Software Development is creative work. Creativity thrives on teams collaborating effectively. Multiple perspectives focus our minds on doing the right thing. Critical dialogue teaches us to do things right. Collaboration requires honesty and openness and gives us mutual learning in return. Managers often prioritize efficiency. Efficiency has no time for learning or questioning this leads to waste and stasis. […]
In order to protect our agile teams from interruptions we have unintentionally created a bubble for ourselves. Disconnected from the rest of the organisation we sub-optimise doing things right but without effective collaboration with stakeholders and customers struggle to improve doing the right things. The difficulties in making the Product Owner role effective and being truly cross functional have […]
I believe this is the biggest issue in software development at the moment and perhaps one where there is the biggest disconnect between what we think we should be doing and what we are able to do. But maybe it’s just me. So I’ve created a survey that it would be fantastic if you could […]
The toughest thing about becoming an agile team is setting yourself free from the development bubble. To be effective we need to collaborate with the people in the value chain that in a hierarchical structure you probably don’t normally meet. Guerrilla Collaboration is really simple. Guerrilla collaboration is when we ignore the official organisational channels […]
In my last post I discussed the common practice of painting over the cracks in the way we work. If we are not going to hide our problems then what are we going to do about them? The most common and obvious approach is to try and solve the problem, this might involve repairing the […]
Painting over the cracks is denial of feedback. When we paint over the cracks we hide vital information about the reality of our situation. Good teams strive to make visible and learn from the cracks. Whilst different personality types treat cracks in different ways a balanced team will not ignore them. In traditional organisations Managers […]
<idealism><personal> I’ve always felt a frustration in my working life that I struggle to leave behind when I’m away from work. I’ve always felt the need for change. The status quo has always seemed very wrong. Scrum gave me a taste of a micro society with values that felt right. But the team still works […]
We learnt its better to learn from each other than to compete We learnt by making mistakes not playing it safe We learnt we are part of the problem and part of the answer We learnt to engage with others who were part of the problem and part of the answer We learnt we are […]
“Discussing the Undiscussable: A Guide to Overcoming Defensive Routines in the Workplace” by William R. Noonan is one of those books that can set you down a new path in life. It’s not a new book but is the first one recommended on Benjamin Mitchells blog for those wanting to read about the work of […]
Reblogged from thinkpurpose: be visible; emphasize the aspects you’re good at; make those in power feel good about themselves; if you must point out a mistake by someone in power, blame the situation or others; shower those above with flattery. Cost: One soul, payable in advance please. No refunds. Read more… 2 more words It’s […]
