Presentation from Agile New Zealand 2015 on why people seem to avoid giving 'bad' news

1. Breaking Bad
The cult of not giving 'bad' news
@antboobier
anthony@nomad8.com
Ant Boobier

3. My younger days
The feature has
taken longer than
expected to
develop and user
testing has thrown
up the need for a
number of
changes

4. Good News
Bad News
or
?

5. Depends on the context…
Surprise!
Timely
Rapid feedback
Daily
Weekly
6 Monthly
Contract
Collaboration
Individual
Team
Fixed
Flexible

6. Current Reality
Desired State

7. Russel Williams: Post It pile
A long committed list
of things to do…

8. http://airfactsjournal.com/

9. Fixed plan
The plan as a work
of art

10. The Plan

11. Optimism is an
occupational
hazard of
programming:
feedback is the
treatment
Kent Beck

12. A series of
unexpected
events…
Ross Copperman

13. http://www.mountainjade.co.nz/

14. The plan meets reality

15. face the unpleasant reality
(aka I was wrong)
Dan Milstein
reinterpret reality to fit your plan
(aka this is not bad news)
a)
b)

17. face
unpleasant
reality
re-interpret
reality
Feedback

20. Empiricism - Feedback loop

21. What do we fear ?
"I've made a promise on this
plan; changing it will make me
look bad"
“It’s a CLM (Career Limiting Move)"
"I’ll get the blame"
Pixar

23. www.projectcensored.org/

24. Who do you fear? yourself?
Courage

25. • Goal: to look smart
• Avoid Failure
• Avoid challenges
• Failure defines your identity
• Feedback and criticism is personal
• Goal: to learn
• Confront uncertainty
• Embrace challenges
• Failure provides information
• Feedback is about current capabilities
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
Based on work of Carol Dweck
versus

26. The Amygdala
Q : “am I safe?”

27. Safe environment

28. Regardless of what we discover, we
understand and truly believe that
everyone is doing the best job they can,
given what they know at the time, their
skills and abilities, the resources
available, and the situation at hand.
Perspective ‘Prime Directive’

30. Suspiciously
green

31. Patterns
Tips to deliver

32. Be committed
stuff.co.nz

34. Make it Timely

35. chunk and check
• Chunk your message into small batches and check for
understanding
• Listen actively to feedback
• Encourage clarification questions
• Encourage “reflecting back” what they have heard to ensure
the message you sent is received

36. Drop the Jargon
Drop the jargon

37. “What can be asserted without
evidence, can be dismissed without
evidence”
Christopher Hitchens
Measures

38. Make it visual
“No one ever shouts at the board"

39. This is our news

40. re-interpret
reality
Feedback
face
unpleasant
reality

41. @antboobier
anthony@nomad8.com