Introduction A Word from the AuthorsHow this Book is
OrganizedThe Many Ways to Read this Book Part IChapter 1: Escaping
the Software FactoryLaboring in the Software FactoryAgile:
People-Driven DevelopmentLean Software: Empower the TeamDevOps:
Operators are People TooDetour into the Feature FactorySidebar: The
Cynefin FrameworkChapter 2: Conversations: Humanity's Secret
WeaponOur Special PowerImproving and Learning from Your
ConversationsSidebar: Types of ConversationsThe Four
RsConversational AnalysisAnalyzing a Conversation: Reflect, Revise,
and Role PlaySidebar: Conversation Scoring: A Quick
BreakdownExample ConversationsConclusion: Over to You Part
IIIntroduction Chapter 3: The Trust ConversationTrust Comes
FirstNell's Trust StoryPreparing: Be VulnerablePreparing: Be
PredictableThe Conversation: TDD for PeopleNell's Trust Story
ContinuedExample Trust ConversationsCase Study: Trust Saves the
DayApplying the Trust ConversationChapter 4: The Fear
ConversationFear-The Default FeelingTara's Fear StoryPreparing:
Normalization of DeviancePreparing: Coherence BustingThe
Conversation: The Fear ChartTara's Fear Story ContinuedExample Fear
ConversationsCase Study: Overcoming FearApplying the Fear
ConversationChapter 5: The Why ConversationDon't Start with
WhyBobby's Why StoryPreparing: Interests not Positions, Advocacy
Plus InquiryPreparing: Joint DesignThe Conversation: Building a
WhyBobby's Why Story ContinuedExample Why ConversationsCase Study:
Stuck on WhyApplying the Why ConversationChapter 6: The Commitment
ConversationCompliance vs. CommitmentMandy's Commitment
StoryPreparing: Agree on MeaningPreparing: The Walking
SkeletonSidebar: The Tilted SliderThe Conversation: Making a
CommitmentMandy's Commitment Story ContinuedExample Commitment
ConversationsCase Study: Context for CommitmentApplying the
Commitment ConversationChapter 7: The Accountability
ConversationWho's AccountableNicole's Accountability
StoryPreparing: Theory X and Theory YPreparing: Directed
OpportunismSidebar: Medieval AccountabilityThe Conversation:
Radiating IntentNicole's Accountability Story ContinuedExample
Accountability ConversationsCase Study: Resurrecting the
DealApplying the Accountability Conversation[Conclusion: How to
Keep Learning
Further Reading & ResourcesReferencesNotesAcknowledgmentsAbout the
Authors
Douglas Squirrel has been coding for 40 years and has led software teams for 15 of them. He is an executive coach and consulting CTO in London, making use of his extensive experience growing teams and advising startup founders and senior managers. His previous roles included founding CTO at TIM Group and VP Engineering at e-commerce startup Secretsales. He has consulted with a wide variety of London startups including Geckoboard, Lostmy.name, DueDil, Kano, and MarketInvoice. Jeffrey Fredrick is an internationally recognized expert in software development and has over 25 years' experience covering both sides of the business/technology divide. An early adopter of XP and Agile practices, Jeffrey has been a conference speaker in the US, Europe, India and Japan. Through his work on the pioneering open-source project CruiseControl, and through his role as co-organizer of the Continuous Integration and Testing Conference (CITCON), he has had a global impact on software development. Jeffrey's Silicon Valley experience includes roles as Vice President of Product Management, Vice President of Engineering, and Chief Evangelist. He has also worked as an independent consultant on topics including corporate strategy, product management, marketing, and interaction design. Jeffrey is currently Chief Technology Officer and Head of Product & Marketing in London at TIM, an Acuris Company. He also runs the London Organisational Learning Meetup and is a CTO mentor through CTO Craft.
I think of this highly practical and immediately applicable book as
the lost instruction manual to the most powerful and effective
Agile tool we don't even realize we have: Conversations. If you
want to be successful with Agile, RTFM: Read This Fabulous Manual.
-- Alberto Savoia, Google First Director of Engineering and Author
of The Right It
This is an important book. I am glad that Jeffrey and Squirrel have
written it, and I look forward to having a stack to 'lend' (read:
give) out. -- Alistair Cockburn, CoAuthor of the Agile Manifesto
and Creator of the Heart of Agile
Agile Conversations provides much needed guidance on how to have
the key discussions that form the foundation for strong and
resilient working relationships, as well as a toolbox full of
techniques for troubleshooting when conversations go awry. Full of
practical, real-world examples, this book is a must read for anyone
who has ever been frustrated or puzzled by interactions at work. --
Elizabeth Hendrickson, Technology Executive and Author of Explore
It!
The number of conversations at a party doesn't make it a better
party; the quality of the conversations does. Many books have been
written about improving process and product in companies. I'm so
glad this book finally addresses the people aspect: Learn to ask
the hard questions, leave your bias at the door, and improve your
own communication with this practical guide. If it's hard, do it
more often! -- Patrick Debois
This book provides an engineer's approach to monitoring,
troubleshooting and debugging conversations. Squirrel and Jeffrey
always come across as incredibly mindful listeners and thoughtful
discussion partners, and now I know why. Heuristics such as the
Question Fraction are amazing-at the same time simple and memorable
and incredibly insightful. Read this book to turn your
communication skills into superpowers. -- Gojko Adzic, Partner at
Neuri Consulting
If you're looking for a practical framework and techniques that
will help fix broken team communication and dysfunctional culture,
then you should read Agile Conversations. Going beyond simple
diagnosis, this handbook walks you through the Five Conversations
you need to embrace in order to transform a broken culture into one
that's healthy and high-performing. -- Paul Joyce, Founder and CEO,
Geckoboard
Squirrel and Jeffrey's keen writing and battle-tested techniques
make this book a must-read for modern engineering leaders looking
to thrive amid the explosion of complexity that we all face. --
Chris Clearfield, Co-Author of Meltdown
This is a very wise and yet readable book. The authors have hit the
nail on the head by focusing on better conversations as the way to
translate theory into organizational improvement. Their
conversational examples really bring their prescriptions to life.
