Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick are the authors of Agile Conversations. This is an excerpt from their recent article in MIT Sloan Management Review, Solving the Problem of Siloed IT in Organizations. Learn more at ConversationalTransformation.com. In the past decade, the growing understanding of the importance of technology to business has led to a surge in business transformations—whether the flavor is digital, DevOps, Lean, or Agile, the aim is to speed up software development by … [Read more...]
Gene Kim interviews Agile Conversations authors Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick
Gene: Are we really that bad at talking to one another, and why do you think that is? Squirrel & Jeffrey: Actually, we are really skillful at having conversations! We are proficient at concealing our real thoughts, saving face for ourselves and others, and avoiding awkward questions. Unfortunately this defensive approach undermines learning and cooperation, and so produces results quite different than what we intend. This combination of effortless behavior and the wrong outcomes is … [Read more...]
You Need More Conflict, Not Less
By Agile Conversations authors Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick. When teams first adopt Agile, Lean, or DevOps practices, they often think that they’ll have less conflict with the new methodology. “We’ll stop fighting over deadlines because we’ll estimate the work first,” they say, or “Work in Progress limits will mean we don’t get overloaded.” Surprise! The estimates and limits and tests usually lead to more clashes, not fewer—and this is a good thing, because the conflicts give us … [Read more...]
Strengthen Your Conversations Skills with Remote Work
BY AGILE CONVERSATIONS AUTHORS DOUGLAS SQUIRREL AND JEFFREY FREDRICK Collaboration is built on skills, and you can build those skills through deliberate practice. This growth mindset view is particularly useful in our world of suddenly enforced remote working. Remote collaboration is more demanding and unfamiliar to a lot of people who are experiencing it for the first time. Responding to these new challenges with a fixed mindset, taking the view that remote working is just hard and … [Read more...]
Take The Slow Lane To Build Trust
By Agile Conversations authors Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick Congratulations—you’ve decided to improve trust with someone at work. It could be the project manager who sets deadlines without consulting you, or that customer who’s complaining endlessly that you don’t deliver sufficient quality, or the star salesperson who sells features the company can’t deliver. Whoever it is and whatever the symptoms of the lack of trust, the first rule is—SLOW DOWN. When we talk to clients about … [Read more...]
A Note from the Authors of Agile Conversations
Hello friends! After years of research, learning, and practice, we’re so glad that we can finally bring you Agile Conversations. It started for us in a small study group, seeking to improve our own communication skills. Encouraged by our initial success, we began working with others. Now, after working with more than 100 companies and thousands of individuals, we’re confident these skills can radically and rapidly change the dynamics in an organization. Along the way we’ve seen far too many … [Read more...]
Conversations: Humanity’s Secret Weapon
Adapted from the upcoming Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick. Our Special Power In his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari explores what has allowed humans to become the dominant species on the planet. His answer is that we have a special kind of communication, unique among animals. Many animals can communicate the idea “Run away from the lion!” through barks, chirps, or movement. Building on top of that, the development of human and … [Read more...]
Agile Conversations at Parts Unlimited
By authors Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick. Over the past year Parts Unlimited has been busy seeking out consultants who are experts in their fields to help them address major issues within their organization. And it just so happens that we have access to four of those video calls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkhS6hGIr9w&feature=youtu.be Download the slides here. Our first contact with Parts Unlimited came when Erik Reid emailed us and asked if we were available for a … [Read more...]
