The first and most important thing I share with any team I work with are the Agile Values, also known the XP Values from Kent Beck and Cynthia Andres.

The Five Agile Values

1. Communication is a two way thing. It’s about talking and listening.

2. Simplicity is about simple solutions that do what’s required, no more, no less. Simplicity is synonymous with elegance.

3. Feedback has three axes: Giving feedback, receiving feedback and taking action as a result of the feedback.

4. Courage is about taking calculated risks. It’s about facing and voicing the brutal facts. It’s also about creating an environment where people can be courageous.

5. Respect is an appreciation that everyone can add value. It’s also about valuing diversity.

Agile Values++

During our peer coaching, Pascal and I identified two more vital values to add to the set:

6. Trust is about giving people a chance to do the right thing and to do things right.

7. Transparency means sharing information as much as possible to help create more Real Options for all parties involved.

What the Agile Values mean in practice

Newcomers to Agile often ask me: ‘How do you know if someone is really agile?‘ To which I reply, ‘They follow the Agile Values even at times of great stress.’ Those who compromise on the Values can never be truly agile, especially if they get stuck in Denial.

In my experience, Respect is the toughest and most important value because it forms the foundation for the rest. You have to respect others and yourself to really make the other values count.

The Telltale Heart

I regularly meet Agilistas who appear to respect others and themselves, yet they are incapable of accepting feedback and taking action. According to Marshall Goldsmith, the only correct response to any feedback is: ‘Thank You’. What do you say when someone gives you feedback?

Half way through my Christmas shopping mission, I meet up for coffee with my friend TJ, even though he drinks neither tea nor coffee. I tell him about an article I’d just been reading about people’s fitness and gyms.

‘According to the highly experienced instructor in the article, most people put in around 7/10 amount of effort when they workout,’ I say, pleased to have committed to memory what I thought was a useful factoid.

There’s a split-second pause as the thinking cogs click into motion and then TJ says, ‘Most people work out at 3. Out of 15.’

Baffled, I’m silent for some time. Of course there’s no real way of knowing whether or not his statement is factually correct, but it resonates with me. It also casts a dark shadow over the past couple of weeks whenever I’d managed to shave a couple of seconds off my 5k PB.

‘You can run faster than that,’ TJ says.

‘How do you know?’ I huff, indignant of so bold a challenge.

‘Because I’ve seen you do it. Once.’

And I had. I’d just forgotten.

As an Agile Coach, the greatest challenge for me on any Agile Enablement gig is The Wall. And I don’t mean the Project Wall (aka Kanban Board), the one with the iteration backlog on display for all to see, where stories and tasks take their turn journeying across the columns of TODO and In Progress before finally reaching DONE.

The Wall I speak of is a metaphorical one. Everyone has one. One person’s Wall may well be different from someone else’s. I can only share with you what mine looks and feels like. The most important thing is to be able to recognise yours when you come up against it. Recognising the Wall is one small, yet significant step towards winning the struggle against yourself.

I know I’ve reached the Wall when:

• I’ve stopped listening.
• I refuse to ask for feedback.
• I refuse to ask for help.
• I’ve stopped learning.
• I think I’m right and everyone else is wrong.

The Wall at its most extreme means:

• I’ve run out of answers.
• I feel helpless.
• I feel like running away and leaving it all behind.
• I’ve lost hope.
• I question everything I represent: from my areas of expertise and skills to my years of experience.

In summary, The Wall is when self doubt gnaws at your bones trying to get to the marrow. It’s when you refuse to face the brutal facts about yourself and start making up stories in the hope of magicking away The Wall through make-believe.

Agile and The Wall

Agile Enablement is tough because Agile demands continuous improvement. Continuous Improvement means being on the constant lookout for problems and facing the brutal truths when we find them so that we can deal with them through process and/or people improvement. It’s only natural that Continuous Improvement at an organisational level results in growing pains on a grand scale.

Rules about The Wall

1. You have to confront The Wall.
2. You have to develop an understanding of how The Wall has come to be in order to identify ways of getting over it.
3. You have to climb over The Wall. You cannot just skirt or workaround it.

