overcoming resistance - how to engage developers in agile...
TRANSCRIPT
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TriAgile 2016 - Raleigh, NC
Overcoming Resistance -How to Engage Developers
in Agile Adoption
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David FrinkAgile Coach, Development Manager, Developer - 18 years
“Agile From 8 to 80” - TriAgile 2014
Ipreo, Teradata, SciQuest
PSM, ICP-ATF, ICP
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What do you hope to get out of this session?
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Technical Work
Usability
Agile Practices
Documentation Demos
Customer Value
Team Concerns
Testing & Quality
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“I” Shaped Dev
Technical Work
Usability
Agile Practices
Documentation Demos
Customer Value
Team Concerns
Testing & Quality
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“T” ShapedDev
Technical Work
Testing & Quality
Usability
Agile Practices
Documentation Demos
Customer Value
Team Concerns
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Elephant & Rider
Rider – Logic, analysis, planning, self-control, long-term thinking
Elephant – Emotion, motivation, passion, fear, loyalty, short-term thinking
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Non-Engagement
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What does non-engagement look like?Won’t attend meetings
Late to meetings
Unprepared for meetings
Silent in meetings
Very vocal in meetings
Won’t help test
“I’m done with my part”
Won’t swarm
Starting work before other work is finished
“Working to rule”
Hurrying the process
Superhero complex
Don’t care about the users
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You’ve got an elephant problem
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Developer’s Mind (stereotype alert)• Strong identity as a developer, driven by degree and years of effort
• Recognized for working independently
• Valued for seeing all the possibilities and coding for them the first time
• Don’t like touching things twice
• Value structure and order, high need for control and predictability
• Problem solvers; like solving puzzles
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How to Engage
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Techniques• Look beyond the initial problem• Usability studies• Fist of 5• Retrospectives• Look for the bright spots• Give feedback• Clarity of purpose• Misc. techniques
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Treat them like users...what they ask for isn’t what they
really need
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“Agile has too many meetings”
• It’s not about the meetings
• It’s about (protected) uninterrupted work time
• To fix this complaint, protect your developer’s focus
• Without adequate focus, they will be frustrated
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Usability Studies• “Show, don’t tell”
• Seeing people struggle speaks directly to the elephant
• If their elephant cares about the end user, everything else falls into place
• Also, pair with customer support/implementation
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Fist of 5• Forces dialog
• Uncovers resistance
• Creates buy-in
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Retrospectives
• Look here first
• Allows for self-healing teams
• When was the last time your developers suggested a change that was implemented?
• Consider a “check-in”
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Clarity of purpose• If you ask, “What is the purpose of this meeting?”,
what would your devs say?
• “What is a successful sprint”?
• “How can you help the team be more successful 4 iterations from now?”
• They may be moving, just in the wrong direction
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Find the bright spots and give feedback• Focus on what works and reinforce it
• Assume they don’t know which behaviors are beneficial
• Situation, Behavior, Impact (SBI)
• Look at technical practices as well
• 5-1 ratio
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Misc. techniques• Lower your WIP• Diff your environment
• Experiments
• Sit facing the problem
• One-on-ones
• Ask “What if they’re right?”
• Guilds/COEs
• Remind them how far they’ve come
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Conclusion• Motivate the elephant
• Protect their focus
• Usability studies for engagement
• Focus on what is working and reinforce it
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Bibliography/Additional Reading• Elephant and Rider – The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt
• Elephant and Rider applied, Bright Spots, etc. – Switch, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Identity, decision making, etc. – Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely
• Negotiation – Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton
• Running Usability Studies – Rocket Surgery Made Easy, Steve Krug