In the agile and lean communities, we talk a lot about transparency. This image is the transparency principle we used in From Chaos to Distributed Agile Teams. I see the most product and program success when the various teams create transparency between them, the middle of the continuum. That’s the full-product transparency. I see many […]
I’ve seen several cases of process standardization recently. Those processes don’t translate to the current context. The processes don’t have sufficient agility to deliver the necessary results. Yet, people who want to use agile approaches don’t want to apply agile thinking to their processes. Some clients want to create their custom agile process— and then
I had the chance to be on Andrei Crudu’s Techie Leadership podcast. He asks questions about successes and failures as a leader. When we’re on podcasts, it’s tempting for us to tell stories about other people. I do have plenty of stories about leaders in my consulting experience. And, I thought I should share some
Several years ago, a client, Alex, asked me, “What’s wrong with this team? They don’t want to learn anything.” I was surprised. I asked him for more information. “Well, when I ask them to use TDD, they don’t want to even learn about it. When I ask them to use CI, they don’t want to.
I’m pretty sure that online training isn’t going to go away even when some people return to the office. I have already evolved my workshops to several possibilities of “training”: Short-form webinar (20-60 minutes of me delivering content, minimum interaction) Longer-form offering where people (typically) learn at their own pace Self-study with some feedback from
I suggested that I see three kinds of people in online “workshops:” attendee, student, or participant. I want to design for the outcomes these people can expect. I first start with this question: Who does the teaching? Who Teaches Whom? We have a model of teacher-led teaching, in both in-person and online workshops. I prefer
In the Design the Webinar Experience post, I said breakout rooms take longer. It’s not just breakout rooms. Everything online takes longer. People need time to synch online that differs from in-person synchronization. (I’ll talk more about this when I talk about designing interactions.) That’s why I think differently about what I want in each
When I think of a training experience, I separate the training into these parts: The content I hope people will learn. This includes setting the context. The various interactions that will illuminate and reinforce the learning. How to wrap the experience so people get the most of it. I then need to think about which
When I design any form of training, I ask this question: What actions do I want people to take after the training? Do I want to offer principles? A vision of the future? Some possible actions? Maybe a blueprint for the future? How about practice with feedback? When I want to offer principles or a
I bet you’ve been in a class or a workshop over the past few weeks. You were a “participant” in a class that ranged from 20-2000 people. You didn’t find the class organization helpful. First, the trainer/leader lectured at you for an hour or more. Then, you got broken into working groups with too many