Troubleshooting Agile
A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile
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Troubleshooting Agile is a problem-solving session for agile teams. Jeffrey and Squirrel look at common problems agile teams face and provide practical, immediately useful advice for getting back on track.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
3 days ago
Johanna Rothman on Modern Management: Part II
The fabulous Johanna Rothman, author of 18 books on tech and management, joins us for part II to describe what modern management is and how empathy, safety, and purpose can motivate and inspire your agile team.
SHOW LINKS:
- Johanna: jrothman.com , createadaptablelife.com
- Behind Closed Doors: https://www.jrothman.com/books/behind-closed-doors-secrets-of-great-management/
- Modern Management Made Easy: https://leanpub.com/b/modernmanagementmadeeasy
- Bob Sutton on friction: https://www.bobsutton.net/friction-project/
- Lindsay Holmwood on management as a career change: https://fractio.nl/2014/09/19/not-a-promotion-a-career-change/
---
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
Jan 13, 2021
Johanna Rothman on Modern Management - Part I
The fabulous Johanna Rothman, author of 18 books on tech and management, joins us to describe what modern management is and how empathy, safety, and purpose can motivate and inspire your agile team.
SHOW LINKS:
- Johanna: jrothman.com , createadaptablelife.com
- Behind Closed Doors: https://www.jrothman.com/books/behind-closed-doors-secrets-of-great-management/
- Modern Management Made Easy: https://leanpub.com/b/modernmanagementmadeeasy
- Bob Sutton on friction: https://www.bobsutton.net/friction-project/
- Lindsay Holmwood on management as a career change: https://fractio.nl/2014/09/19/not-a-promotion-a-career-change/
---
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
Jan 6, 2021
Our Intentions for 2021
After last week's episode on ahas in 2020, we describe what we're planning to do to help people do the work, move faster, and be productive.
SHOW LINKS
- 2020 Ahas episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/our-biggest-a-has-of-2020
- London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/
- Episode on Conversational Dojos: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/conversational-dojos
- Round Tuit: https://www.quantumenterprises.co.uk/roundtuit/traditional_round_tuits.htm
Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See 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
Dec 31, 2020
Our Biggest A-ha's of 2020
We describe our big ahas of a weird and somehow still educational year, including insights on productivity, deliberate practise, and speed of change.
SHOW LINKS
- Software Factory to Feature Factory episode: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/software-factory-to-feature-factory/
- London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/
- Blog post on Conversational Dojos: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/conversational-dojos/
Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See 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
Dec 23, 2020
Giving 110% — of course!
Squirrel and Jeffrey deconstruct the defensive reasoning behind planning 110% of velocity in each sprint. Hidden conversations and assumptions abound, including the perception that this is normal, that the team will do more as a result, and that we know what 110% is in the first place.
SHOW LINKS:
- Slack book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123715.Slack
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
Dec 16, 2020
The Impossible Question
Squirrel tells the story of a client who was asked an impossible question about agile team productivity, and we explore why such impossible questions are actually valuable and worth investigating with curiosity.
SHOW LINKS:
- Kobayashi Maru: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru
- Mu: http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/m/mu.html https://wiki.c2.com/?MuAnswer
---
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
Dec 9, 2020
Fear and Normalization of Deviance
A listener asks us to explain the link between "normalisation of deviance" and fear. Using examples like an agile team dropping its retrospectives, or NASA launching the Space Shuttle in too-cold conditions, we illustrate how being afraid can drive a group away from its espoused norms and toward dangerous alternatives, and conversely how you can use examples of "normalised deviance" to find and mitigate hidden fears.
SHOW LINKS:
- Idealcast with Gene Kim: https://itrevolution.com/the-idealcast-episode-14/
- Mitigating fears through expressing emotion on an oil rig: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/17/482203447/invisibilia-how-learning-to-be-vulnerable-can-make-life-safer
- The Fear Conversation chapter discussion: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/fear-the-original-sin-of-unproductive-conversations/
- Previous episode on normalisation of deviance: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/overcoming-normalisation-of-deviance
---
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
Dec 2, 2020
"Yes, And..."
Squirrel tells the story of an agile team faced with seemingly irresistible demands, and describes how switching to the "Yes, And" stance (originating from improvisational theatre) helped them find a solution that worked for everyone.
SHOW LINKS:
- "Yes, And" in improv and brainstorming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_and…
- CTO Craft: How to Talk with Your CEO and Other Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwg-x5X3450
- Dr. Burns's Disarming Technique: https://feelinggood.com/tag/disarming-technique/
- Our MIT Sloan Management Review article on the Walled Garden: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/solving-the-problem-of-siloed-it-in-organizations/
- Nonviolent communication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication
- Six thinking hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats
---
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
Nov 25, 2020
Alistair Cockburn: Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Collaboration Cards
We look at two elements - Collaboration and Reflection - of the Heart of Agile approach developed by our friend Alistair Cockburn, and illustrate how conscious and attentive listening and reflection on emotions make a big difference for agile teams.
SHOW LINKS:
- Motherhood and Apple Pie: https://hotidioms.com/2012/02/21/motherhood-and-apple-pie/
- Collaboration Cards: https://www.collaborationcards.com , https://web.archive.org/web/20170621140230/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Collaboration+Cards
- Collaboration Cards article: http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/702523/26767147/1451886700677/201601-Cockburn.pdf?token=oTGZ9syVsnh4d%2BtW8ggVolCglEM%3D
- Collaboration Cards course: https://www.heartofagile.academy/courses/using-collaboration-cards
- Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html
- Thanks for the Feedback: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18114120-thanks-for-the-feedback
- Previous episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/alistair-cockburn-heart-of-the-heart-of-agile
---
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
Nov 18, 2020
Alistair Cockburn: Heart of the Heart of Agile?
We look at two elements - Collaboration and Reflection - of the Heart of Agile approach developed by our friend Alistair Cockburn, and illustrate how conscious and attentive listening and reflection on emotions make a big difference for agile teams.
SHOW LINKS:
- Heart of Agile tweet: https://twitter.com/TotherAlistair/status/1312407646364991489
- Alistair Cockburn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_Cockburn
- Conversational Dojo kit: https://itrevolution.com/build-agile-conversations-with-conversational-dojo-webinar/
- Active Listening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listening
- London NVC Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Nonviolent-Communication-NVC-London/
- London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/
- Ladder of Inference: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/a-sense-of-security-gained-lost
- Above the Line: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/walking-the-line-emotional-unawareness
---
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
Nov 11, 2020
Internet Cocktail Parties And Other Human Interactions - Misha Glouberman
We are joined by the wise and thoughtful Misha Glouberman, who organises Internet cocktail parties and better, more human-friendly meetings for organisations and teams—and the two turn out to have a lot in common.
SHOW LINKS:
- Misha: http://www.mishaglouberman.com
- Trampoline Hall: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/trampoline-hall/id1190668782?mt=2
- Internet Cocktail Party Instructions: https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-run-a-zoom-cocktail-party-and-have-better-classes-conferences-and-meetings-too-dc2c5b58f8be
- Gather.town: https://gather.town/
- CITCON: https://citconf.com
---
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
Nov 4, 2020
Customers From Pluto
Squirrel is gobsmacked by user stories that appear to be about aliens, who want "intuitive interfaces" and "modern technology", where customers from Earth want "fun with my kids" or "relief from boredom". Jeffrey reminds us that such stories can lead to conversations that tease out the emotions and the human stories behind the words. Both agree that once we revise our stories to create empathy, we also allow the team to discover amazing new ways to solve problems.
SHOW LINKS:
- Personas: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/personas-why-and-how-you-should-use-them
- User stories as conversation promises: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story
- Feature factory: https://medium.com/hackernoon/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-44a5b938d6a2
- User Stories Gone Wrong: https://www.conversationaltransformation.com/blog/user-stories-gone-wrong/
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Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransformation.com where you can order you…
Oct 28, 2020
The Liberated Elephant with Jessica Katz
Jessica Katz is an agile coach who uses curiosity and conversational skills to help agile teams perform better. She explains why you need to liberate the elephant in the room, how you can do that through nonviolent communication, and how one person saying "good morning" unlocked better performance for a whole team.
SHOW LINKS:
- Jessica Katz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeskatz/ https://liberatedelephant.com/events/2020/10
- Agile Ireland talk: https://www.agileleanireland.org - “Creating Boundaries, Practicing Curiosity, and Making Requests”
- Gallup poll: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/284180/factors-driving-record-high-employee-engagement.aspx
- B Corporation: https://bcorporation.net/
- Dare to Lead: https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/
- Nonviolent Communication: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication
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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…
Oct 21, 2020
Changing Behaviour
Jeffrey is inspired by Jon Smart and the DOES Virtual conference to discuss homeostasis as a source of resistance to change, and Squirrel tells a client story about curiosity as a way to help a complex system adapt.
SHOW LINKS:
- DOES Virtual "Las Vegas": https://events.itrevolution.com/virtual/
- Jon Smart: https://itrevolution.com/sooner-safer-happier/
- Complex Adaptive Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_adaptive_system
- Paradoxical Agenda-Setting: https://feelinggood.com/tag/paradoxical-agenda-setting/
---
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
Oct 14, 2020
From Taylor to Toyota
Following last week's praise of Taylorism, a suitable approach for making complicated problems simple, this week we look at a similar revolution in democratising innovation and creating a learning organisation—by uncovering hidden complexity and removing status as a barrier to discovery of error.
SHOW LINKS:
Team of Teams: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22529127-team-of-teams
- Cynefin framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework
- Art of Action: https://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink
- High Velocity Edge: http://www.thehighvelocityedge.com/
- Don’t be a Zombie Organisation:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dont-be-a-zombie-organiza_b_3306513
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6kqnQZuIHg
- Normalization of Deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance
- Status as obstacle to learning:
https://pedestrianobservations.com/2020/09/19/learning-worst-industry-practices/
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Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversa…
Oct 7, 2020
In Praise of Taylor
Frederick Taylor gets a bad rap - even from us, as we had a lot to say in Agile Conversations about how his methods have been misapplied in "software factories". But in the right circumstances, his ideas about repeatable, simple processes have a lot of value, and can lead directly to valuable automation opportunities. We describe examples including how continuous integration developed from an arcane art to a routine process along Taylorist lines.
SHOW LINKS:
- Taylorism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management
- Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework
- Team of Teams: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22529127-team-of-teams
- IdealCast: https://itrevolution.com/the-idealcast-episode-11/
---
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 a…
Sep 30, 2020
Conversational Dojos
Both of us learned to improve our conversations through regular practise with others - and today we describe how you can do that too, by organising a Conversational Dojo using our (free!) kits and videos.
SHOW LINKS:
- Free Dojo kit: https://itrevolution.com/conversational-dojo-kit-free-download/
- Conference talk on conversational dojos: https://events.itrevolution.com/virtual-programming/
- London Organizational Learning meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/
- Action Design: https://actiondesign.com/
- Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html
---
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
Sep 16, 2020
How to Stop "Harping"
One of Squirrel's clients finds herself "harping on" a particular point in her technical team, and is frustrated that behaviour doesn't change. Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss how this and other "tells" indicate that you're stuck and how to come up with a pre-planned action to address these that will help you be curious and get to improved performance.
SHOW LINKS:
- Self-sealing: https://pages.uoregon.edu/mgall/designmemo%233.htm
- Bozo bit: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-bozo-bit-and-duelling-ladders
---
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
Sep 9, 2020
Your Team is Bigger Than You Think
Reacting to an insightful comment from Elisabeth Hendrickson, Squirrel and Jeffrey have a minor tussle over how to interpret the idea of "reflecting and adapting". They eventually agree that adapting works, but only if your definition of "team" is broad enough.
SHOW LINKS:
Idealcast with Gene Kim and Elisabeth Hendrickson: https://itrevolution.com/idealcast/idealcast-episode-3/
Elisabeth Hendrickson: https://twitter.com/testobsessed
Single Loop vs Double Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-loop_learning
CITCON: https://citconf.com/
---
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
Sep 2, 2020
A Horrible Story
A client tells Squirrel about a "horrible" meeting where his team accused him of pushing them to overwork and take shortcuts, but we discover it was actually a great breakthrough.
Learning is the detection and correction of error, and in this case, Squirrel's client discovered a major cultural problem that he's now able to correct. We reflect on why feeling horrible can be a great indicator of valuable learning.
SHOW LINKS:
Burn up chart: https://www.modernanalyst.com/Careers/InterviewQuestions/tabid/128/ID/3433/What-is-a-Burn-Up-Chart-and-how-does-it-differ-from-a-Burn-Down-Chart.aspx
Kathryn Schulz on being wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QleRgTBMX88
Theory X and Theory Y:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-cannot-learn-damn-thing-from-semco-toyota-niels-pflaeging/
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…
Aug 26, 2020
Agile Marie Kondo: The Shoe Principle
The Shoe Principle says that if you buy a pair of shoes, you have to get rid of one. We hadn't heard of it until a client brought it up as a way to introduce a new process without overloading the team. We see lots of places where agile teams could apply the Shoe Principle, including alerting systems that no one looks at or standups that have become rote and useless. Like Marie Kondo, we suggest asking whether each team activity "sparks joy", and if not, try parking it for a week to see if you really need it.
SHOW LINKS:
Marie Kondo: https://konmari.com
Normalization of deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance
Agile Retrospectives book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/721338.Agile_Retrospectives
---
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.
Emai…
Aug 19, 2020
The Two-Shirt Solution For Agile Chaos
Squirrel describes two shirts he makes for clients, the How Shirt and the What Shirt, that provide a brief and memorable description of the roles of a technical leader and a product leader respectively, reducing chaos and confusion in agile teams. You may not need job descriptions if four words on a shirt suffice, and as a bonus, the shirts can help your team define what they are doing and how they are working toward business goals—and importantly, what they are *not* doing.
SHOW LINKS:
- Negative space: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_space
---
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
Aug 12, 2020
Chris Parsons: The Trouble with Training
We welcome agile thinker and experienced CTO Chris Parsons, whose blog Delivery Doubled makes the case that cookie-cutter agile approaches don't work. We discuss why out-of-the-box agile training doesn't work, whether we'll have figured out the "right" way to agile a few hundreds of years hence, and how one client discovered that everything Chris was teaching wouldn't work for them and what he and they did about it.
Free webinar upcoming with Squirrel and Jeffrey on Monday 17th August - see https://itrevolution.com/conversational-dojo-webinar-sign-up/
SHOW LINKS:
Chris Parsons, Delivery Doubled: https://deliverydoubled.com
The Mundanity of Excellence: https://fermatslibrary.com/s/the-mundanity-of-excellence-an-ethnographic-report-on-stratification-and-olympic-swimmers
Dan North, Accelerated Agile: https://dannorth.net/courses/accelerated-agile/
Martin Fowler State of Agile podcast episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/fowlers-state-of-agile-2018-part-one
Squirrel/Jeff…
Aug 5, 2020
Thrashing vs Focus
Squirrel describes a client of his that is "thrashing"—trying to do so many different things that they aren't getting anything finished. We reflect on why this happens, including the idea that being busy feels good while increasing focus can mean disrupting comfortable routines. We suggest asking "why can't we finish this today?" as a forcing mechanism for discovering bottlenecks and alternative approaches.
SHOW LINKS:
- Theory of Constraints: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints
- Domenica DeGrandis, Making Work Visible: https://itrevolution.com/book/making-work-visible/
---
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
Jul 29, 2020
Fun as the Key Agile Metric, with Steve Berez
We're joined by Steve Berez, partner at Bain and co-author of Doing Agile Right: Transformation Without Chaos. Steve tells us some stories from his 30-year consulting career, illustrating missteps he's seen in digital transformations like "You Folks Do Agile" and "Agile as a Quick Fix". He advocates the metric of "team fun" as the best way to determine whether you're doing agile right.
SHOW LINKS:
- Steve's book and other material: https://www.bain.com/agile
- Article on the Agile C-Suite: https://hbr.org/2020/05/the-agile-c-suite
- Previous podcast episode mentioning Cargo Cult Agile: 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!
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
Email us at info@conversationaltransformation.com
Jul 22, 2020
Handling Negative Emotions Safely
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…
Jul 15, 2020
User Stories Gone Wrong
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
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Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://conversationaltransform…
Jul 8, 2020
Clarke the Bottleneck Guy
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
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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 a…
Jul 1, 2020
Lessons for Remote Work from DevOps Enterprise Summit London Virtual
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…
Jun 24, 2020
Accountability: Leaders are Accountable Too
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
- Ac…
Jun 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/
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Our new book, Agile Conversations, is out n…
Jun 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-unilatera…
Jun 3, 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-conversation…
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.conversation…
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/…
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-orde…
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 info@conversationaltransformation.com
May 6, 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/…
Apr 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 info@conversationaltransformation.com
Apr 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 info@conversationaltransformation.com
Apr 15, 2020
Pandemic Productivity
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_Chap…
Apr 8, 2020
Missing Affordances for Remote Working
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 info@conversationaltransformation.com
Apr 1, 2020
Active Listening for Remote Working
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:…
Mar 26, 2020
Cynefin: Sense-Making in a Time of Turmoil
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…
Mar 18, 2020
Do Release On Fridays
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 info@conversationaltransformation.com
Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile
Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subsc…
Mar 11, 2020
Gaining Emotional Awareness
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…
Mar 4, 2020
Walking the Line: Emotional Unawareness
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-…
Feb 26, 2020
Measuring Teams
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 vid…
Feb 19, 2020
Multi-Sprint Stories
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 troubleshootingagil…
Feb 12, 2020
Big Bang Badness
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
Feb 5, 2020
Escaping the Room of Pain
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…
Jan 29, 2020
Handling Constraints
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 t…
Jan 22, 2020
Withholding Information
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.…
Jan 15, 2020
DevOps for the Modern Enterprise
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
Jan 8, 2020
Conversational Transformations - Las Vegas
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
Jan 1, 2020
Non-Functional Requirements - From Rant to Agreement
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_v…
Dec 25, 2019
Staying Agile Over the Holidays
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 Proje…
Dec 18, 2019
Nonfunctional Requirements Considered Harmful - A Rant
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
Dec 11, 2019
War and Peace and IT
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 a…
Dec 4, 2019
Making Output Visible
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 feedb…
Nov 27, 2019
Making Work Visible with Dominica DeGrandis
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/TShooting…
Nov 20, 2019
The Bozo Bit and Duelling Ladders
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…
Nov 13, 2019
John Willis on DevOps Past, Present, and Future - Part II
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.wikipe…
Nov 6, 2019
John Willis on DevOps Past, Present, and Future - Part I
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_Fran…
Oct 30, 2019
Feature Factory Revisited: Lower WIP
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
*…
Oct 23, 2019
Conversational Transformation
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 M…
Oct 16, 2019
Agile is Dead, Long Live Agile
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…
Oct 9, 2019
Scoring Briefing and Back Briefing
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 iTune…
Oct 2, 2019
What Are Leaders Good For, Anyway?
