2. iSkra
Session Abstract
“The agile manifesto and the 12 agile principles carry an underlying tacit
assumption of effective dialoguing between all stakeholders – internal and
external. How important is the process of dialoguing in achieving the
ideals of agile philosophy? Is effective dialoguing simply about effective
communication or is it something beyond? The session explores the art
and science of effective dialoguing in the context of agile methodology
and how to implement and measure the same in the practice space.
Participants would get an exposure to a pragmatic dialoguing framework
that can be leveraged to realize the agile promise.”
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3. iSkra
Agile Manifesto – The 4 Values
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by
doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we
have come to value:
– Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
– Working software over comprehensive documentation
– Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
– Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value
the items on the left more.
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17. iSkra
12 Agile Principles …
• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer • Working software is the primary measure of
through early and continuous delivery progress.
of valuable software. • Agile processes promote sustainable
• Welcome changing requirements, even late development. The sponsors, developers, and
in development. Agile processes harness users should be able to maintain a constant
change for the customer's competitive pace indefinitely.
advantage. • Continuous attention to technical excellence
• Deliver working software frequently, from a and good design enhances agility.
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with • Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount
a preference to the shorter timescale. of work not done--is essential.
• Business people and developers must work • The best architectures, requirements, and
together daily throughout the project. designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
• Build projects around motivated individuals. • At regular intervals, the team reflects on
Give them the environment and support they how to become more effective, then tunes
need, and trust them to get the job done. and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
• The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face
conversation.
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18. iSkra
12 Agile Principles …
• Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer • Working software is the primary measure of
through early and continuous delivery progress.
of valuable software. • Agile processes promote sustainable
• Welcome changing requirements, even late development. The sponsors, developers, and
in development. Agile processes harness users should be able to maintain a constant
change for the customer's competitive pace indefinitely.
advantage. • Continuous attention to technical excellence
• Deliver working software frequently, from a and good design enhances agility.
couple of weeks to a couple of months, with • Simplicity--the art of maximizing the
a preference to the shorter timescale. amount of work not done--is essential.
• Business people and developers must work • The best architectures, requirements, and
together daily throughout the project. designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
• Build projects around motivated individuals. • At regular intervals, the team reflects on
Give them the environment and support they how to become more effective, then tunes
need, and trust them to get the job done. and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.
• The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a
development team is face-to-face
conversation.
2 February 2013 Agile & The Imperatives of Effective Dialoguing 18
19. iSkra
Agile Manifesto & Principles – A Key Tacit Assumption
Effective
Dialoguing!
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20. iSkra
Examples …
1. Planning Meeting (before a sprint cycle)
2. Daily Scrum Meetings (during sprint)
3. Retrospectives (end of sprint cycle)
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21. iSkra
Planning Meeting …
“A typical case during the planning meeting is where a joint planning
meeting happens for two teams – one in US and the other in India, both
working on the same product backlog and the product owner is based out
of US (closer proximity to customers). The product owner expects both the
teams to equally pick up backlog items & complete them in high quality
before the end of the sprint (usually 3 weeks long). The past history shows
that the India team comes rather close to completing the items they
commit to, but not 100%, whereas, the US team almost always completes
the work 100%. This has caused relationships to be strained and the
product owner wants to ensure during the planning meeting that the India
team completes 100% what it has committed to. The India team members
resent the product owner’s tone and have their list of justifications as to
why they were unable to complete 100% & they believe that the product
owner doesn’t understand all these subtle reasons. However, from the
product owner’s point of view, completing 100% is a sacrosanct goal that
the team shouldn’t compromise at any cost.”
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22. iSkra
Daily Scrum Meeting …
“This case deals with an employee (name him X for simplicity) within a
scrum team who has earned a reputation of being a laggard (a drag) to the
team. The other team members in this agile team work well with each
other and have a good camaraderie amongst them. The interactions
during the daily scrum involves X giving his updates & trying to pick up
easy activities for his day’s work and how other team members react to
this kind of ‘taking the easy route’ by X. There could be several reasons
why X is unable to meet the expectations of the other team members in
terms of the volume of his contribution, but these are not being
addressed. Instead, there is an atmosphere of distrust within the team
and it would look as if the entire team wants X out of their team.”