They are clearly practitioners, but with a thorough grounding in
theory as well. -- Rich Koppel, Co-Founder and CEO of TIM Group
It's one of the industry's dirty little secrets that most of our
'technology' problems are actually people problems. In Agile
Conversations, Jeffrey and Squirrel assert that solving these
problems is made possible by having better conversations,
presenting their advice in a manner which fellow technologists will
find reassuringly structured and categorized. -- Jon Topper,
Founder & CEO, The Scale Factory
In Agile Conversations, Jeffrey and Squirrel pinpoint one of the
key tenets of the Agile mindset, which is that constructive,
structured, and in-depth communication is the key to creating a
productive, happy work environment. Not only do they help expose
this truth, they also hand you a suite of tools and processes to
tangibly improve the conversations you have. Vital reading for
anyone in a leadership role or interested in improving their work
culture in general. -- Andy Skipper, Chief Coach at CTO Craft
The biggest challenges to effectively scaling startups is poor
alignment and communication. Jeffrey and Squirrel have written a
hands-on and practical manual for addressing issues of trust, fear,
and commitment to tackle these problems head-on-I cannot recommend
this book enough-read it and get your team on track today. -- Jon
Bradford, Partner, Dynamo Ventures
It takes conviction and skill to change company culture. Agile
Conversations provides the road map to summon your courage and
avoid the hazards on your path to success!A masterpiece for any CEO
wanting to build a collaborative, cooperative organization! --
Brent Delehey, Turnaround Specialist, CEO
Organizations want us to be proficient in teamwork and
communication, but we are often expected to develop these complex
skills on our own, through trial and error, with all the potential
minefields. This book is an extremely helpful and practical guide
on how to read between your own lines, and make it safe for others
to reveal the fears between theirs. -- Rebecca Williams, Software
Engineer at QA Chef
While coaching high-performance teams to become more effective, I
often focus on alignment of purpose. Squirrel and Frederick's book
gives me names for the tools that I knew and introduces some that I
didn't. It also offers me a quantitative way to measure and improve
my own effectiveness. -- Antony Marcano, RiverGlide Co-Founder,
Leadership/Team Transformation Coach
Conversation is a skill that we learn before we're consciously
aware of what learning is. As a result, we may assume that we're
competent at communicating based on successful outcomes. Squirrel
and Frederick's book outlines actionable ways that we can measure
our competence and improve our skill. This is a must-read for any
manager, and beneficial for everyone working in a software
environment. -- Andy Palmer, RiverGlide Co-Founder, Consultant
CTO
For people from the technical walk of life, soft skills can
sometimes be frustratingly ephemeral. The practical exercises in
this book give a solid base to explore the development of empathy
and understanding as a concrete work and life skill. -- Wouter
Lagerweij, Agile/Continuous Delivery Coach, tide.co
I have come to the determination that the first and foremost rule
in successfully transforming a group of people of any
ilk-corporation or social group-is by helping the individuals each
see and understand the change as it pertains to them and help them
align with the reasons for the change. Both of these aspects are
more easily said than done. Agile Conversations is an indispensable
tool to help parties make and accept change. Think of it as your
new change management textbook for change big (Kotter sized) or
small (a single process within a value stream). -- Matt Gelbawks,
Agile Transformation Leader
I've spent much of my career trying to establish a system for
improving collaboration within and across software teams and yet
always achieved mixed results. Agile Conversations is the book I
wish I had read many years ago! Jeffrey and Squirrel have brought
together their many years of experience to create this accessible
and practical guide. It's a must read for executives, technical
managers, and technical staff who want their teams to be more
productive, and better at responding to change. -- Mark Coleman,
Developer Relations at Packet Inc. & Marketing Chairperson at Cloud
Native Computing Foundation
Agile Conversations is a must-read for anyone willing to bring
[their] organization to a higher level. Improved conversations
allow for curiosity and transparency, which enables collaboration
and learning, which in turn brings the right culture for high
performance. Jeffrey and Squirrel take you on this fantastic
journey of improving the conversations you have on a daily basis,
both inside and outside the organization. -- Thierry de Pauw,
Continuous Delivery Consultant
This book provides practical patterns on how to take on difficult
conversations in a very deliberate way, making it just as
actionable as an engineering guide. It contains plenty of
recognizable stories and valuable references. It is one big
invitation to start practicing and get better at working with the
least predictable but most powerful element of your organization:
your people. -- Tom Jans, Agile Coach, SFPD, Belgium
This book's techniques will make you better at conversations, both
in and out of the workplace. -- Jake McCrary, Lead Software
Engineer, Gemini
Jeffrey and Squirrel have developed a framework that enables me to
upgrade communication in my teams. Their book, while acknowledging
how demanding it can be to take on the task of improving culture
within your company, gives clear and empathetic guidelines for
making real progress. An engineer's guide to hacking conversations!
When Agile seems like just another process to follow, read this
book. -- Remmelt Pit, Independent Tech Leader and NVC
Practitioner
Over many years, I saw Squirrel and Jeffrey upgrade their company
from a culture where some people wouldn't talk to each other, to a
model of open communication. Now they've written this book which
describes part of that journey. Buy a copy to learn about their
approach and encourage them to write up the rest. -- Steve Freeman,
Zuhlke Engineering UK, and Independent Consultant
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