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 troubleshoo…
Sep 25, 2019
Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part III
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…
Sep 18, 2019
Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part II
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 re…
Sep 11, 2019
Ryan Singer on Basecamp and Shape Up, Part I
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,…
Sep 4, 2019
Mining for Conflict
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
Aug 28, 2019
Boosting Emotional Signals
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
Aug 21, 2019
What is Agile, Anyway?
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 ha…
Aug 14, 2019
Troubleshooting Checklists
Troubleshooting Checklists
Checklists are a great way to capture learning in any organisation, but sometimes they don't work - why not? A recent study of hospitals with varying levels of success in adopting checklists helps us reflect on similar adoption challenges for agile methods.
SHOW LINKS:
- Checklist article from Nature: https://www.nature.com/news/hospital-checklists-are-meant-to-save-lives-so-why-do-they-often-fail-1.18057
- Agile principle 12 on reflection and improvement: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/12-principles-behind-the-agile-manifesto/
- Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto: http://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/
- Ignaz Semmelweis, promoter of hand-washing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
***
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…
Aug 7, 2019
Meltdown, Part IV
Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis.
GUEST LINKS:
- Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com
- Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield
- Book site: http://meltdownbook.net
- Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/
- Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be
SHOW LINKS:
- Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)
- Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents
- John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/
- Just Culture book: ht…
Jul 31, 2019
Meltdown, Part III
Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis.
GUEST LINKS:
- Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com
- Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield
- Book site: http://meltdownbook.net
- Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/
- Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be
SHOW LINKS:
- Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)
- Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents
- John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/
- Just Culture book: ht…
Jul 24, 2019
Meltdown, Part II
Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis.
GUEST LINKS:
- Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com
- Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield
- Book site: http://meltdownbook.net
- Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/
- Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be
SHOW LINKS:
- Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)
- Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents
- John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/
- Just Culture book: ht…
Jul 17, 2019
Meltdown, Part I
Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis.
GUEST LINKS:
- Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com
- Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield
- Book site: http://meltdownbook.net
- Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/
- Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be
SHOW LINKS:
- Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional)
- Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents
- John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/
- Just Culture book: ht…
Jul 10, 2019
Software for Humans
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss the history of “software for humans”, the agile, lean, and devops movements. No links this week as the book deadline looms, but feel free to ask us if you can’t find a reference. Normal service will resume shortly!
***
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
Jul 3, 2019
Learning Through Action
A listener question about running a Troubleshooting Agile study group inspires advice on keeping your learning from becoming lunchtime entertainment, as well as surprisingly relevant stories about a pottery class, a management seminar, and the Israeli military.
SHOW LINKS:
- Joel's tweet requesting advice on his study group: https://twitter.com/joelchippindale/status/1143137854278840321
- Our series on the twelve agile principles: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-importance-of-the-agile-principles
- Pottery story from Art & Fear: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961454733/ via https://stratechery.com/2015/buzzfeed-important-news-organization-world/
- Joel Spolsky on Fire and Motion: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
- Reg Revans on action and learning: http://actionlearning.academy/benefits.html
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com
Tweet us:…
Jun 26, 2019
Greenshifting
The engineers know the project is in terrible trouble, but the executives think it's going great. This "greenshifting" anti-pattern occurs at NASA, software companies, and everywhere in between. We tell a few related stories, including a fable, and suggest methods that might work to counteract the greenshifting tendency in your organisation.
SHOW LINKS:
- "The Mushroom Song" by Steve Savitsky: http://steve.savitzky.net/Songs/mushroom/
- The SNAFU Principle (communication fable) from the Jargon File: http://skeptictank.org/files//cowtext/jargn10.htm
- Appendix F on the Challenger disaster, by Richard Feynman: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt
- Scott Ambler on Greenshifting: https://www.drdobbs.com/dr-dobbs-agile-newsletter/191600661
- Alistair Cockburn on information radiators: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=24486&ranMID=24808
- Brian Marick on lava lamps as build status indicators: https://gist.github.com/ma…
Jun 19, 2019
Predictability - Productivity Axis
You can invest a lot of your time in making your software delivery predictable (a la NASA) or in making your team productive (a la early stage startups). Which is best? We introduce the idea of a "tilted slider" to explain this tradeoff, and the "gravity" that pulls you toward predictability even when it may not be the best emphasis. And as usual, we have stories of effective and ineffective action from our own experiences.
SHOW LINKS:
- Cowboy coding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy_coding
***
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
Jun 12, 2019
Learning Faster by Failing More
How are you briefing your team? What measurements are you using to help them learn? Today, we discuss cases where giving the team incentives to make more mistakes produces positive results, and others where urging them to make fewer is catastrophic.
SHOW LINKS:
- Andon cord: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andon_(manufacturing)
- Toyota Kata: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/Homepage.html
- NTSB immunity for pilots: https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/overview/immunity.html
***
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
Jun 5, 2019
Briefing and Back Briefing
Today we describe a technique for avoiding micromanagement and promoting autonomy - first pioneered by the Prussian military! We describe how briefing and back briefing help Boeing build airplanes and how the method increases efficiency and reduces drama in the agile teams we work with.
SHOW LINKS:
- Art of Action by Bungay: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink
- Boeing weight economy: in https://www.amazon.co.uk/Serious-Play-Companies-Simulate-Innovate/dp/0875848141
***
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
May 29, 2019
Why Can't We Ship Today?
Today we relate three great stories we heard or told at CITCON in Ghent, all starting with different answers to Jeffrey's question, "Why can't we ship that today?" The answers lead us to different suggestions for helping teams to move faster and get customer feedback.
SHOW LINKS:
- Value stream mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-stream_mapping
- CITCON notes: https://citconf.com/wiki/index.php?title=WarStoriesAndSuccesses
- Poppendieck and Poppendieck, Lean Software Development: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lean-Software-Development-Agile-Toolkit/dp/0321150783
***
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
May 22, 2019
Values of the Give Up Control Model
After the Mutual Learning and Unilateral Control models, this week we examine one more model for working with your team, perhaps the easiest: giving up! This one feels the best, since everyone is involved and gets to express his or her feelings. But unsurprisingly, giving up control means you give up valuable information that could help you make a better decision.
SHOW LINKS:
- Giving Up Control article: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/hr/moving-away-control
- Adding Your Own Egg (Weinberg): http://stevenjackson.github.io/notebook/weinberg
- Briefing and Back Briefing (Bungay): https://www.amazon.com/Art-Action-Leaders-between-Actions/dp/1857885597
***
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/id132745…
May 15, 2019
Values of the Unilateral Control Model
After our series on mutual learning values, we look at those of an alternative, the Unilateral Control Model, which match our default behaviour but don't normally lead to the type of learning your team is probably looking for. We look at why convincing others usually doesn't work and welcome Al Pacino for a brief cameo.
SHOW LINKS:
- Unilateral Control article by Roger Schwarz: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- "One More Inch" speech from Al Pacino: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myyWXKeBsNk
- previous series on unilateral control:
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.…
May 8, 2019
Mutual Learning Model: Accountability and Compassion
Third in our series on using the Mutual Learning Model to improve your agile team. We look at accountability as a frightening prospect and as a route to ease at work (thanks Kent Beck). Then we consider how you might benefit from compassion - not only for your team and stakeholders, but also for leaders and for yourself.
SHOW LINKS:
- 8 Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf
- Accountability for sheriffs in the time of Henry II: http://historyoflaw.co.uk/exchequer-time-of-henry-ii/
- Ease at Work from Kent Beck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeA4CBInqKo and https://www.infoq.com/news/2007/04/beck-ease-at-work
- CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com
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Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like a…
May 1, 2019
Mutual Learning Model: Transparency and Curiosity
Agile teams do better, we find, when they are transparent ("here's what I did last sprint") and curious ("what business problem are you trying to solve?"). Most people we meet claim they are both transparent and curious in their conversations and processes - but usually their actual behaviour when there's something at stake is very different. We introduce a 2x2 matrix that can help you measure whether you are managing to be transparent and curious, and help you improve if you're not.
