clarke ching rock, paper, stories bos2016

www.Rolls.Rocks @clarkeching

Rock, Paper, Stories …

This Stuff is so

Easy

You Wouldn’t

Believe It Works

…

http://www.Rolls.Rocks

Summary:

Stories are sneaky little bastards

1.

Muppetry

2003

—

The year of the muppet

2002

—

The year I “saw the light”.

TOC

TQM

JIT

MBA

TLA

2003

—

The year of the muppet

Familiar?

2.

Missionary

The problem…

I didn’t know the

difference between

…

I wanted to be an

Agile Missionary.

… but …

Engineer's

Brain

Preaching to THE CONVERTED.

innovators, early adopters

chasm

early majority late majority laggards

Preaching to the NOT YET CONVERTED.


chasm


Ideas end up in the chasm.


chasm


Missionary ends up in the pot.

I know stuff BUT I don't know how

to sell it.

3.

Eek: Selling

He studied

a lot

The problem is resistance

to change!

I need a way to “sell” new

ideas which doesn’t provoke

so much resistance.

3. Socratic Irony2. Skeuomorphism 4. Stories

1. Crucial Conversations

3. Socratic Irony2. Skeuomorphism

Address difficult topics, using safe words

4. Stories



Dress new ideas up in old clothing

4. Stories



Dress badly, act dumb, and

help others think clever.

4. Stories


3. Socratic Irony 4. Stories2. Skeuomorphism

Dress new “principles” up in

harmless wee stories


Stories

are

sneaky

little

bastards.

4.

Small Stories

Business Novel

Pertinent Jokes

Anecdotes

Metaphors

fables

Stories

Stories

are

sneaky

little

bastards.

5.

Rolling little Rocks Downhill

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/First_matryoshka_museum_doll_open.jpg

A story where I tell a story

about someone telling a

story

Request:

Eliminate the 120 top-priority defects, by EOY.

Team of 16 - mixed roles & skill-sets

time

#

BEFORE - 10 / MAFTER

13ish

120

Not Started Analysis Design Program

Not Started Analysis Design Program Test


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

10/m


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Have a told you about the

buffalo?

10/m

The Buffalo Story started

out as an email joke.

A conversation between Norm and

Cliff, from “Cheers”, the TV Show.

image: wikipedia

Well, you see, Norm, it’s like this.

A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo.

The slowest buffalo stays at the back and the faster buffalo run

in front, but at the slower speed.

Otherwise, the herd would split apart.

slowest

fastest

Like this.

And when they were split apart they were prone to

attack by wolves.

Evolution favoured the herds that didn’t spread apart.

slowest

fastest

When these tightly packed herds were hunted, the

wolves killed the slowest and weakest buffalo.

The guys at the back.

That made the remaining herd stronger and faster.

slowest

fastest

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast

as the slowest brain cells.

Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells.

But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

slowest

fastest

Here’s the JOKE Bit.

In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker

brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient

machine.

And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few

beers.

slowest

fastest


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can we speed up the

slowest buffalo?

Feed the testers to the wolves!


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can we speed up the

slowest buffalo?

test cleverer & faster

simple “time management” stuff


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

How can the “faster buffalo”

help?

SLOW DOWN!

Don’t distract the testers

Help them.


20/m 10/m15/m25/m

Step 1: Identify your

bottleneck

TOC’s 5 step

recipe

Step 2:

Exploit

Step 3:

Subordinate

6.

Some vague theory

Trojan stories

Lesson hidden inside

story/joke - but easily

uncovered/unpacked.

Joke isn’t particularly funny,

but it makes the story feel

harmless.

Joke is memorable,

sticky,

easily reproducible.

Delegate the “telling” to the story.

• Simple

• Unexpected

• Concrete

• Credible

• Emotional

• Stories = Flight Simulators for the Brain

by Chip and Dan Heath

• Sneaky - Clarke

Good Stories MOVE

“Drama is life

with the boring

bits taken out”

Finding stories

• MOSTLY Copy • Sometimes Stumble

Concepts/

Lessons

Amusing small

Stories

Steak

Doneness

Chart

Dave Allen

Dave Allen (b. Dublin 1936 - 2005)

–Dave Allen’s Guardian Obituary - March 12, 2005.

“Thus was born a style that made the public,

and a generation of comics then in its infancy,

think a little differently about humour, about

the power of words, about authority, and

about the world around them.”

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/mar/12/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

clarke ching rock, paper, stories bos2016

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