Dealing with The Wall as an Individual

Here’s what I do when I find myself or a team member facing The Wall:

1. Take a break.
2. Find a quiet place to sit and think.
3. Find out how others are feeling about the situation in a 1-2-1.
4. Ask for feedback.
5. Perform a version of a temperature reading.
6. Put checks in place and assess progress.
7. Rinse and repeat.

Dealing with The Wall as a Team

1. Take a break.
2. Hold an impromptu team retrospective.
3. Mine for key issues.
4. Brainstorm possible causes for key issues.
5. Brainstorm possible solutions for key issues.
6. Commit to trying out 1 – 3 possible solutions as a team.
7. Put checks in place and assess progress.
8. Rinse and repeat.

Beware of Wallflowers

Be on the look out for perpetual laggards who choose to hang around The Wall. No one forces them to stay there, as they kick stones at the foot of the Wall, like aged teenagers smoking their cigarettes by the bike shed trying to look cool long after the bike shed is gone. Offer help by way of a 1-2-1 conversation to identify options that may help them go over The Wall.

The Secret to Scaling The Wall

• Always apply the Agile Values: Communication, Simplicity, Feedback, Courage and Respect
• Apply two additional Agile Values: Trust and Transparency
• Practice Real Options thinking
• Take responsibility for yourself
• Find meaning in your work
• Find ways you can add value
• Strive to improve continuously
• Strive to enjoy what you do – the amount of fun you have is in direct correlation with the chances of you being able to scale The Wall

There’s one more thing about The Wall you should know: there will be many incarnations of The Wall you’ll have to face. The trick is to focus of scaling the one that’s blocking your way right now. Another one will inevitably spring up elsewhere on your journey and that’s good news because we need The Wall to keep our brains agile and our bodies nimble. The Wall also keeps us honest about how agile we really are.

What Went Well

Team Compensation by Vera Peeters and Yves Hanoulle: I attended the rehearsal session by Vera and was ‘WOWed’ by the excellent use of Playmobil to illustrate the impact of a maladjusted reward system on team behaviour. This session is a definite MUST-SEE workshop if you get the chance!

Coaching Self Organisating Teams by Joseph Pelrine: Joseph compares team performance with making chicken soup. There are 5 possible states to the Heat Model: Burning (results in team burnout and death marching), Cooking (ideal temperature for continuous improvement), Stagnating (discipline is lost and bad behaviour begins to fester), Congealing (team gets too comfortable to achieve and bad habits become the norm) and Solidifying (control takes over and change is no longer possible).

The Real Options Space Game by Pascal Van Cauwenberghe and me: Pascal and I tried out version 2 of the Space Game board and materials with 18 intrepid adventurers. Thanks to the feedback from Vera during our rehearsal session, Pascal and I improved our pair presenting on the day. Find out how one participant, Al Priest, has been applying Real Options.

Open Spaces: Although I was unable to attend any, the feedback from other participants were positive on the whole. It’s always good to see active participation and exchange of ideas among practitioners! I look forward to participating in Open Spaces next year.

The Yellow Brick Road Revisited (aka The Road to Agile Adoption through Peer Coaching) by Duncan Pierce and me: This was a session Duncan and I presented last year at XP Day London. The intention was to create a ongoing network for Agile practitioners to help one another through adopting Agile. Thanks to Douglas Squirrel and Simon Woolf for their Lightning Talk on their peer coaching experience as a followup to the session!

Complaints with Recommendations

• One of my main reasons for attending XP Day London this year was to hear David Stoughton give a talk on User Stories, Agile Analysis and Business Value. I know that many others wanted to attend his session too but missed out, so it would be great to schedule such sessions as a keynote for next year.
• There were 4 scheduled sessions on the afternoon of Day 2 of the conference when there was only one scheduled session in the morning. It may be an idea to spread out the scheduled sessions more, especially when speakers were available to do so. This would give people Real Options.
• In my experience, catering is one of the most important things to get right at any conference. Tasty meals and snacks would have made the conference more enjoyable.

‘Twas the night before Geekmas…

‘Happy Geekmas Eve!’ said Portia and Pascal.