SHOW LINKS:
- Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf
- Dr. David Burns and the relationship journal: https://feelinggood.com/tag/relationship-journal/
- Previous episode on learning with the "four Rs": https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs
- CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about th…
Apr 24, 2019
Mutual Learning Model: Informed Choice
First of a series on using the Mutual Learning Model to get better results in your agile team. Today, why informed choice can help us avoid mistakes as minor as missing a requirement or as major as launching a rocket with a fatal flaw.
SHOW LINKS:
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team
- 8 Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf
- Feynman on Challenger disaster: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt
- Actions Science blog posts: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/tag/action-science/
- Previous episodes on How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally and the 4 Rs:
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-unil…
Apr 17, 2019
Meeting "The Business"
When your team talks about "what the business wants", do they know who they mean? Do they have evidence for the wishes of this amorphous group? It's impossible to negotiate with an undefined entity, but we offer some not-too-surprising ideas for making progress and discovering the real needs of "the business".
SHOW LINKS:
- XP Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658
- CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/
***
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
Apr 9, 2019
Triggers and Tells
Triggers and Tells
We explain how to use observations of your own and others' behaviour to understand how to improve your conversations and get better agile results!
SHOW LINKS:
- Previous episode on learning from observations: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs
- Previous episode on "why" as a trigger: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/why-is-a-trigger-not-a-question
- CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/
***
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
Apr 3, 2019
"Why" Is a Trigger, Not a Question
In response to Michael Bolton's comment on last week's episode, we discuss genuine questions, reminding yourself to be curious, and converting your internal "why" to a more constructive question.
SHOW LINKS:
- Tweets from Michael Bolton and Brian Deyo: https://twitter.com/michaelbolton/status/1111083757971345413 and https://twitter.com/briandeyo/status/1111252749658869760
- Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805/
- CITCON conference: https://citconf.com/ghent2019/
***
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
Mar 27, 2019
What comes after why?
What Happens After Why
Last week we explained how asking the simple question “why?” can help you make big improvements in your agile team - and this week we prove it, with two examples from Jeffrey. In one case his company landed a big client, and in the other an angry person actually listened to him! Hear more in this week’s episode!
SHOW LINKS:
- David Burns, the disarming technique: https://daviddburnsmd.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/the-five-secrets-v-1.pdf
- Chris Voss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guZa7mQV1l0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llctqNJr2IU
- Previous podcasts on coherent stories: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/why-you-shouldnt-listen-to-your-brain and on the 4 Rs of learning: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs
- 7 habits of highly effective people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People
- Squirrel and Jeffrey talk on leadership techniques: https://skillsmatter.c…
Mar 20, 2019
Becoming Mr. Why
In which we meet Squirrel's client Mr. Why, who wants to know the reasoning behind requests he gets but never actually asks, and we describe how this pattern holds back agile teams and how to break out of it. Surprisingly, lawyers feature prominently in this episode, as both positive and negative examples of effective "why" communication!
SHOW LINKS:
- Lawyers don't ask "why?": https://aqrlaw.ca/blog/five-questions-you-should-never-ask-on-cross-examination
***
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
Mar 12, 2019
Learning through Case Studies: The 4 Rs
Last week we emphasised the importance of practise to help you have better agile conversations and negotiations, and this week we describe two ways to practise - Argyris's two-column case studies and Dr. Burns's relationship journal - and a framework to use with both: record, reflect, revise, and roleplay.
Join us in London on 19 March for our talk on "Sprinting In Place: The Cost of Missing Leadership Conversations"!
SHOW LINKS:
- Argyris's two column case study: https://blog.benjaminm.net/2011/02/16/argyriscasestudylearningmodelii/ https://hbr.org/1986/09/skilled-incompetence
- Dr. David Burns's Interpersonal model & relationship journal
https://feelinggood.com/2017/10/16/057-interpersonal-model-and-its-all-your-fault-part-4/
https://feelinggood.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/rj-revised-v-1c-dvl-v-1.pdf
- Our SkillsMatter talk on 19 March: https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11800-leadership-matters
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.…
Mar 6, 2019
The Value of Learning to Talk
Today, we explain that when you learn a new skill - whether it's playing the piano, kitesurfing across a lake, or negotiating with others inside and outside your agile team - it's vital to practise to develop your abilities. Don't jump onto the double black diamond run the first time you hit the slopes; instead, find a coach and watch her carefully as she goes down the mountain first. You'll learn to act in unintuitive ways and discover new possibilities you wouldn't have thought of. The same is true of learning to have the difficult conversations you need to improve your agile team - you can listen to us all you want, but you'll need to try (and fail!) to really master the methods. We get started on some methods for effective practise, including the use of a feeling chart, with more to follow in the next episode.
Join us in London on 19 March for our talk on "Sprinting In Place: The Cost of Missing Leadership Conversations"!
SHOW LINKS:
- Jeffrey's blog post on the piano analogy: h…
Feb 27, 2019
Why You Shouldn't Listen to Your Brain
Your brain has two halves - not called left and right, but System 1 and System 2. Today we explain how these two halves of your own brain wind up fooling you and your team into believing things like "New York decided to do this", "customers don't want that feature", and "the business won't let us write tests" - and what you can do to keep your brain from tricking you into believing suspiciously coherent stories.
Join us in London on 19 March for our talk on "Sprinting In Place: The Cost of Missing Leadership Conversations"!
SHOW LINKS:
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Kahneman: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0141033576
- Our SkillsMatter talk on 19 March: https://skillsmatter.com/meetups/11800-leadership-matters
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com
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Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscrib…
Feb 20, 2019
A Tale of Two Change Models Part II: Getting Better by Getting Worse
The agile principles talk about empowerment and autonomy, but do we have to make a complete switch from our current centralised-decision culture to a fully autonomous one? The Satir curve, six thinking hats, and a theory of Tic Tac change (really!) from Jeffrey and Alistair Cockburn, shows us a way to make a series of small changes rather than one big shift.
SHOW LINKS:
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
- The Uncanny Valley of A Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/
- Satir curve (J-curve): http://dhemery.com/articles/managing_yourself_through_change/
- Tic Tac presentation (Fredrick/Cockburn): http://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/sdbp06tictactalk.pdf
- Six Thinking Hats: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com
Twee…
Feb 13, 2019
A Tale of Two Change Models Part I: The Uncanny Valley of Theory X
Theory X organisations don't trust their people - or do they? To be agile we have to move our organisations to a Theory Y model with empowerment and autonomy - or do we? Organisational change has to be painful - or does it? And what does all this have to do with creepy robots?
SHOW LINKS:
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
- J Jonah Jameson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhDBWiTfNCU
- The Uncanny Valley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
- 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
Feb 6, 2019
Greatest Hits : Engagement and Joy in Agile Teams
Due to illness and travel, Jeffrey and Squirrel present one of their greatest hits of the past!
***
Squirrel and Jeffrey look at a recent article by Luke Tomas on the "employee engagement industry" (we didn't even know it *was* an industry!) Jeffrey rapidly links this to Brian Marick's idea of Ease and Joy at work and we all agree that engagement, happiness, and joy are all useful, but lagging, indicators of team success - so you can't improve them directly with bigger bonuses or tougher objectives. Instead alignment, focus, and autonomy work to create these results by creating the conditions for happiness and good performance.
SHOW LINKS:
- Luke Tomas, The Employee Engagement Myth: medium.com/@lukethomas14/the-e…t-myth-3885526782d7
- Brian Marick, Ease and Joy at Work: exampler.com/ease-and-joy/
- Previous episode on technical excellence: Troubleshootingagile – Fowlers-state-of-agile-part-two
- Reinventing Organisations (Teal and other colours): www.reinventingorganizations…
Jan 30, 2019
How to Detect Agile BS - Part 2
The US Defense Department (yes, the huge bureaucratic government body) recently released a brief and readable guide to troubleshooting your agile team. We have a look at three more of its key recommendations for figuring out whether you're agile team is really agile - which leads us to discuss when software developers should wield soldering irons and how continuous integration is better with a rubber chicken.
SHOW LINKS:
- Detecting Agile BS: https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF
- The Defense Innovation Board: https://innovation.defense.gov
- Continuous Integration on a Dollar a Day (aka the Rubber Chicken): https://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Continuous-Integration-on-a-Dollar-a-Day.html
- IMVU continuous deployment: http://timothyfitz.com/2009/02/10/continuous-deployment-at-imvu-doing-the-impossible-fifty-times-a-day/
- CITCON (Continuous Integration and Testing Conference): https://citconf.com/
***
We'd love to hear any t…
Jan 23, 2019
How to Detect Agile BS - Part 1
The US Defense Department (yes, the huge bureaucratic government body) recently released a brief and readable guide to troubleshooting your agile team. We have a look at three of its six key recommendations for figuring out whether you're agile team isn't really agile - which leads us to discuss what end-users really are and why financial traders are so insane.