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23. iSkra
Retrospective Meeting …
“Team members are very open during retrospective and often, strong
feedback on how things went wrong during a particular sprint comes out
during the frank discussions. When a team member slacked during a sprint
causing additional load on other team members, this item would be
discussed in the retrospective meeting under the heading “what went
wrong”. Only when the team provides constructive feedback (without
attacking the person) and only when the receiving employee accepts the
feedback without being defensive, an environment of team learning and
growth operates in that conversation.”
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24. iSkra
The Phenomena during Planning & Daily Scrum …
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25. iSkra
The Phenomena during Planning & Daily Scrum …
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26. iSkra
The Phenomena during Planning & Daily Scrum …
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27. iSkra
The Phenomenon during Retrospective …
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28. iSkra
The Phenomenon during Retrospective …
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29. iSkra
The Phenomenon during Retrospective …
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30. iSkra
Effective Dialoguing Principles in Agile
1. Test all assumptions and inferences (before deciding any action)
2. Share all relevant information (complete transparency)
3. Use specific examples to explain what you really mean (avoid any
misunderstandings).
4. Explain reasoning and intent (behind your thoughts as well as actions)
5. Focus on interests and not on positions
6. Combine advocacy with inquiry (present your stance, invite others to
inquire into the same and vice-versa)
7. Jointly design the approach/next steps (including ways to test
disagreements)
8. Discuss the undiscussables (openly and freely)
9. Involve everybody in decision making so as to generate commitment.
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31. iSkra
Dialogue – Visible & Invisible Processes
Less effective
Internal Invisible leverage Points
Processes
Strategies
Assumptions Act of Results
Used for
Behind Communication/
Communication/
Strategies Dialogue
Dialogue
More effective External Visible
leverage points Processes
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32. iSkra
Dialogue – A Living Process
How we listen and speak ….
Mutual Learning
Unilateral Control …. decides how the future unfolds.
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33. iSkra
How to Implement and Measure the Effective Dialoguing Process?
Effective Dialoguing Implementation Methodology:
• Meeting leads (planning, daily scrum, retrospectives etc.) to be suitably trained on
the ‘Mutual Learning Model’ of effective dialoguing
• The last 5 minutes of each agile team conversation should be dedicated to a
yes/no/why/why-not check-list process on the 9 effective dialoguing strategies
• Value/Waste created during/after the team conversation should be assessed with
reference to the ‘Mutual Learning Model’ of effective dialoguing strategies as a
lessons learned process
• Above steps to be repeated in perpetuity as if its an Agile process
Effective Dialoguing Measurement Metric:
• Dialoguing Index (a tool to measure dialoguing effectiveness)
• Adherence to the 4 Agile Values & the 12 Agile Principles
• The metrics for any business outcome that depends on an agile development
methodology is the metrics for measuring success of effective dialoguing (it’s a
means to an end…)
2 February 2013 Agile & The Imperatives of Effective Dialoguing 33
34. iSkra
Delivering on the Agile Promise
4 Agile
Manifesto
Values
+ 12 Agile
Principles + 9 Dialoguing
Strategies
2 February 2013 Agile & The Imperatives of Effective Dialoguing 34
35. iSkra
About the Speaker…
Milind Agnihotri is an Independent Organization
Development (OD) consultant with over 27 years of
industry experience, spanning IT and OD
Consulting. The first phase of his professional work
life of about 20 years was in the IT industry with
Wipro, Fujitsu ICL, Tata Elxsi and later as an
entrepreneur in setting up two technology startup
ventures as the Founder CEO. The various roles
played by him as an IT practitioner include -
software design & development, project
management & delivery, pre-sale technical
consulting, front line sales & marketing, product
management, business development, creating and
managing alliances with global technology
companies, business unit head, founding two
technology startups (product led services
companies) through private equity support. For the
last 7 years Milind has been an independent OD
consultant in practice areas of – Organization
Culture, Change Management, Executive Coaching
and Leadership Development.
Email: milind@iskra.in
Blog: http://milindagnihotri.wordpress.com
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