‘What’s Geekmas Eve?’ I hear you gasp with anticipation.

Geekmas Eve marks the official day before the launch of the latest version of the Real Options Space Game. It’s an auspicious day when species gather from around the galaxy to marvel at the folly of humankind.

‘Can we trust those humanoids to preserve galactic peace?’, quibble the alien Council members in unison.

‘Fools!’ snigger the evil Montague clan from Beta-564, poised to swallow all that is of earthly beauty in one sloppy gulp.

Never fear, Real Options is here!

I hope you will join Pascal and me this Friday to play the best ever Real Options Space Game* this side of the galaxy at XPDay London. Be there, or risk becoming human snacks.

* No aliens were harmed in the making of the game.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

(Over coffee during an Agile training course)

Student: You weren’t what we were expecting.
P.: What do you mean?
Student: We were expecting a male trainer.
P.: I see.
Student: Actually we were expecting a big man with a beard.
P.: You’re right. I’m no Santa Claus.

What you see isn’t always what you get

A recent conversation with a student reminded me of the importance of keeping an open mind. Most important of all, according to Marshall Goldsmith, we would do well to question the success we attribute to ourselves.

What got you here won’t get you there

In his book on professional development, ‘What What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’, Marshall asserts that most of us are successful not because of personal merit. Instead, Marshall says that most of us are successful in spite of who we are and the things we do.

Marshall identifies the top 20 offences many successful people are guilty of:

1. Winning too much

2. Adding too much value

3. Passing judgment

4. Making destructive comments

5. Starting with ‘No’, ‘But’, ‘However’

6. Telling the world how smart we are

7. Speaking when angry

8. Negativity, or ‘Let me explain why that won’t work’

9. Withholding information

10. Failing to give proper recognition

11. Claiming credit that we don’t deserve

12. Making excuses

13. Clinging to the past

14. Play favourites

15. Refusing to express regret

16. Not listening

17. Failing to express gratitude

18. Punishing the messenger

19. Passing the buck

20. An excessive need to be ‘me’

Do any of these sound familiar? I’m guilty of at least three. What struck me most about the list was that I recognised many of the attributes in the managers with whom I’d worked early on in my career. And yet they continued to be promoted.

In my experience, what Marshall identifies as limiting flaws continues to be rewarded by many organisations. Such organisations are usually highly hierarchical and rigid. Such places are usually mired in all kinds of waste: wasteful management, wasteful individuals, wasted potential. And all because an organisation rewards individual achievement over collaboration, trust and transparency.

Agile Adoption with Change to spare

Agile Adoption requires organisational change. Organisational change requires each of us to make a change for the better, however small, however seemingly insignificant at first glance. Organisational change takes time. And an incredible amount of effort. Personal effort. Some would call it an investment.

Change Happens

P.: I hear you’re an Agile Coach.
Agilista: You are correct.
P.: What do you do as a coach?
Agilista: I change people.
P.: In my experience, you can only change yourself.
Agilista: I change people. Like psychologists do.
P.: My mistake. I thought you said you were an Agile Coach.

With great power comes great responsibility

Agile Coaching is a people business. I’m an Agile Coach because I’m interested in people. Why? Because working with others helps me better understand myself and the world around me. Learning doesn’t just help me deliver business value. Learning helps me create things of worth. I’m an Agile Coach but that doesn’t make me a psychologist.

An effective Agile Coach inspires those around them to change for the better. They lead by example. They constantly strive to improve by seeking feedback and taking action arising from the feedback. They show that change happens by changing themselves.

An effective Agile Coach learns by making mistakes. They take calculated risks by trying out new or different ways of doing things. This means sometimes things might go wrong. Making mistakes is essential in the cycle of learning. You have to do something different to change the status quo. Doing the same thing you’ve always done and expecting a different result is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

An effective Agile Coach is trustworthy. They act as the guide for a team on their journey towards becoming more agile. ‘Integrity is the opposite of manipulation,’ Pollyanna Pixton once said during a JAOO session on leadership. I take this to mean you can help people change by providing and exploring real options, but the choice remains theirs. Believing you have the power to change others sounds a lot like meddling to me. So long as people have the choice to change, you cannot ‘change people’.

