As we all know, Agile, at it’s core, emphasizes on team work. And, if you look at any successful Agile story, the key to it’s success would be a self-oragnized, cohesive team and other factors only add to this. More often than not, Retrospectives are probably the only forum where the entire team comes together as a single unit and these meetings usually end up being crib (and ranting) sessions. And, because of that, teams are not very enthusiastic about retrospectives and these meetings become more of a ritual than being productive and useful. As the name ‘Appreciative Enquiry’ suggests, the focus of this meeting was on things that created a positive impact on the team and the project. Sridhar shared few real life examples from his projects, the effective of doing regular Appreciative Enquiries and also guided the participants how they can successfully adopt this technique in their team.

1. The Power of Appreciative
Inquiry
Sridharan Vembu
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2. To a hammer everything looks like a
nail...
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3. The creators
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4. Co creator and Influencer
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5. About “What is leadership”
Peter Druker ∗ Leadership is about creation
of alignment of strengths in
ways that make a system’s
weakness irrelevant
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6. Appreciative Inquiry is…
David Cooperrider
∗ Cooperative co-evolutionary
search for the best in people,
their organizations,
communities and the world
around them. It involves
systematic discovery of what
gives “life” to an
organization or community
when it’s most effective, and
most capable in economics,
ecological and human terms
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7. Provides theories and tools for
Appreciative
Enquiry*
Ø Elevation of system
strengths
Ø Unification and configuration
of system strengths
Ø Magnificationof system
strengths outward into
society
* - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cooperrider#Appreciative_Inquiry
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8. Appreciate – to value, to recognize with gratitude, to
increase in value
Inquiry – to seek to understand through the asking of
questions
Appreciative Enquiry is..
https://www.scrumalliance.org/system/slides/92/original/Michael%20Fortunato_Appreciative%20Agile.pdf
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9. 5 Principles of Appreciative Inquiry
Constructionist Principle Simultaneity Principle Poetic Principle
Anticipatory Principle Positive Principle
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10. The 4 D Cycle
Discover
Dream
Design
Destiny
Affirmative
Topic Choice
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11. In the very first question we
ask!!
Seeds of change
are…
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12. Let’s get into our
territory
The Agile World…
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13. ∗ What went well / What did not go well / Puzzles /
Possibly, few action Items!!
∗ Or Start / Stop / Continue
∗ How much time you usually spend on each category?
∗ We usually give it a quick pass to “What Went Well” and
focus more on “What didn’t go well” – right?
∗ Why?
Retrospective – a standard format
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14. ∗ Let’s cancel this iteration’s retrospective, as there are
no issues to discuss
∗ Only couple points on what went well, but 20 points
on what didn’t go well
∗ Team members harping on a specific problem more
than needed
∗ Maximum presence in a retrospective after an
“unsuccessful” iteration
Symptoms
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15. Questions are never neutral..
Problem Solving Mindset
∗ Why are you always late for
Stand-ups
∗ How come you missed such a
critical acceptance criteria (AC)
in your test scenario/plan?
∗ Why are you estimates always
off?
Appreciative Mindset
∗ Would you like to come up with
a better time that works for you
as well as the team?
∗ How do we collaborate better to
improve the effectiveness of the
test plan
∗ What additional help /
information do you need to
come up with better estimates?
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16. Write down one critical issue that you and your team
discussed in the most recent retrospective
Exercise
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17. Scenario 1: In a distributed, multi vendor agile program -
lack of capabilities and commitment from one of the
teams
Few Scenarios
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18. Scenario 2: In a program transition, lack of motivation
from both incoming and outgoing teams
Few Scenarios
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19. Scenario 3: Distributed Agile – quarterly prioritization
workshops – Team met the target in terms of total
Story points, but way too many scope changes –
unhappy PMO lead
Few Scenarios
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20. Scenario 4:
Project started in capped T&M Mode with 2 vendors (UX/UI,
backend development)
UX/UI vendor too costly, client asked other vendor to take over
UX/UI. 200% scope creep
No additional budget from client
Together with Business and PO, team did functional and technical
redesign, scope negotiations throughout execution phase
Delivered successfully on time, with ~10% extra budget
Extremely stressful execution phase
Conducted end-of-project Appreciative Inquiry.
Few Scenarios
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21. Few Scenarios
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22. Scenario 5:
Team was not motivated – did not find the project
interesting – no learning opportunities – customer
interactions were reluctant and looking for excuses
Absence of Product Owner from customer side –
chaotic environment – ever changing requirements –
loss of trust from both sides
Few Scenarios
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23. Using the 4 D Processes cycle, restate the same
problem statement in a way to create possibilities
Can you visualize a different outcome?
Exercise
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24. ∗ Not a replacement for Retrospective
∗ Appreciative Inquiry - It’s a journey, not a destination
∗ Works effectively when you do it in an “inside-out” fashion
∗ Need for incentivizing individuals would slowly fade away and
become irrelevant
∗ Anyone in the team can initiate, doesn’t necessarily have to wait
for SM or PM or some lead
∗ Don’t need to use the carrot and stick approach, ever
∗ Do not make it ceremonial – It has to be a behavioral change
∗ More religiously you practice in your project / at workplace, you
would see a positive change extending into your personal life as
well
Thoughts…
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25. Thank You
Questions?
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