SHOW LINKS:
- Detecting Agile BS: https://media.defense.gov/2018/Oct/09/2002049591/-1/-1/0/DIB_DETECTING_AGILE_BS_2018.10.05.PDF
- The Defense Innovation Board: https://innovation.defense.gov
***
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
Jan 16, 2019
From Agreement To Action
Once you've been vocally critical and identified areas to improve in your agile team, what next? "We should" too often turns into "We won't", so good intentions aren't enough. Jeffrey tells the story of teaching TDD and the tools he learnt and developed to foster internal commitment to change - paradoxically, this involves questioning whether the change is actually worth doing!
SHOW LINKS:
- SPIN selling book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SPIN-Selling-Neil-Rackham/dp/0566076896
- Previous episode on earning trust through vocal self-criticism: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/earning-trust-at-amazon
- Previous series on unilateral control: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i
***
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…
Jan 9, 2019
Earning Trust at Amazon
Inspired by a listener comment, we look at one of Amazon's leadership principles, which describes how leaders are expected to earn trust in that organisation. It seems to us that the principle lays the foundation for effective psychological safety for the avoidance of error, but there are some traps to watch out for on the way to that end.
SHOW LINKS:
- Amazon leadership principles: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles
- Ladder of inference annotated diagram: http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf
***
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
Jan 2, 2019
Overcoming Normalisation of Deviance
In our one-year anniversary episode, we start with a story about "flickering" tests and generalise to look at the idea of normalisation of deviance. We suggest that psychological safety lets you hear from those who see the deviance but aren't speaking up, with examples from oil rigs, and tie to pair programming as a way to create a safe environment for reiterating agreed non-deviant behaviour.
SHOW LINKS:
- Diane Vaughan and links to normalisation of deviance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Vaughan
- Bystander effect and smoke experiment; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect#Social_psychology_research
- Psychological safety: https://www.businessinsider.com/amy-edmondson-on-psychological-safety-2015-11?r=UK&IR=T
- Oil rig creating psychological safety: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/06/17/482203447/invisibilia-how-learning-to-be-vulnerable-can-make-life-safer and https://hbr.org/2008/07/unmasking-manly-men
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or…
Dec 26, 2018
Be Predictable to Build Trust
We've been talking about building trust in agile teams by aligning your stories; an important ingredient for this is being predictable, so others can believe you actually have a story they can align with. We tell an extended story about a developer with a severely misaligned story and how Squirrel's route to trust with him included crawling around on the floor reconfiguring cables.
SHOW LINKS:
- Argyris, Espoused Theory vs Theory in Use: http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Theories_of_action
- Previous podcast on acting unilaterally: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-iv
- Annotated Ladder of Inference diagram: http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf
- Schwarz, Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedb…
Dec 19, 2018
The Sit-Down Standup and Other Woes
We answer a listener question about standups for feature teams, but we think the problem is actually a larger one of disengagement. A common symptom is people sitting down for their standup (oxymoron alert!) We recommend some ways to overcome disengagement using Coherence Busting and the Ladder of Inference, tools we've been discussing on recent podcasts.
SHOW LINKS:
- Feature teams: http://featureteams.org
- Ladder of Inference episodes: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/test-driven-development-for-people and https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/introspection-with-the-ladder-of-inference
- Coherence busting: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2016/04/08/coherence-busting-explained/ and https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/removing-the-blame-frame
***
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Dec 12, 2018
Introspection with the Ladder of Inference
Last time we talked about sharing reasoning and building trust in your agile team using TDD for People, one way to use the Ladder of Inference. Today we look at how the Ladder can help you discover your own reasoning as well, to discover ways to promote mutual learning with your own behaviour.
SHOW LINKS:
- Top Business Podcasts for CEOs, from Fiona Anderson: https://www.rocktime.co.uk/insights/listen-and-learn-the-art-of-podcasting-for-ceos/
- The Ladder of Inference (annotated by Jeffrey): http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf
- The London Organisational Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/London-Action-Science-Meetup/
- Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow
***
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Dec 5, 2018
Test-Driven Development for People
As promised, we start describing our favourite trust-building technique: the Ladder of Inference. Our take this week is on using the Ladder to understand someone else's reasoning and align your stories, creating trust as a foundation for further improvement in your agile team. Surprisingly, the experience of using the Ladder in this way is similar to Test-Driven Development: careful, understandable, small steps with confidence, and meaningful signals from both success and failure.
SHOW LINKS:
- Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003ELY7OW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
- The Ladder of Inference (annotated by Jeffrey): http://troubleshootingagile.com/docs/TheLadderOfInference.pdf
- Cognitive biases book and more: https://youarenotsosmart.com/
- Schwarz on unilateral control (again!): http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- TDD for people video: https://www.dou…
Nov 28, 2018
The First Thing to Build is Trust
We start previewing the ideas in our forthcoming book on using conversations to improve your agile results. First up: why you need trust before you do anything else (including hold a standup, write unit tests, or move your desks together). Next week, a step-by-step technique to build trust.
SHOW LINKS:
- The first thing to build is trust, Brad Appleton: http://bradapp.blogspot.com/2005/02/first-thing-to-build-is-trust.html
- Psychological safety: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2666999?origin=JSTOR-pdf&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
- The story I'm telling myself: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/08/31/the-story-im-making-up/
- Naive realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism_%28psychology%29 and previous TA episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/how-to-fail-by-acting-unilaterally-part-i
***
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A…
Nov 21, 2018
How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally - Part V
We cap our five-part series on undermining your agile team with the pinnacle of ineffective behaviour: the belief that you are not contributing to the problem. Inaccurate estimates, useless meetings, directionless standups - so long as you're sure all these are entirely someone else's fault, you'll be sure never to fix them, and thus leave your team high and dry. Master this technique and never worry about having an effective team again! Bonus at the end on what's next for the podcast...
SHOW LINKS:
- Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- Belief bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief_bias
- Emotional reasoning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_reasoning
***
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Nov 14, 2018
How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally - Part IV
Why listen to team members and peers when your feelings and behaviours are obviously justified? We continue our how-to series on undermining your agile team with two stories about people who, believing they are clearly correct about how to improve their agile teams, move to shut down communication and manipulate the environment to ensure their approaches are adopted - with, predictably, zero internal commitment from the rest of the team.
SHOW LINKS:
- Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- Jeffrey's "Frustrated? It's Probably Your Fault" session: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/07/18/video-frustrated-it-is-probably-your-fault/
- Model I characteristics: http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Model_I_and
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
Emai…
Nov 7, 2018
How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally - Part III
Another in our top tips for ensuring your agile team does not achieve its goals - assume you have pure motives and others are actively malicious. We describe several helpful biases that, if adopted, can help you take up this mindset, and describe a founder duo with negative beliefs about each other who had mastered the art of "Getting to No" - until they read Fisher/Ury and discovered they actually had a common interest and positive motives.
SHOW LINKS:
- Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- Geoff Watts Top Ten Agile Podcasts: https://twitter.com/geoffcwatts/status/1057310923218698241
- Biases: Bias blind spot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias_blind_spot , Negativity bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias , and naïve cynicism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_cynicism
- Getting To Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_Yes
***
We…
Oct 31, 2018
How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally - Part II
More this week on ways to fail with agile by making unilateral assumptions - this week's tip is to believe you are right and everyone else is wrong. In fact, even the underlying assumption that there is a single right answer should get you a long way to fracturing your team and ensuring discord. Squirrel tells a story of someone particularly skilled at explaining why he knows the One True Agile Way and Jeffrey recalls that Mark Twain quote about the problem being what you know that ain't so (and one thing that ain't so is that the quote is from Mark Twain!)
SHOW LINKS:
- Roger Schwarz on unilateral control: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- Dan North: https://dannorth.net/
- Jon Allspaw on the root cause fallacy: https://www.kitchensoap.com/2012/02/10/each-necessary-but-only-jointly-sufficient/
- Twain's quote (or not): http://marktwainstudies.com/the-apocryphal-twain-things-we-know-that-just…
Oct 24, 2018
How to Fail by Acting Unilaterally - Part I
Turning our usual subject on its head, this week we start a short series on how to make sure your team does NOT improve. The first assumption to this end: the belief that you understand the situation while others don't. The change that's needed is obvious; all you have to do is convince others to adopt it. Easily adaptable to kanban, scrum, SAFe, or any other method that seems (to you!) to be the solution to your problems. Try it today, and tune in to further episodes for more ways to ensure you don't succeed in making effective changes!
SHOW LINKS:
- How Unilateral Control Undermines Team Results and Relationships, Schwarz: http://www.schwarzassociates.com/managing-performance/how-unilateral-control-undermines-team-results-and-relationships-2/
- Naive realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism
***
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Also, i…
Oct 17, 2018
Engagement and Joy in Agile Teams
Squirrel and Jeffrey look at a recent article by Luke Tomas on the "employee engagement industry" (we didn't even know it *was* an industry!) Jeffrey rapidly links this to Brian Marick's idea of Ease and Joy at work and we all agree that engagement, happiness, and joy are all useful, but lagging, indicators of team success - so you can't improve them directly with bigger bonuses or tougher objectives. Instead alignment, focus, and autonomy work to create these results by creating the conditions for happiness and good performance.
