We’ve all sat through painful requirements, planning, and brainstorming sessions that provide little useful output, are painfully long, and where the outcome was already decided by the loudest few before the meeting even started. Learn how silence can increase collaboration *and* help your agile project be more productive. Silent brainstorming allows everyone to have a voice – the loud people can’t dominate the conversation, the quiet people are provided with a way to contribute, and cognitive fixation is reduced. We’ll discuss the science of brainstorming, walk through many agile practices that use silence, and then practice a few silent brainstorming techniques such as User Story Writing, Retrospectives, and UX Design Studio.

1. The
Silence
of Agile
#Agile2012

2. The Silence of Agile
Silence
of the
Agilists
“I didn't think you
could silence
those types…”
#Agile2012

3. Think about what you
already know about
brainstorming.
As a group:
1. Choose a scribe.
Think It 2. Write down what
/ Ink It you know about
brainstorming.
3. Write down
questions you want
answered about
brainstorming.

4. Steve Rogalsky
@SROGALSKY
WINNIPEGAGILIST.BLOGSPOT.COM
PROTEGRA.COM

6. At Protegra we
employ agile and lean
techniques to give our
Protegra Advantage
clients an advantage
– to leap out of the
bowl.
info@protegra.com
blog.protegra.com
www.protegra.com

7. Most Brainstorming sessions
start with sincerity
“I just want to get feedback, how is it going,
is there a better way to do this?”

8. Most Brainstorming sessions
assume…
• „Throwing ideas around‟ will help
generate even greater and more
innovative ideas.
• Brainstorming = Innovation

9. Most Brainstorming sessions
assume…
• If you have an idea you‟ll say it.
• Attendance = Participation

10. Most Brainstorming sessions
assume…
• If you ask people to give their ideas, they
will.
• Inviting Responses = Collaboration

11. Are those assumptions correct?

12. Some
People
Participate
Actively

13. Some don‟t

14. If that is the
case…
“Any time people come together in a
meeting, we‟re not necessarily getting the
best ideas; we‟re just getting the ideas of
the best talkers” – Susan Cain

15. what about Idea Generation?
An
Experiment

16. Learning Outcomes
1. New Pet
Peeve
2. Why/How
Silence?
3. New Ideas

17. Stepping Back
Why do we
brainstorm?
1. To Innovate
2. To Create
Great Teams

18. Stepping Back
If that is what we believe, is brainstorming
by the loud & few acceptable?

19. Stepping Back
If that is what we believe, is restricting our
ideas to pink elephants acceptable?

20. The Science
“Turns out the way your team is
brainstorming is probably all wrong!”
- BusinessInsider.com referencing a joint University of Texas and
Texas A & M University Study from 2010

21. The Science
(Number of Ideas Generated)
4 Individuals
working
separately
4 Individuals
working
anonymously
together
(from “Collaborative Fixation: Effects on others‟ ideas on brainstorming”)

22. The Science
(Variety of Ideas Generated)
4 Individuals
working
separately
4 Individuals
working
anonymously
together
(from “Collaborative Fixation: Effects on others‟ ideas on brainstorming”)

23. The Science
“supports the notion that exchanging ideas in a group
leads members to become fixated on their peers' ideas,
thus reducing the number of categories explored.”
(from “Collaborative Fixation: Effects on others‟ ideas on brainstorming”)

24. The Science

25. The Science
Number of Unique Solutions
“Brainstorming
didn‟t unleash the
potential of the
group, but rather
made each
individual less
creative”
Yale University – Study
12 Groups of 4 48 Individuals (1958)

26. The Science
Why the Fixation?
“The Emory University neuroscientist
Gregory Berns found that when we
take a stance different from the
group‟s, we activate the amygdala, a
small organ in the brain associated with
the fear of rejection. Professor Berns
calls this „the pain of independence.‟”
- Susan Cain

27. The Science
What about Group Think?
“The more charismatic the leader, the worse that Group
Think is. No one wants to contradict the leader”
- Dr. Jason Ediger - psyschologist

28. The Science
What about Debate?
(2003 Study at the University of California by professor Charlan Nemeth)

29. The Science
Control Group
Dot Not Criticize What about Debate?
Debate
30
- Teams that were
instructed to debate
25 the ideas … “were
20 the most creative –
generating nearly
15 twenty percent more
10 ideas”
5
0
France U.S.A.
(2003 Study at the University of California by professor Charlan Nemeth)

30. The Science
Why is debate useful?
Consider this free association example:
- Say the first thing you think of when I say…
GREEN
- Nearly everyone says…
(2003 Study at the University of California by professor Charlan Nemeth)

31. The Science
How do we get past this layer of predictability?
(2003 Study at the University of California by professor Charlan Nemeth)

32. The Science
“being exposed to [alternate
views] expands our creative
potential.”
“After hearing someone shout
out an errant answer, we
work to understand it, which
causes us to reassess our
initial assumptions and try out
new perspectives.”
(2003 Study at the University of California by professor Charlan Nemeth)

33. The Science
“Decades of research have consistently shown that
brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the
same number of people who work alone and later pool
their ideas.”
- Keith Sawyer – psychologist at Washington University about Brainstorming
“This finding mirrors patterns found in previous research
(Coskun, Paulus, Brown, & Sherwood, 2000) and
suggests that brainstorming sessions might be optimal if a
group session follows an individual session.”
- (from “Collaborative Fixation: Effects on others‟ ideas on brainstorming”)

34. The Science : Summary
Individual > Group for
Generating Ideas
– Ironic Process Theory
– Fixation
– Amygdala
– Group Think
Group > Individual for
Processing/Expanding Ideas
– Debate spurs new perspectives

35. 1. Think about this
presentation.
Think about what you
learned about
brainstorming.
So?
In silence, write down
everything you learned
How then about brainstorming
(one item per index
should we card)
brainstorm?

