Catherine Louis and Richard Kasperowski gave a presentation on building effective teams based on lessons learned from search and rescue teams. They discussed how SAR teams form under pressure, collaborate effectively through clear communication and role assignment, and debrief prospectively to continuously improve. The presentation emphasized the importance of psychological and physical safety, interdependent work, and using proven patterns and protocols like aligning on goals, asking for help, and perfection games.
Human Factors of XR: Using Human Factors to Design XR Systems
What if the people who showed up could be the best team ever_.pdf
1. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Search and Rescue:
Rescuing Your Team So the People
Who Showed Up Can be the Best
Team Ever
Catherine Louis &
Richard Kasperowski
5. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Introductions
● Catherine & Richard
● All of Us
○ Wave? Elbow-touch? Fist-bump? Handshake?
○ Say hello someone at your table, “thanks for being here!”
○ Say hello to someone else - same - “thanks for being here!”
6. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Awesome stuff
Free Psychological Safety Assessment
● Psychological Safety Index
● Customized report and recommendations
● Visit kasperowski.com/scrumgathering
AgileRTP Monthly Meet-Up
● Seeking speakers with exciting topics
● We love and support new speakers!
● Email Catherine at cll@cll-group.com
7. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Our Plan
● Introduction: Why Are We Here?
● Stories of team formation from Search and Rescue teams
● SAR teams: insights into team-building
● Core Protocols: patterns for team-building
● Practice with these tools
● Q&A
18. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Opener: What’s your happy place?
Happy Place: a memory, situation or activity that makes you feel happy
● On your own, reflect on these clues to find your happy place:
○ Recall places where you've appreciated the sounds, or enjoyed visual images - or
both
○ Remember where you were when you experienced deep contentment and meaning
○ Stay open-minded.
○ (solo, 2 minutes)
19. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Opener: What’s your happy place?
Happy Place: a memory, situation or activity that makes you feel happy
● Ask your partner: What is your happy place?
○ Or: Ask them to tell a story about when they were super happy!
○ Ask open questions to dig deeper.
○ (groups of 2, for 5 minutes)
20. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Opener: What’s your happy place?
Happy Place: a memory, situation or activity that makes you feel happy
● Ask your partner: What is your happy place?
○ Or: Ask them to tell a story about when they were super happy!
○ Ask open questions to dig deeper.
○ (groups of 2, for 5 minutes)
Patterns (Core Protocols)
●
Personal Alignment
(kspr.co/pa)
●
Investigate
(kspr.co/investigate)
24. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
… Can’t leave yet. Need more details.
● Location of Incident Command?
● Missing person profile?
○ As much as I can for ask this early: age, urgency, name, location of
point last seen, …
25. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
… Can’t leave yet. Need more details.
● Location of Incident Command?
● Missing person profile?
○ As much as I can for ask this early: age, urgency, name, location of
point last seen, …
Patterns (Core Protocols)
●
Ask for Help
(kspr.co/help)
26. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Search Guide
1. Axle: Initial Planning Point
2. Rim: Containment
3. Hub: Immediate Area
4. Spokes: Travel Corridors
5. Reflector: High Probability Areas
Bike Wheel Model
Source: Robert James Koester: Lost Person Behavior
27. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Bike Wheel Model hand-out
In groups of 3, using the
bike-wheel model hand out,
what would a “bike-wheel
model” look like for one of your
teams?
8 min
Bike Wheel Model
Source: Robert James Koester: Lost Person Behavior
28. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
“Search Guide” for your team
1. Axle: How/where do you plan/replan?
2. Rim: Containment of your focus area
3. Hub: Immediate Area of concern
4. Spokes: Areas for making progress
5. Reflector: High Probability Areas
Bike Wheel Model
Patterns (Core Protocols)
●
Core Commitments
kspr.co/corecommitments)
Source: Robert James Koester: Lost Person Behavior
29. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
We arrive Incident Command (IC), to get
briefed on the search
● Ask for the “Missing
person profile” (as much
as is known)
31. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Team assignment
● Safety check
● Questions about our assignment?