SHOW LINKS:
- Luke Tomas, The Employee Engagement Myth: https://medium.com/@lukethomas14/the-employee-engagement-myth-3885526782d7
- Brian Marick, Ease and Joy at Work: http://exampler.com/ease-and-joy/
- Previous episode on technical excellence: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/fowlers-state-of-agile-part-two
- Reinventing Organisations (Teal and other colours): http://www.reinventingorganizations.com/
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wiki…
Oct 10, 2018
The Post-It Factory Game
A Squirrel-only show since Jeffrey's away. Squirrel described the Post-It Factory Game which illustrates both work-in-progress limits and the more general notion of "Throughput over Utilisation" - as well as making your colleagues fall over themselves trying to produce blue squares at top speed.
SHOW LINKS:
Kanban by David Anderson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402
Similar games to illustrate agile and kanban ideas: https://availagility.co.uk/resources/games/lego-flow-game/
https://www.agile42.com/en/training/kanban-pizza-game/
***
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Oct 3, 2018
Fowler's State of Agile - Part Three
Last (for now) in our series responding to Martin Fowler's State of Agile 2018 speech. This week we look at Fowler's third claim - that software projects should be replaced by software products - and go further, arguing that organising around user conversations is the key to a successful business outcome.
SHOW LINKS:
- Fowler on the State of Agile 2018: https://martinfowler.com/articles/agile-aus-2018.html
- Commandos, Infantry, Police: https://devblog.timgroup.com/2013/07/24/invading-the-product-landscape-a-metaphor/
- Wardley mapping: https://medium.com/wardleymaps/doctrine-8bb0015688e5
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
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Sep 26, 2018
Fowler's State of Agile - Part Two
We continue our series responding to Martin Fowler's State of Agile 2018 speech. This week we look at Fowler's second claim - that agile software development has forgotten that it's about software, and that technical excellence in practises like refactoring, testing, and architecting should be (but isn't) central to discussions of good agile practise. We agree with Fowler and go even further, arguing that we should be making the (strong) case for technical excellence as a source of business value - to make our products more flexible, easier to use, and more satisfying to users.
SHOW LINKS:
- Fowler on the State of Agile 2018: https://martinfowler.com/articles/agile-aus-2018.html
- Marick on forgotten agile ideas: http://www.exampler.com/discipline-and-skill.html and http://www.exampler.com/blog/2007/05/16/six-years-later-what-the-agile-manifesto-left-out/
- Reinertsen, The Principles of Product Development Flow (cost of delay): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Principles-Product-Developmen…
Sep 19, 2018
Fowler's State of Agile 2018 - Part One
Martin Fowler gives us lots to chew on in the form of a speech on the state of agile software development in 2018. We start a series responding to Fowler by examining the Agile Industrial Complex - proponents of the "one true way" of agile development and out-of-the-box methodologies - and why Squirrel thinks the buyers and sellers of these "solutions" are doomed to failure by their "Theory X" cultures.
SHOW LINKS:
- Fowler on the State of Agile 2018: https://martinfowler.com/articles/agile-aus-2018.html
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
- The Military-Industrial Complex: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex
- Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm
- Cynefin Framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework
- Community of Solutions and Community of Needs: https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/
- CITCON: http://citc…
Sep 12, 2018
Learning Vs Design
A listener asks us how we reconcile the perceived conflict between learning and design - if you're iterating fast, how can you also build solid, scalable architecture? With examples from OO and Domain-Driven Design, we describe how early agile adopters addressed this issue (and how the meaning of "design" has evolved), and then make suggestions for modern teams.
SHOW LINKS:
- Elephant Carpaccio: https://dzone.com/articles/elephant-carpaccio-user
- OO design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_design
- DDD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design
***
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Sep 5, 2018
Ways to Learn Continued: Capturing Learning with Checklists
Once you have a bunch of great ideas from your reflection, how can you make sure you and your team actually use what you've learnt? We illustrate several variations on one of our favourite learning-capture methods, the humble checklist - including self-improving lists and an idea that survived ten years by migrating among multiple checklist formats, from wiki page to slackbot.
SHOW LINKS:
- The Checklist Manifesto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Checklist_Manifesto
- Jeffrey's Glider Training Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6QcOQ3olbE
- Elizabeth Hendrickson's Testing Cheat Sheet: http://testobsessed.com/2007/02/test-heuristics-cheat-sheet/
- Making Software Like Intensive Care or Bombing Missions: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/09/10/making-software-like-intensive-care-or-bombing-missions/
- Exploratory Testing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratory_testing
- Human in the Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-in-the-loop
***
We'd love to hear any th…
Aug 29, 2018
Ways to Learn Continued: Pre-Planned Actions
We continue our mini-series on how to learn by considering ways to realise your learning - that is, how to convert what you've learnt (say, from a retrospective) into changed behaviour. We discuss how and why to create pre-planned actions in response to situations where you'd like to do better, for instance software outages or suspiciously optimistic delivery dates.
SHOW LINKS:
- Feynman on the Challenger disaster: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt
- Reg Revans, Action Learning: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/theories.html#action
- Helicopter pilot story: https://www.verticalmag.com/features/ejection-decision/
- Ejection Decision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa1Ba_NEobs
***
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Aug 15, 2018
Types of Reflection Part 2: Double loop learning
Second of two episodes on reflection. We often say that learning is horrible and suggest you do it anyway - but how exactly can you learn? We use a model from Chris Argyris - single-loop and double-loop learning - and concentrate today on the double-loop style, which you might want to try if you want to radically change your thinking and try something completely new (which might or might not work!)
SHOW LINKS:
- Argyris on single- and double-loop learning: https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations
- Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm
- Innovator's Dilemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma
- The Lean Startup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lean_Startup
***
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Aug 15, 2018
Types of Reflection Part 1: Single loop learning
First of two episodes on reflection. We often say that learning is horrible and suggest you do it anyway - but how exactly can you learn? We use a model from Chris Argyris - single-loop and double-loop learning - and concentrate today on the single-loop style, most appropriate for gradual improvement of a particular metric or characteristic.
SHOW LINKS:
- Argyris on single- and double-loop learning: https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations
- Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html
***
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Aug 8, 2018
Learning from "You Don't Need Standup"
We have a look at Jason Palmer's "You Don't Need Standup" with a mutual learning, curious attitude. What can we learn from Jason? What information does he have that we don't? Where do we agree with him? We conclude that indeed some teams may be better off without standups - see Fred George's Programmer Anarchy for example - but before embarking on the experiment, it's worth asking "how will I know if it's working or not?"
SHOW LINKS:
- You Don't Need Standup: https://medium.com/@jsonpify/you-dont-need-standup-9a74782517c1 (By Jason Palmer, https://twitter.com/palmerj3 )
- Hacker News discussion of YDNS: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17671464
- Fred George on Programmer Anarchy: https://www.slideshare.net/fredgeorge/programmer-anarchy-and-managerless-processes
- Cockburn on people in software development: http://web.archive.org/web/20170620211523/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear%2c+first-order+components+in+software+development
***
We'd love…
Aug 1, 2018
Alignment Coda
A few more thoughts on alignment, inspired by a list of "XP Mistakes" from the great J. B. Rainsberger. We look at some of the antipatterns and lessons learnt and, as usual, tell a few of our own stories about mistakes we've made and observed.
SHOW LINKS:
- XP, My Greatest Misses: https://blog.jbrains.ca/permalink/xp-my-greatest-misses
- CITCON: http://citconf.com/
- "Are you frustrated? It's probably your fault": https://vimeo.com/131854234
- Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team
- Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf
- The First Thing to Build is Trust: https://bradapp.blogspot.com/2005/02/first-thing-to-build-is-trust.html
- Cockburn article on people in software development: http://web.archive.org/web/20170620211523/http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear%2c+first-order+components+in+software+developmen…
Jul 25, 2018
Objections to Alignment
The final episode of our mini-series on achieving alignment. We list five different objections we hear to the goals or process of alignment, and suggest ways to address them. We also tell a success story based on achieving alignment.
SHOW LINKS:
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
- Alistair Cockburn's mutiny koan: https://staging.cockburn.us/self-organization-means-mutiny/
***
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Jul 18, 2018
Steps to Alignment
Episode 3 of our mini-series on achieving alignment. This week, we finally explain some methods for aligning with your team, your boss, or your peers. Methods include Test-Driven Development for People (aka the Ladder of Inference) and a creative use of the two-column case study. Next time - questions from listeners and common concerns we hear when moving to alignment.