36. 2. Alternate reading your
ideas out loud to your
group. Place your idea in
the middle once you‟ve
read it.
During this round, do:
• Ask questions.
So?
• Write new ideas as you
think of them.
• Remove Duplicates
How then
Continue until all ideas
should we have been read.
brainstorm?

37. Comparing the Steps to the
Science
Steps Science
1. Prompt (facilitator) 1. Prompt w/o Fixation
2. Gather (silence) 2. Generate in silence
3. Process (out loud) 3. Process out loud

38. Stepping Back
Why do we
brainstorm?
1. To Innovate
2. To Create
Great Teams

39. The Science Just Might Be
Secondary…

40. Silent
Brainstorming
encourages:
– Giving up power.
– Handing out
ownership.
– Spreading around
responsibility.
– Creating
engagement.
– Building better teams.

41. Silent Brainstorming Encourages:
Giving up power.
Handing out ownership.
Spreading around responsibility.
Creating engagement.
Building better teams.

42. The
Silence
of Agile
#Agile2012
Back to our
topic…

43. Retrospectives
1. Prompt
2. Gather (silence)
3. Discuss (out loud)
4. Vote (silence)

44. Speed Boat Exercise
1. Prompt
2. Gather (silence)
3. Discuss (out loud)

45. Agile Chartering
1. Prompt
2. Gather (silence)
3. Discuss (out loud)
4. Group (silence)
5. Name (out loud)

46. Risk Assessment
1. Prompt
2. Gather (silence)
3. Discuss/Place (out loud)

47. User Story Mapping
1. Prompt
2. Gather (silence)
3. Discuss (out loud)
4. Group (silence)
5. Name (out loud)

48. Generating User Stories in Silence
1. Prompt
2. Write a Story (silence)
3. Write part of a Story &
Pass (silence)
4. Write part of a Story &
Pass but in reverse
(silence)

49. Planning Poker
1. Prompt
2. Vote (silence)
3. Discuss (out loud)
4. <Repeat>

50. Planning Poker Party
1. Individual Placement
(silence)
2. Group Placement
(silence)
3. Discussion

51. UX Design Studio
1. Prompt
2. Draw (silence)
3. Pitch / Debate (out loud)
4. <Repeat>

52. Lean Coffee
1. Prompt
2. Write Post-its (silence)
3. Discuss

53. LEGO® Serious Play
1. Prompt
2. Build (individual)
3. Share / Discuss

54. Time to Practice
As groups, we‟ll perform a brief
mid-Conference Retrospective

55. Time to Practice
Prompt: Based on the conference so far, I
wish the following could be done differently

56. Time to Practice
• Gather (silence)
• Discuss/Place/Group (out loud)
• Vote (silence)

57. In Closing
To innovate and build
great teams, your
technique matters!
1. Generate in silence
2. Process out loud
Steve Rogalsky
@SROGALSKY
Thanks! WINNIPEGAGILIST.BLOGSPOT.COM
Questions PROTEGRA.COM

58. Credits
• Collaborative Fixation: Effects on others‟ ideas on brainstorming
– http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.1699/full
– http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-04/strategy/30587996_1_brainstorming-creative-ideas-
fixation
• The liberating role of conflict in group creativity: A study in two countries
– https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/directory/ja26531/downloads/Liberating_role_of_conflict_in_group_creativity.pdf
• Susan Cain articles:
– http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-
groupthink.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
– http://www.fastcompany.com/1814377/susan-cain-groupthink-brainstorming-quiet-introverts
– http://www.fastcodesign.com/1668930/the-brainstorming-process-is-bs-but-can-we-rework-it
• JFK Story
– http://www.probe.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=fdKEIMNsEoG&b=4282487&ct=5510241
• Jonah Lehrer article:
– http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=1
• Books:
– Collaboration Explained – Jean Tabaka

59. Silent Examples
• Generic Silent Brainstorming
– http://winnipegagilist.blogspot.ca/2012/01/silent-brainstorming.html
• Planning Poker
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb9Rzyi8b90&feature=PlayList&p=3F5BBA263D7DF99C&playnext=1&playnext_f
rom=PL&index=2
• Planning Poker Party
– http://systemagility.com/2011/05/22/using-silent-grouping-to-size-user-stories/
• UX Design Studio
– http://winnipegagilist.blogspot.ca/2011/03/team-ownership-through-ux-design-studio.html
• Agile Chartering
– http://winnipegagilist.blogspot.ca/2012/02/agile-chartering-agile-documentation.html
• Speed Boat
– http://innovationgames.com/2010/01/using-speed-boat-for-process-improvement/
• Remember the Future
– http://innovationgames.com/remember-the-future/
• Retrospectives
– http://winnipegagilist.blogspot.ca/2010/11/agile-retrospectives-rising-patton.html
• User Story Mapping
– http://winnipegagilist.blogspot.ca/2012/03/how-to-create-user-story-map.html
– http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=750 (podcast)
• Generating User Stories in Silence
– http://www.coachingagileteams.com/2010/11/29/uncategorized/using-silent-work-techniques-to-get-to-astonishing-
results/
• LEGO Serious Play
– http://masteringtheobvious.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/so-you-want-to-know-more-about-lego-serious-play/
• Lean Coffee
– http://wiki.limitedwipsociety.org/display/consortwiki/Running+a+Lean+Coffee