● Ask about terrain and terrain safety,
e.g.:
○ Pack of “loose pitbulls” reported
○ Logging area
○ Game
● We are super-clear as a team about
any danger areas — before we start
32. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Team assignment
● Safety check
● Questions about our assignment?
● Ask about terrain and terrain safety,
e.g.:
○ Pack of “loose pitbulls” reported
○ Logging area
○ Game
● We are super-clear as a team about
any danger areas — before we start
Patterns (Core Protocols)
●
Decider
(kspr.co/decider)
●
Resolution
(kspr.co/resolution)
33. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
How do we want to tackle this?
● Share skills, meet one another, share vulnerabilities (asthma,
allergies…) Model this: be vulnerable yourself first, trust and verify.
● Share how we work together: what my dog does, who has my back,
who is searching left-right of my position? How do we communicate in
real-time, who has your back? Whose back do you have?
34. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Market of Skills
● What skills do you bring?
● What’s under the booth?
● What do you want to learn from others?
● Solo - 3 min to fill in your “market of skills”
35. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Market of Skills
● What skills do you bring?
● What’s under the booth?
● What do you want to learn from others?
● Solo - 3 min to fill in your “market of skills”
● 3 min (groups of 3, 5 minutes) to share
37. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
During Our Team’s Assignment
● Guess what? You discover things!
○ Wasps!
■ We radio this in to IC (Incident Command)
○ Team member steps in creek
■ “I could really use some spare dry socks”
○ Team member radios “I see a cabin west of me, am going to check it out”
■ You maintain communication with your team
○ Viga is indicating remote interest southeast of our segment, outside of our search
area
■ Radio this in to Incident Command
● You discover things that speed up the search. You discover things
that slow you down.
● How do you work these “real-time comm’s” on your teams?
38. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
During Our Team’s Assignment
● Guess what? You discover things!
○ Wasps!
■ We radio this in to IC (Incident Command)
○ Team member steps in creek
■ “I could really use some spare dry socks”
○ Team member radios “I see a cabin west of me, am going to check it out”
■ You maintain communication with your team
○ Viga is indicating remote interest southeast of our segment, outside of our search
area
■ Radio this in to Incident Command
● You discover things that speed up the search. You discover things
that slow you down.
● How do you “work these comm’s” on your teams?
Patterns (Core Protocols)
●
Ask For Help
(kspr.co/help)
43. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
What would need to change if you turned your
“Retrospectives” into “Prospectives?”
5 minutes, have a conversation in groups of 3:
● What would help your team focus on making the future better?
● REALLY: IN THE NEXT SPRINT!
44. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
“Prospective”
● What did you do?
● What did you learn?
● Any hazards we need to know
about?
● Where should we go next?
Patterns (Core Protocols)
●
Perfection Game (kspr.co/pgame)
46. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Core Protocols for Great Teams
Patterns (Core Protocols)
● Core Commitments (kspr.co/corecommitments)
● Pass (kspr.co/pass)
● Decider (kspr.co/decider)
● Resolution (kspr.co/resolution)
● Perfection Game (kspr.co/pgame)
● Ask For Help (kspr.co/help)
● … and more (thecoreprotocols.org)
47. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Summary
● Align on goals
● Have clear roles
● Communicate in real-time - and as we discover, we share in real-time
● Work interdependently (truly a team)
● Stress safety (physical and psychological)
● Retrospectives Run Prospectives that help you replan
● Use the patterns learned from observing teams (Core Protocols)
48. @catherinelouis | five.me/richard
Awesome stuff
Free Psychological Safety Assessment
● Psychological Safety Index
● Customized report and recommendations
● Visit kasperowski.com/scrumgathering
AgileRTP Monthly Meet-Up
● Seeking speakers with exciting topics
● We love and support new speakers!
● Email Catherine at cll@cll-group.com