SHOW LINKS:
- Chris Argyris on alignment and skilled incompetence: https://hbr.org/1986/09/skilled-incompetence
- Video on Test-Driven Development for People: http://douglassquirrel.com/how-i-work.html
- Guide to the two-column case study technique: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2015/04/11/using-the-two-column-case-study/
***
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Jul 11, 2018
Alignment and Resistance Part 2: Obstacles to Alignment
Our next instalment on alignment as a tool for agile success. If alignment is as valuable as we claimed in the previous episode, why doesn't every organisation have it? We use ideas from Dr. David Burns to classify resistance to alignment into "outcome" and "process" resistance, then give examples of each and tell a story about a startup where the founders are (according to them) totally aligned, but no one else is. Next time: steps to achieve alignment despite resistance.
SHOW LINKS:
- Dr. David Burns, Feeling Good: https://feelinggood.com/
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
- Thinking Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow
***
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Jul 4, 2018
Alignment and Resistance Part 1: Why Alignment Matters
Today, the first instalment of a little series on a big problem affecting agile teams: alignment. What does it mean when your team or company isn't aligned? How does misalignment show itself and what effects does it have on your progress? Jeffrey and Squirrel describe four different alignment patterns and tell real-life stories about the woes of misaligned teams. Future episodes in the series will cover resistance to alignment and how to get everyone headed in a common direction.
SHOW LINKS:
- Eight Behaviours for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf
- “Prevent Your Strategy Offsite from Being Meaningless”: https://hbr.org/2014/09/prevent-your-strategy-offsite-from-being-meaningless
- Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Lencioni/dp/0787960756/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show.
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Jun 27, 2018
Setting Goals in a Kanban Team
How do you provide focus and drive for a team using kanban? There's no natural "sprint" unit to hang a goal on, it seems. Jeffrey and Squirrel answer this listener question and explain how to create a product narrative, avoid the feature factory, and start with "Why"?
SHOW LINKS:
- Kanban book: https://www.amazon.com/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402
- When Kanban Fails: https://kanbantool.com/kanban-library/kanban-results/when-kanban-fails
- Feature Factory: https://hackernoon.com/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-44a5b938d6a2
- Start with "Why": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ZoJKF_VuA and https://fortressofs.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/diagram_1.png
***
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Jun 20, 2018
The Frustration of Learning
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel address a common frustration: "With all these retrospectives and planning games, when do we actually get some work done?" They cover single and double loop learning, the mundanity of excellence, and how to avoid learning in two distinct ways.
SHOW LINKS:
- J-curve / Satir Change Model: https://stevenmsmith.com/ar-satir-change-model/
- Mundanity of Excellence: https://www.jstor.org/stable/202063
- Tic-tac change: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/07/07/tic-tac-change-slides/
- Amy Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X
- Single- and double-loop learning: http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/#_Single-loop_and_double-loop
***
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Jun 13, 2018
What Agile Practises Have We Left Behind
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel answer a question from CruiseControl founder Paul Julius about what agile practises they've left behind. Surprising answers include iterations, predictability, and planning.
SHOW LINKS:
- PJ: http://www.pauljulius.com/
- Abnormally terminating a sprint - https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/making-the-decision-to-abnormally-terminate-a-sprint
- Kanban: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_(development)
- Elephant Carpaccio: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Elephant+carpaccio
- Searching for an Agile Core: https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/11/08/searching-for-an-agile-core/
- Planning Game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming_practices#Planning_game
- TDD: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Test-Driven-Development-Addison-Wesley-Signature/dp/0321146530
- Cruise Control: http://cruisecontrol.sourceforge.net/
- GitFlow: https://datasift.github.io/gitflow/IntroducingGitFlow.html
- Chris Matts: https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/
***…
Jun 6, 2018
Design in an Agile Team
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel help a listener with the role of design and architecture in an agile team. The answer involves arcane-sounding but fun concepts like elephant carpaccio, evolutionary design, and YAGNI.
SHOW LINKS:
- YAGNI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it
- Elephant Carpaccio: http://alistair.cockburn.us/elephant+carpaccio
- Evolutionary Design: https://martinfowler.com/tags/evolutionary%20design.html
- XP Explained: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/extreme-programming-explained-kent-beck/1119347147
- GOOS book: http://www.growing-object-oriented-software.com/
- Sprint zero: https://www.frontrowagile.com/blog/posts/125-sprint-zero-for-product-owners
- Trim the tail and order by risk: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Design+as+Knowledge+Acquisition
- Up-front design in a previous episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/enhancing-agility-through-technical-excellence-and-good-design
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feed…
May 30, 2018
Learning by Failing
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel look at how to learn new skills in your agile team or elsewhere, and recommend frequent failure as a useful heuristic.
SHOW LINKS:
- Graham Lee blog post: https://www.sicpers.info/2018/02/to-become-a-beginner-first-become-an-expert/
- No True Scotsman fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
- TDD (Test-Driven Development): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development
- Agile principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding 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
May 23, 2018
Roadmap to Improving Agile Skills
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel describe some of the methods they used to improve their own skills in implementing and troubleshooting agile methods. They describe techniques from rubber ducking to doppelgängers. Enjoy!
SHOW LINKS:
- CITCON: http://citconf.com
- Breakfast with Squirrel: http://douglassquirrel.com
- Communities of Needs and Solutions: https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/
- Dr. David Burns: https://feelinggood.com/
- Paradoxical Double Standard: https://feelinggood.com/tag/paradoxical-double-standard/
- Rubber Duck Debugging: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
Alberto Savoia, older wiser self: http://www.albertosavoia.com/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show.
Email us: see link on http://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…
May 16, 2018
Removing the Blame Frame
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss how to avoid blame - adopting a frame of ownership or problem-solving is a useful concrete action to try to achieve this - and tell a story about replacing one problem with a much bigger one to achieve team improvement.
SHOW LINKS:
- The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
- Alex Hudson blog post on blame: https://www.alexhudson.com/2018/01/03/troubleshooting-agile-new-podcast-notes-ownership/
- Mark Coleman: https://www.implicit-explicit.com/
- The Power of Habit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Habit
- https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2016/04/08/coherence-busting-explained/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show.
Email us: agile@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
May 8, 2018
Dealing With Deadlines
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel each tell a story about how teams they've worked with handled deadlines.
SHOW LINKS:
- The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
- Theory X and Theory Y: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_X_and_Theory_Y
- Burndown charts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_down_chart
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show.
Email us: agile@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
May 2, 2018
An Agile Hero's Journey
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel are on the road at CITCON Vienna, interviewing Lydia Tripp about her journey through a wide variety of agile software development teams and her evolving approach to improving delivery and quality.
SHOW LINKS:
-The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
-CITCON: http://citconf.com/
-Extreme Programming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_programming
-Lydia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydia-tripp-988a79/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show.
Email us: agile@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
Apr 25, 2018
Agile Outside Software Teams
This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel are on the road at CITCON Vienna, interviewing participants about how they use agile techniques and principles outside development.
SHOW LINKS:
-The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
-CITCON: http://citconf.com/
-London Organisational Learning Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/London-Action-Science-Meetup/
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show.
Email us: agile@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
Apr 16, 2018
Finding the Motivation to Learn - & Stay Agile
In this week's podcast we move on to the final Agile Principle, number 12: "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly."
The hard truth is that learning is horrible. It means coming face to face with your own inadequacies, and challenging them. Consequently, mustering up the motivation to learn is too easily and too often avoided. Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss their own experiences with the importance of reflection and some troubleshooting techniques to make learning easier.
They also discuss:
-How we all need to keep sharpening the saw, because if we're constantly producing we're not learning.
-Using Production Vs Production Capacity, from 7 Habits of Highly Influential People, to remind ourselves of this.
-How Marginal Gains, just 1%-per-day, compound to make a huge difference over time.
-How, unexpectedly, it is often something as simple as poor relationships that are blocking the natural learning a comp…
Apr 10, 2018
The Squirrel Test
This week we take a short break from the Agile Principles to discuss The Squirrel Test - 12 questions to help founders improve their scale-up company's performance.
We also find out if Squirrel, in creating the test, has practiced what he's preached regarding the agile principles. Has he produced working software? Sought early feedback? Kept it simple? Made the most of face-to-face communication? Retained a constant pace? Created a supportive environment for his team?
Find out in this week's podcast.
We'd like to apologise for the sound quality this week. With Jeffrey on the road we had some mic difficulties that we were unable to fix. We thought about not posting an episode at all, but didn't want to disappoint regular listeners by missing a week. So, again, our apologies for the quality. Next week we will be back to a silky smooth sound.
***
LINKS:
-The Squirrel Test: http://squirreltest.com
-The Joel Test: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/08/09/the-joel-test-12-steps-to-b…
Apr 3, 2018
Inspire a Mutiny and Become a Self-Organizing Agile Team
In this week's Podcast we're on to the penultimate Agile Principle, number 11: 'The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.'
Amongst much more, we discuss:
-How what should actually constitute a team is the sharing of a problem, not a manager.
-The importance of employing a dynamic team approach, rather than a static one, to solving problems.
-How the unique specificity of this principle is designed to get us away from the old 'phase' approach and avoid costly hand-offs.
-Specific techniques to inspire a mutiny and become a self-organizing team, with some lessons from Stephen Bungay's 'The Art of Action', such as how to employ Direct Opportunism.
