Posts Tagged ‘pattern’

The Other Hand

Musings | Posted by Doc
Oct 09 2011

I’m right handed. Very much so, especially since I broke my left arm in 5th grade, and was even more focused on my right hand.

These days, I sometimes shave with a manual razor, sometimes with an electric. At times, I find myself having to turn my head way to the side, and reach far around with my right hand, in order to get spots on the left side of my jaw and my neck.

This got me to thinking, and I decided to try shaving the left side of my face with my left hand. Only with my electric razor, of course, since I don’t entirely trust my coordination enough to take a chance at slicing myself open with a manual razor.

Thinking differentlyOn reflection, I realized that this was also a mental . There are so many things I do in a certain way, because I’ve always done them that way. And there are many ways I think that I have always thought, because that’s the way I’ve always thought.

We all fall into patterns, and then lose awareness of those patterns and just do things that way. While at times I think this is enabling – read about my shower principle in I&I over P&T – at other times it causes me to ignore other possibilities because I just think happily along in the same old rut. Stopping to question why I think or do things a certain way is good.

Doing them – or thinking them – differently is healthy.

Shave with the other hand. See what happens.

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Driving for Self, Driving for Other

Agile & Lean, Coping and Communicating, Musings | Posted by Doc
Jul 18 2010

I spent the past weekend with my brother. We drove from Melbourne down to Aireys Inlet along the Great Ocean Road. The scenery is spectacular.

While driving, I began to notice some of my brother’s patterns, and it got me thinking about my own patterns.

I think there are two main categories of drivers: those who become one with the vehicle, and those for whom the vehicle is a mechanical conveyance that they manipulate. In either case, we generally drive for ourselves. That is, we react in advance, based on what we see and what we expect to do.

Unfortunately, as I experienced with my brother, this means that while the driver’s body is already moving into what’s happening, the passengers are caught by surprise and may feel bumped, bounced, and thrown around.

I think of myself as one of the people in the first category – the vehicle is an extension of my body, and so I move the vehicle almost unconsciously, and my core body is rarely taken by surprise. My wife and children and friends, on the other hand, may find themselves tossed about from time to time.

This got me thinking about adoption. Those of us who feel that we really know are the first kind of driver – we move unconsciously based on what we know or expect to happen next. This is just fine when we’re working on/with teams that already understand and practice .

But what about when we’re working with teams that are new to Agile? Are we moving so unconsciously that they’re being emotionally tossed about? Are they finding themselves caught by surprise, confused, or frustrated because we’re jinking left when they expected us to go right?

The challenge for me is to figure out how to get the “passengers” in sync with the changes so that we reduce the frequency and amplitude of the surprises to the point where they’re no longer surprised.

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A Culture of Heroism

Agile & Lean, Coping and Communicating, Musings | Posted by Doc
Feb 11 2010

A while back, I wrote about A Culture of Blame. As I’ve traveled around the US and to other countries, I’ve seen more and more evidence of this, which keeps me thinking. I’m always looking for patterns of , and simple ways to describe them.

When talking about teams as compared to teams, one of the things that has become apparent is that is also a of Heroism. In fact, in many ways, much of Western culture is about heroism. We laud the star athlete, the exceptional business person, the standout author, and so on. In many cases, it seems to be recognition and acclaim for the individual over the group, or at least the individual separate from the group.

Agile teams foster a culture of collaboration and cooperation. That’s not to say that there’s not room for individual excellence, effort, and achievement. I would say that high performant teams tend to focus on the success of the team over the individual. Is Agile more socialist, while Waterfall is more capitalist? I’m not sure, but it seems that way.

Regardless, there are a number of side effects of a Culture of Heroism:

  • Ego-driven achievement
  • Unhealthy competition (although sometimes it’s quite healthy)
  • Rewards that – in recognizing the individual – discourage the others on the team
  • A focus on the individual rather than the group goals

This is an interesting thing for me, because I’m highly competitive, and am happy to have individual recognition. On the other hand, I believe strongly in subordinating my ego to the purposes and goals of the team, and that the success of the team is what’s important*. Since my ego still wins out at times, I recognize that this is not just a struggle for me, but for others as well.

We’re raised in a culture of individualism and heroism, then we are invited into the Agile fold, and asked to shift our focus and our energy from ourselves to our teams.

I’ll continue to explore this as I get the opportunity to work with more teams. I will say that I’ve seen the culture of heroism everywhere I’ve gone, in one form or another, and believe firmly that the to a culture of collaboration must come from the leadership as well as the team.

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Facilitation Antipattern: Negator

Coping and Communicating, Facilitation, Musings | Posted by Doc
Sep 30 2009
Motto: That’s wrong.
Belief: It’s my responsibility to point out what’s wrong with other people’s ideas. I live in my black hat*.
: Points out the flaws and faults in everyone else’s approach. Does so without offering any balancing positives or alternatives.
Characteristics: , sometimes superior, destructive, achieving satisfaction by negating others’ ideas.

The Negator sees their lot in life as poking holes in everyone else’s ideas and plans. While this is not, in and of itself, a bad thing, when exercised without the balance of alternatives or one’s own ideas it becomes a negative of its own.

The Negator may seem to be contributory and helpful at times, as their suggestions come across as helping you to see risks and dangers*. However, this , when exercised to the exclusion of balance, can become seen as the person’s identity, rather than one of among many.