Making a living out of learning

Human beings can’t help but learn. As Jim Collins (of From Good to Great fame) says, there’s no OFF switch to people learning. We’re learning all the time, whether we want to or not. Start by taking responsibility for yourself instead of trying to change others to suit you.

A training gig in Helsinki means an early start for Christmas celebrations this year since everything is covered in snow. My Finnish guides help brighten up my brief, yet adventurous, 4-day visit with their cultural commentary.

‘There’s no specific Finnish word for “please”.’ It seems that it’s implied in the structure of what you say and how you say it. ‘That’s why Americans think we’re rude,’ exclaims one Finn.

‘The Finns advocate and live by the principle of Work-Life balance.’ Many of the people I meet seem to work at a sustainable pace. It’s remarkable how some folks respond to fewer daylight hours by making the most of their dark afternoons and evenings.

‘The Finns work hard.’ I’m told it’s a matter of pride that many people here work hard. No Finn wants to be regarded as a lay-about. If this is true, then it’s a good example of what Dubner and Levitt describe in Freakonomics as a social incentive that influences human behaviour (the other two being financial and moral incentives).

‘The Finns are straight talkers.’ They tell you what’s what, no messing about. It requires some serious listening – whether you want to hear it or not. In return, they really listen to what you have to say.

‘Helsinki’s a pleasant place to work.’ Most of the non-native Finns I meet tell a similar story of how they ended up in Helsinki by chance. ‘I came here as a student and have stayed on ever since!’ beam a number of Finns.

‘The Finns are a friendly bunch once they get to know you.’ I wonder if it’s because good company helps keep the winter blues at bay. That and Lapland being less than 100 kilometres away.

Casual Observations

The Finns seem to talk more about the weather than even the Brits. I feel right at home as folks spend their lunchtime commiserating one another on the rain and long for a winter with snow to brighten the long darkness.

Most people I meet from around the world wish they worked in a flat structure at work. One Finn insists his boss isn’t just the bloke who sits next to him, but also a good friend. ‘What happens when you make a mistake?’ I ask. ‘He tells me and we work it out,’ he nods, smiling.

The Gift of Giving

During my expedition in search of Christmas presents, I stumble across an unusual sight: the Free Hugs campaign at the main train station. ‘If I give you a hug, may I take your picture? It’s for my blog,’ I explain. Distracted by the phenomenon, I mistake their offer as a commodity instead of a gift.

Nonetheless, I give and get a hug. What a great idea.

‘We’re part of a global movement to increase happiness in the world,’ says one of the young women as a matter-of-fact.

‘Do you come across strangers you would rather not hug?’ I ask.

‘Yes!’ replies the shorter of the two gifthuggers.

‘But we hug them anyway!’ insists the taller one.

Now that’s dedication.

My friend Thoughtful Jim is the silent type. Whenever I pose a philosophical question (such as ‘Can we be paid well for doing what we love?’), instead of accusing me of overthinking, TJ usually replies, ‘I can’t answer an important question just like that. Let me think about it.’ TJ’s a deep thinker. And when he has something to say, I always sit up and listen.

One day, I notice TJ looking a bit glum. Instinctively, I tell him about the importance of doing what makes his heart sing. For once, he’s ready with a retort, ‘What does it mean “make your heart sing”? I’m not like you – I’ve never experienced anything that makes my heart sing.’ For the longest moment I’m lost for words.

Without music, life would be a singular mistake

What makes my heart sing is striving to do my best, gaining a better understanding of the world and myself and, most important of all, doing W-O-R-K T-H-A-T M-A-T-T-E-R-S. (Thanks to Tom Peters for the reminder!) That’s just my definition, of course. Yours is likely to be something entirely different.

I feel I owe TJ a better answer than this, so I begin to carry the question around in my head.

The Story of Success

Then I came across the answer this Tuesday when I went to hear Malcolm Gladwell speak at the London Business Forum.

Malcolm says that for an individual to be successful, they must do ‘Meaningful Work’. He defines Meaningful Work as:

1. Autonomous – You determine what you do
2. Complex – It’s hard enough to exercise your mind
3. Effort and reward – The more work you put in, the greater the reward you reap.