-The Spotify model and the importance of shunning the easy route of adopting an off-the-shelf model.
***
SHOWNOTES:
-The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
-Alistair Cockburn's mighty fine Koan for Agile development:
"Management tells the workers to mutiny.
The workers…
Mar 27, 2018
The Art of Agile Simplicity
We're on to Agile Principle 10 this week: "Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential."
In comparison to the dark old days when the Agile Manifesto was written, the way projects are simplified and broken down seems a huge improvement. But simplicity plays an essential role in achieving the all-important first Agile Principle of "satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software," so Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why this principle is still so important today.
They discussed:
-How simplicity asks you to exercise discipline and restraint.
-How Elephant carpaccio helps to provide an environment in which that restraint is easier.
-How simplicity is not just a call for businesses to restrain themselves in their demand for features, but for developers to restrain themselves in their demand for best practices- and how they can employ YAGNI instead.
-What YAGNI is.
-How to build a whole application's worth of software withou…
Mar 20, 2018
Enhancing Agility Through Technical Excellence and Good Design
This week on the Troubleshooting Agile podcast it's Agile Principle 9: "Continued attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility."
The dark old days of big up-front design may send shivers down the spine, but the Lean Startup 'move fast and break things' approach of scrapping design altogether goes too far. Jeffrey and Squirrel ask how principle #9 can be used to find balance between the two. They also discuss how a shared body of knowledge is the key to making quicker and better decisions in regards to technical excellence and good design; and ways in which managers can expand this body of knowledge through Lunch and Learns and making bad judgements well.
***
SHOWNOTES:
-The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
-The Boy Scout Rule, from Uncle Bob: http://programmer.97things.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/The_Boy_Scout_Rule
-Uncle Bob himself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Martin
- Martin Fowler on Event Sourcing: https://marti…
Mar 13, 2018
Indefinite Sustainable Pace Vs Crunch Time Cramming
In this week's episode of Troubleshooting Agile we are on to Agile Principle 8: "Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely."
Drawing on sport psychology, Al Pacino movies and their years of consulting experience, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss and troubleshoot a number of fascinating issues surrounding this principle:
-How many people find this the easiest Agile Principle to argue with, and, in doing so, entirely miss the point.
-Why the Hollywoodesque idea of "Crunch Time" and pulling-an-all-nighter may appeal to Theory X bosses and the delusional, but is detrimental to productivity and long-term effectiveness.
-Why you need to ensure that exceptions to your sustainable pace really are the exception.
-How, when it comes to psychology, recovery, nutrition, environment and support, Software Developers and Professional Athletes are not so dissimilar, if long-term effectiveness is what you'r…
Mar 6, 2018
Working Software is the Primary Measure of Progress
It's Episode 9 of the Troubleshooting Agile podcast! This week we're discussing Agile Principle 7: "Working software is the primary measure of progress."
Some of the topics we cover are:
-The importance of "moving past the 'phase model' or the 'percent-of-budget model'" in measuring progress.
-How Burn-Up/Down Charts simplify and optimise the process of measuring progress by assigning value only to that which provides value to the customer.
-And how they also build trust between the business and software development sides of a company by delivering regularly.
-The dangerous pitfall of taking Agile Principal 7 too literally and finding yourself toiling away in a Feature Factory.
-How to avoid this pitfall by motivating your team with Type Y Management - perhaps taking inspiration from Star Trek's Jean-Luc Picard - and focussing on Business Outcomes.
-That an unexpected outcome of focussing on 'working software' is often less software. 'But the software you end with, you know works. An…
Feb 27, 2018
Efficiency & Effectiveness Through Face-to-Face Conversation
In Episode 8 of Troubleshooting Agile it's Agile Principle 6: "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation."
A few of the things we discuss:
-The pros and cons of different communication channels.
-Looking at Alistair Cockburn's book "Agile Software Development", why micro-gestures and physical interaction make face-to-face communication so much richer.
-Why we need to remember that "a Story Card is a promise for a conversation".
-The origins of CRC Cards back in the 90, and their real value as a conversational tool and in building a shared understanding.
-How effective communication also increases the effectiveness of isolated reflective thought.
-How to apply this principle effectively to distributed and remote teams.
-"Don't measure your software productivity by linear feet of documentation on the shelf."
***
LINKS:
-Chapter 3 of Alistair Cockburn's Agile Software Development: http://alistair.coc…
Feb 20, 2018
Motivating Individuals and Trusting Your Agile Team
This week, in Episode 7 of Troubleshooting Agile, we discuss Agile Principle Number 5: "Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done."
Talking points this week include:
-Why perceptions of this principle differ immensely depending on whether your adopt Theory X or Theory Y.
-Directed Opportunism - and who used it better, General Clausewitz in 1870 or Darth Sidious a long, long time ago.
-How trusting your team and recognising the ingenuity inherent within all employees creates psychological safety that motivates your staff and advances your business.
-Different ways to deal with an unyielding Theory X-er.
-How to recognise when it's come down to a case of "change your organisation or change your organisation."
And finally, can you can think of a good Theory Y boss/environment depicted in TV or Film? (think corporate Mr Miyagi)
Let us know down below, or Tweet us @TShootingAgile and we'll give your id…
Feb 13, 2018
Agile Principle 4: Business & Developers Working Together Daily
In Episode 6 of Troubleshooting agile we talk about the Fourth Agile Principle: 'Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.'
Some of the topics discussed are:
-Why this is the only principle containing the word MUST.
-How to easily overcome a principle which at first sight can appear impractical to implement.
-What business people can do that developers can't.
-The importance of customer proxies in bridging the communication gap between departments.
-How this speeds everything up and helps developers maintain their flow.
-As well as motivating teams, through trust and inclusion, in a way that can spark innovation.
-Eating your own dogfood
***
LINKS:
-The 12 Agile Principles: agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
***
We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode.
You can email us, here:
agile@troubleshootingagile.com
Or send us a tweet, here:
twitter.com/TShootingAgile
Or you can find our website, here:
troub…
Feb 6, 2018
Delivering Working Software Frequently & Continuously
In episode 5 of Troubleshooting Agile we discuss the Third Agile Principle: 'Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.'
Evolution in our thinking, since the Agile Manifesto was written back in 2001, makes what was once considered 'shorter timescales' seem laughable now, but, when retrospecting, 'working software frequently' remains one of the core agile disciplines. But, as Squirrel and Jeffrey highlight through various client stories, it is far from easy to implement continuously.
We hear where, why and how so many companies fail to fully employ this principle, and Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss some interesting techniques to overcome common problems - from slicing up elephant carpaccio to employing continuous integration with nothing more than a rubber chicken.
*We apologise for a few sound difficulties at the start of the episode with Jeffrey's mic. Stick with it and they soon pass.*
***
Squirre…
Jan 30, 2018
Embracing Change & Maximising Validated Learning
In this episode Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the Second Agile Principle: ‘Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.’
We hear how the principle is closely related to Lean Startup and Minimal Viable Product, and how, at its core, it is about understanding and learning from one’s environment as quickly and as often as possible.
This reminds Squirrel of the OODA loop, the decision cycle developed by military strategist and US Air Force Colonel John Boyd, and he tells us a story about fighter jet dogfights in the Korean War.
Jeffrey also tells us a story, about a startup he started way way back in the first dotcom bubble in 1999, which brings to mind another military lesson that ‘no plan survives contact with the enemy.’.
Finally, we hear examples of common errors witnessed over the years, such as refusals to fully embrace the Second Agile Principle in favour of misguided efficiency and an…
Jan 23, 2018
The First Agile Principle: Delivering Fully
In this third episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey take a look at the first of the 12 Agile Principles: "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” As Jeffrey point out, this principle contains so much that it "could have been an agile manifesto in itself.”
Squirrel and Jeffrey both tell stories about previous consulting experiences to highlight where clients have failed to fully deliver on this vital principle in the past, and how businesses can troubleshoot various common problems that arise.
Show Notes:
- The 12 Agile principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
- “The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement”, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0566086654/ref=sr_1_1
- CITCON website: http://citconf.com/
We’d love to hear any thoughts you have about this Agile Principle, or about the podcast in general.
You can email us, here:…
Jan 17, 2018
The Importance of the Agile Principles
In episode 2 of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey look at what to do when you've adopted good agile practices but are not seeing good business outcomes; how the most beautiful kanban board on earth doesn't necessarily mean results; and why the 12 agile principles work as a form of feedback and a great guide.
Shownotes:
- Jeffrey's 2008 blog post – https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/11/08/searching-for-an-agile-core/
- The 12 agile principles – http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
- Chris Matts's blog – https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/
Why not let us know what you think on Twitter @TShootingAgile https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile
Jan 1, 2018
The Blameless Postmortem Approach
In this week's podcast Jeffrey tells us a story about the dangers of blaming human error in the workplace, and we discuss root cause analysis, the blameless postmortem approach and how these are essential components in building productive systems and a great agile team.
Normal Accidents – http://bit.ly/2CtawMg
http://troubleshootingagile.com/