* See Edward De Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”

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First full presentation of Facilitation Patterns and Antipatterns today #agile2009

Agile & Lean, Facilitation | Posted by Doc
Aug 25 2009

Yes, this is just a brag post. :)

At 2pm Central time today, I’ll be doing the first full delivery of the Facilitation Patterns & Antipatterns workshop at the Agile2009 conference.

Yes, I’m excited.

I’ve gotten great response from the folks I’ve told about it.  Hopefully some of them will turn up. :)

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Facilitation Antipattern: Helpless

Facilitation | Posted by Doc
Aug 12 2009
Motto: I can’t do it.
Belief: I am not capable of making decisions or taking action on my own.
: Avoids making decisions or . Frequently solicits others to work together and take on leadership/responsibility.
Characteristics: Fearful, lacking confidence, seeks approval.
Helpless can be very subtle, and sometimes very overt. Helpless frequently says things like “oh, I couldn’t do that” or “I’m not ready for that kind of responsibility”. Helpless tends to avoid making commitments and taking responsibility, and is therefore quite skilled at recruiting others to participate and take on leadership and responsibility.

Helpless is only detrimental to a group in the sense that this individual doesn’t contribute fully nor live up to their potential.  Other than that, they may be very positively contributory in discussions and in helping the group move forward.

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Facilitation Antipattern: Chicken Little

Facilitation | Posted by Doc
Aug 12 2009
Motto: Duck! The sky is falling!
Belief: Everything is an indicator of trouble to come.
: Points out the negatives and the danger in most things. Frequently tries to prevent action out of fear.
Characteristics: Fearful, , reactive, active in pointing out the problems, believable, has conviction, convincing, passionate

You’re in the midst of a conversation in which you have high expectations of reaching a conclusion and moving on to action. Chicken Little says “but doesn’t that mean that someone will lose their job?” or “I’ve tried that before, and it always ends in problems.”

Chicken Little is not a bad person, by any means. Chicken Little just sees everything as a portent of bad things to come.

Just in case you’re not familiar with the tale of Chicken Little, let me refresh your memory:

The basic premise is that a chicken eats lunch one day, and believes the sky is falling down because an acorn falls on her head. She decides to tell the King, and on her journey meets other animals who join her in the quest. In most retellings, the animals all have rhyming names such as Henny Penny, Cocky Lockey and Goosey Loosey. Finally, they come across Foxy Loxy, a fox who offers the chicken and her friends his help.

Depending on the version, the moral changes. In the “happy ending” version, the moral is not to be a “Chicken”, but to have courage. In other versions the moral is usually interpreted to mean “do not believe everything you are told”. In the latter case, it could well be a cautionary political tale: The Chicken jumps to a conclusion and whips the populace into mass hysteria, which the unscrupulous fox uses to manipulate them for his own benefit, sometimes as supper.

The challenge with Chicken Little is that he/she is believable, has great conviction, is convincing, and generally brings passion to their arguments. While you might not agree or believe at the start, through these attributes, Chicken Little will often persuade others to his/her point of view, thereby stalling or derailing the team.

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More new graphics, and Agile2009

Agile & Lean, Events, Facilitation | Posted by Doc
Aug 07 2009

Yes, I’ve added more new graphics, courtesy of Mike Ferrin.

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned that these characters will make their “live” debut when I present my session on Facilitation Patterns and Antipatterns at Agile2009. I’ve developed a around these ideas, and I think it will be a lot of fun.

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Taken to extremes

Facilitation, Musings | Posted by Doc
Feb 28 2009

Any is a good thing, until taken to extremes.

Consider Curious George. Curious George, asking questions and exploring possibilities, helps to stimulate conversation and bring out useful information.

Curious George taken to extremes,  however, becomes an obstacle. His persistent and insistent questioning can become a new , the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor doesn’t ask questions for the purpose of moving the group’s goals forward. The Inquisitor nails her victim, drilling down, and tenaciously, even insistenlty, digging and digging until the victim gives up in sheer exhaustion. The Inquisitor takes the “five whys” to the point of absurdity, like a four-year-old who – when told that the sky is blue – asks “why” until you want to run screaming.

Even neutrality can be taken too far. While I’ve made it clear that I believe that one of the key attributes of a facilitator is neutrality, nonetheless, there are times when a facilitator must take a position and a stand, when it comes to the good of the group and the process. Failure to take a stand and take action at those times becomes a new antipattern, Wishy-Washy.

I’m convinced that most positive patterns, taken to extremes, can become antipatterns.

Is it possible to go the other way? Are the attributes that define antipattern behaviors capable of being beneficial patterns, when applied in more limited doses?

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Jeremy Lightsmith: Facilitation Patterns

Facilitation, Musings | Posted by Doc
Feb 24 2009

What is ?

Facilitation comes from the latin facile, which mean easy. In fact, the role of a facilitator in a group setting is to “make things easy”. It involves planning, organizing, and setting or supporting rules and goals within such groups. It is my goal here to collect and share many of the tricks, techniques and practices that facilitators use in their work.

via Facilitation Patterns.

Besides Patrick Kua, this is the only site I’ve found that talks specifically about facilitation patterns. An excellent resource.

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