Category Archives: Communication

3 Feedback Models

Posted on April 25, 2013 by

Feedback is important. Only by knowing how our actions affect others do we know what works and what doesn’t. Feedback becomes more effective, when it is frequent, timely and specific. Frequent Giving feedback only at quarterly or yearly reviews wastes … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fairly Good Practice, Resource, Scrum Master | Leave a comment

One-on-Ones in Agile (Transitions)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by

Have you ever had regular One-on-Ones (“O3s”)? If not, I think you’re missing out. Mark Horstman and Mike Auzenne describe them as: 30 minute conversation every (other) week Between a manager and one of her team members. (Each team member gets … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile / Lean, Change, Communication, Fairly Good Practice, Food for Thought, Scrum, Scrum Master, Self-Organization | 1 Comment

“Verständlich Schreiben” – Workshop am 13. April in Düsseldorf

Posted on March 31, 2013 by

[English Summary: On April 13th, I'm giving a workshop on writing that follows the tips in this article.] Wir alle freuen uns über gute Doku, wenn wir etwas Neues lernen. Doch wie sieht es mit der Doku für unsere eigenen … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Meta | 1 Comment

Story Telling & Product Partnership (OOP 2013 – Day 1)

Posted on January 21, 2013 by

This week I’m attending OOP in Munich. As Open Spaces / Un-Conferences have become the norm for me it’s strange to be at “real” conference for a change. I have not been “siezed” (formal way to address in German) that … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fairly Good Practice, Meta | Leave a comment

Dinner with a Stranger – A Design Pattern for Conferences & Open Spaces

Posted on September 16, 2012 by

Last year, while studying the program of Agile 2011 I read about “Dinner with a Stranger” for the first time: Socializing and networking are an integral part of Agile2011. If you’ll be attending Agile2011 alone, make sure to stop by … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fairly Good Practice, Self-Organization | Leave a comment

Four-sides model & the relationship layer

Posted on August 28, 2012 by

I’ve just spend a lovely weekend at FrOSCon, the “Free and Open Source Software Conference”, in Bonn. One of the talks I attended was “Projektstatus: Nachrichten vom anderen Stern” (“Project status: Messages from a different star”) about communication. I wish … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Scrum Master | Leave a comment

Get the wheeled flipchart

Posted on July 9, 2012 by

Following up on my ode to whiteboards, here’s some very practical advice for people researching what flipchart to buy: Don’t buy one of the 3-legged ones like shown in the image on the left. Maybe it’s just me, but I … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Scrum Master, Visualization | 2 Comments

Visualize it! – An ode to whiteboards

Posted on July 4, 2012 by

Two months ago I started a new job. I left nice old colleagues and got nice new colleagues. The companies are the same size. No big diff there. But there is a very visible difference in the respective offices: Old … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile / Lean, Communication, Decision Making, Fairly Good Practice, Self-Organization, Visualization | 1 Comment

“so that” is the most important part of a user story

Posted on June 20, 2012 by

While researching for my brief history of Agile & Lean, I read the following in the Wikipedia entry for “User Story”: User stories generally follow the following template: “As a <role>, I want <goal/desire> so that <benefit>” but the shorter … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile / Lean, Communication, Fairly Good Practice | 2 Comments

To write like Stevens one day

Posted on June 7, 2012 by

In “My Favourite Usability Books” I recommended a German article about writing well. One commenter asked for English resources and I decided to translate it (with consent of the author Susanne “Su-Shee” Schmidt). Not everything is applicable in English though. … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Resource | 4 Comments