the junior developer will ultimately be a ‘revenge.’

Links:

- Steve Yegge article: https://sourcegraph.com/blog/revenge-of-the-junior-developer

- Jevon's Paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

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

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/

Do ‘Experts Have It Easy’? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how experts and novices can overcome the empathy gap with rapid feedback, and breaking down complex problems into smaller steps to facilitate understanding.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Boyd Kane's article: https://boydkane.com/essays/experts

- Gladwell, Blink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink:_The_Power_of_Thinking_Without_Thinking

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

- Terence Tao on finding gaps in proofs: https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/111287749336059662

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

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 is the true meaning of accountability? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey share a real-life story that illustrates how it’s often misunderstood. Listen now to learn why it's not about blame or punishment, but about 'rendering an account' - in other words, sharing reasoning and decisions transparently.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Previous episode on accountability: https://itrevolution.com/articles/accountability-leaders-are-accountable-too/

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

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 perverse incentives teach us about software development? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey for a discussion on the importance of personal responsibility and the potential benefits of 'blameful' postmortems in driving accountability and improvement within organisations, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile.

SHOW LINKS:

Links:

- Tal's article: https://talyarkoni.org/blog/2018/10/02/no-its-not-the-incentives-its-you/

- Blameless Postmortems: https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/blameless-postmortem/

- Perverse Incentives: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive

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

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/