Talk: Intimidating Questions
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Speaker:
Colin Rouse
Talk description
Title:
Intimidating Questions
Short synopsis:
There is a lot of great theory available in the agile world: limiting WiP, being transparent, focusing on customer value and less on fixed project plans, visualising information, etc. However, it can be difficult to convert this theory into good practices and increased delivery. This talk is aimed at leaders (managers, team leads, POs, scrum masters) who struggle with getting engagement in these concepts from their team members. I believe our language and how we deliver this theory using questions like "How do you limit your WiP?" or "Do you have any feedback for me?" can be overwhelming, too vague to be effective and, therefore, intimidating. I'd like to explore ways of breaking these questions down into easier and smaller questions that can be asked and answered more easily. This speeds up adoption of the theory and builds trust more easily between everyone involved.
Max size: 500 chars
Long synopsis (optional):
As a busy manager, I can struggle to slow down and listen to what my teams are saying. I end up asking vague and high-level questions as a quick way for me to convey my message and to give them a chance to give me the information I am looking for. This can often be received with answers that are of little value, because they are high-level and vague. From practicing a lot of good agile theory in different departments, including software and infrastructure, I have learnt that how we deliver this theory can impact how effective it is. For example, if you ask someone to limit their WiP, they may not know how to answer you. This relies on them knowing why the concept is important, what work they have in-progress and how to limit that work. The question can be overwhelming to them. A better way to deliver this would be to break the question down and deliver it in smaller and easier to process chunks. For example, you could say that it is important to complete something before starting something else and that it sounds like you have many things in-progress at the moment. What could be deprioritised to allow you to complete something else? Questions like this could be used as stepping stones to getting people closer to understanding and implementing the theory. Overwhelming questions can become intimidating when the person asking them doesn't change them to be more receivable and gets frustrated that they don't get answered. Others can sense this and become more hesitant to answer them. There are more questions that can be overwhelming and intimidating, such as "Do you have any feedback for me?", "How can I help you today?" (especially for busy managers) and "Can you please visualise your WiP and backlog?". I am particularly interested in how these concepts can be applied to managers and not only teams and team members. Remembering that team leads and development members form their own team above the software and infrastructure teams they manage, they can easily get lost in their high WiP and forget how to practice this theory and set a good example within that team that their teams can follow. This talk is aimed at those busy and overloaded managers (team leads, development managers, POs, tech leads, scrum masters, etc.) to help them deliver that theory in more receivable ways.
Max size: 5000 chars
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