Malcolm’s definition is like a chance meeting with an old friend because it’s what I used to do at school. And it’s by identifying those three attributes that Malcolm crystalises what I’ve always known, but never quite dared to acknowledge as a working adult because it sounds impossible to achieve.

The Riddle of Work

The currency of work is changing. Can we be paid well for doing what we love? Yes! How do I know? Because I do more of what I love every day and am rewarded both financially and experiencially.

How many people do you know have:

• 1 x suitcase stuffed with 225 balloons
• 10 x Agile game kits (The XP Game and The Business Value Game)
• 4 kilograms of chocolates
• And plays games to help adults learn in beautiful cities such as Helsinki?

Work can be fun. Sometimes it even becomes a party.

‘SimBlogging‘ offers a his-and-hers viewpoint as Pascal and Portia timebox-blog simultaneously

‘Fun, Learning, Sharing, Smiles and Laughter’

These five words best describe my first and last impressions of XP Days Benelux 2008.

The conference opened with a warm welcome from the organisers Pascal Van Cauwenberghe, Vera Peeters, Nicole Belilos and me. Next up were Day 1 presenters who promoted their sessions as OOMPs reduced to 30 seconds (pronounced ‘oomps’ aka Official One Minute Presentations).

The conference hall shuddered with laughter as the mini-marketing exercise transformed previously mild and quiet presenters into creative and boisterous marketeers. A few members of the audience even shrieked with delight at the mention of fairytales and the search for happy endings.

Close of Play

Another unique feature was 30 second OOMPs from participants as part of the closing on each day.

Participants stood up to share their thoughts and lessons learnt as Pascal called out the title of each session of the day.

Behind the logistical scenes were the ever resourceful Rob Westgeest (another of the great conference organisers) and Olivier Costa, flanked by a rotating set of volunteers ready to help whenever help was needed. Now that’s what I call a self-organising team.

Fun and Games

One example of F-U-N in action was the Persona Game where each conference participant identified themselves with a particular conference participant stereotype. To win a prize, each participant had to form a team of different persona types to deliver a team OOMP.

Another example was the Games Night where more than 30 grownups played board and card games until the wee hours of the next morning (2:30 am to be precise).

Session Favourites

Critical Chain by Christophe Thibaut and Olivier Pizzato – Mecanno experience is hard to come by, but we can deliver value if we share our knowledge, expertise and tasks

Seeking to Perceive More Than to be Perceived by Emanuel Gaillot and Bernard Notarianni – Where we learnt about three more tools to add to our Better Communication Toolkit: “Investigate Protocol” (from Jim and Michele McCarthy), “Soft Focus” (by theatre director Tadashi Suzuki) and “Emic Interviewing” (from American anthropologist Marvin Harris)

The Business Value Game by Pascal, Vera and me – Learning how the game can be scaled up to 6 teams of 6 participants with 3 facilitators while preserving the quality of learning and gaming experience

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall… Why Me? – Amusing 33 grownups with the retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Tarantino style

Working with Resistance by Olivier Costa and his Sensei – Where we learnt about the importance of exercising the body with the mind by doing some basic Aikido exercises. Many participants left beaming and reinvigorated by the experience before heading to the bar

Cultural Remarks

• A Dutch road slows down traffic with a “verkeerseiland” or “slowing down / traffic island” instead of a speed hump (aka “sleeping policeman“)
• Dutch quiches are served in blocks and cut up into cubes of cheesy goodness instead of being round tarts or tartlets (as served in the UK and in France)

Final Thoughts

What immediately struck me about XP Days Benelux was the spirit of inclusion, instead of exclusivity as seen at so many of the other conferences I’ve been to in the past. XP Days Benelux is a unique gathering because it’s based on what you want to know instead of who you know.

One Nice-to-Have echoed by several people would be more sessions for more seasoned Agile practitioners. I would like to see how this would be implemented next year.

I regret missing the Werewolf Game this year so I’ll be sure to participate in next year’s Games Night!

Many thanks to the wonderful photos by Xavier Quesada. Cheers Xavier!