The DISC Behavioral Model

Posted on February 12, 2012 by

I vividly remember a situation in which I gave adjusting (i.e. negative) feedback applying everything I knew about communication – I-messages, stating observable behavior, outlining negative consequences of the behavior, actionable wish – and still not getting my message through. The recipient was just like “So what? What’s so bad about alienating the other teams?”

For the longest time I didn’t understand what went wrong. I couldn’t grasp how he could not care about something, I care about so much. The developer in question is someone I have high regard for. Therefore “He doesn’t get it, because he’s an idiot” was an unlikely explanation.

Last week I finally figured it out: I listened to this podcast on feedback and got to know the DISC model. According to this model people’s behavior is dominated by one of 4 different styles:

DISC model

Continue reading →

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Assorted Links – January 2012

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Disclaimer: The material is not necessarily new, just relatively new to me. I come by most of these links on twitter. Hope there’s something new and worthwhile for you, even if you’re also on twitter.

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Being Heard – The Power of Acknowledgment

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

It might seem trivial, but one of the key learnings from my time as a scrum master is that people long to be heard. Being understood by someone else, validates the speaker. Listening says “I care. I take time and pay attention to you. You are important! Your take on things is valuable.” Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fairly Good Practice, Food for Thought, Scrum Master | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Systemic Consensus

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

Cover: Systemisches KonsensierenYou know that saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, I usually do jugde a book by its cover and I’d never have bought “Systemisches KONSENSIEREN” (“Systemic CONSENSUS”)! When a colleague dropped it on desk, I made fun of it – its whole appearance is “touchy-feely” in a bad way and, come on, CAPS? Really?

Fortunately, I picked the book up on a whim and its main (and only) idea immediately took the top position on my list of “things to try out”: When voting, don’t have the usual majority vote that generates winners and losers. Turn traditional voting upside down and determine least resistance!

Let me illustrate how that works with the first example in the book: Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Decision Making, Fairly Good Practice, Food for Thought | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Brainstorming vs. BrainstormingBut

Posted on January 5, 2012 by

Like there’s Scrum and ScrumBut, most “brainstorming” sessions I ever took part in were BrainstormingBut sessions, instead of true brainstorming. They didn’t adhere to the key rules of a true brainstorming, namely:

  1. Defer judgement
  2. Aim for quantity

Up until I was well into my 20s, every “brainstorming” I had ever participated in, had violated at least the first rule. Sometimes the second rule, also. Those sessions should have been called “listing options” or something akin. When the realization dawned on me that I had never truly brainstormed… Bummer!

But why do you defer judgement in the first place? Why not weed “stupid” ideas out right when they come up?

Continue reading →

Posted in Fairly Good Practice, Food for Thought | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What is this “Agile Mindset” anyway?

Posted on December 10, 2011 by
Examples for an agile mindset

Examples for an agile mindset

Somewhere in my blog there’s a rant about how misnomed CSM is and that you really want someone with a certain mindset, not someone with a certain piece of paper. I think that article is still a draft because “rants are like farts; you feel better afterwards, but the air stinks”. So, how about something more constructive?

If you’re new to the agile world, what are behaviors to look for? In the chart you find examples of what I deem “agile” and “not quite so agile” behavior.

These are, of course, completely subjective! Also I think there are rather too many scales. What would you change? Which are superfluous?

PS: Be sure to also watch Linda Rising’s keynote on this topic. She concentrates on the “success through effort” vs. “fixed” aspect.

PPS: Here’s the document on Google, if you want to export it.

Update: See this article by Johanna Rothmann for some questions you can ask during a job interview to check for a Lean mindset (via Matthias Bohlen).

Posted in Agile / Lean, Food for Thought, Resource | Tagged | Leave a comment

Don’t keep stuck to your daily routine

Posted on October 11, 2011 by
Don't keep stuck to your daily routine

Good advice on a pullover of mine

There’s a certain type of quiet movie that I like a lot. It usually starts with a stranger entering a closed group, e.g. a village and the dynamics that enfold because of it. “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert“, “Fried Green Tomatoes” or “Kitchen Stories” are excellent examples. Did you ever stop to wonder, why the movies show that particular point in time, when the new element is introduced? Why not the 5 or 10 years before that?

Because such a movie would be bor-*yawn*-ing: A closed “system” tends to reach an equilibrium and stay there. Even things that make you think “WTF?” when starting a new job will become “the way things are done” a few weeks down the road. And once we’ve gotten used to stupid things, we stop seeing the madness and stop initiating improvements. Continue reading →

Posted in Agile / Lean, Change, Fairly Good Practice, Food for Thought, Kanban, Scrum, Scrum Master | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments