Learning is key to agile success

nurturing a learning culture on your agile team

Declan Whelan

Learning study

accumulateknowledge

child indoorway

bird leavingnest

youth

practice continuously

Learning

I know algebra

I know Lucy

Culture

“How we do things around here in order to succeed.”

Schneider, 1994

Culture

Collaboration Control

Cultivation Competence

Learning Culture

“How we do things around here in order to succeed.”

and learnv

“ … where people continually expand their

capacity to create the results they truly desire,

where new and expansive patterns of thinking are

nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and

where people are continually

learning to learn together”

Learning Organization

Peter SengeThe Fifth Discipline

Personal Mastery

Mental Models

Shared Vision

Team Learning

Systems Thinking

Learning Organization

Personal History Exercise

Face your partner and tell them:1. Your name2. How many children in your family3. A difficult or challenging thing you faced as a child

B = f(p,e)

Esther Derby, 1994

Behaviour

Person Environment

Bperceived = f(P,e)

FundamentalAttribution Error

Responding to Change

Satir Change Model

Learning

Source: http://www.stevenmsmith.com/my-articles/article/the-satir-change-model.html

Change

Response

Check Adjust

Do Plan

Value

Learning = Value Delivered

Time

What is Your Purpose?

• True North•Project Charter• Team Working Agreement

Loser Ball

Virginia Satir“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.”

Individual SafetyBuild Safety

•“invite” participation•anonymous participation•provide alternatives•lean towards the less powerful

Seeing is Believing• Find a partner at your table• Each of you describe a product

to your partner using only words

• Draw a picture of your product• Describe the product again using

the picture and words

How do We Learn?Auditory

Kinesthetic

Visual

L Brain R Brain

X

Brain Map

Neural Circuits

Lead with the Concrete

Personal Learning

• Books• Conferences• Mindmaps• Reading – SQ3R– Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

Personal Learning

JohnnyWhoop

Beginner’s Mind

“In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.”

Shunryu Suzuki

Draw a Hand in

45 seconds

http://www.thiagi.com/pfp/IE4H/august2005.html#99Seconds

Plato’s Cave

Discussion Dialog

Team Learning

Team Learning

Team Communication

• ORID

ORID questionsActive listeningOpen ended questions

Retrospective Format

Set the stageGather dataGenerate insightsDecide what to doClose

Diverge & Converge

Source: Chris Corrigan blog: http://chriscorrigan.com/parkinglot/?p=1265

An answer isan invitation

to stop learning

Jean Tabaka

Coach

Source: (2009) Rachel Davies, Liz Sedley

Teach

Source: Phil Geldhart, “In Your Hands”

Phil Geldart, Eagles Flight

“Teachers are architects building concepts and ideas into the minds of their listeners”

Pairing

Create Practice Fields

Create Learning Sessions

Brown bagsStudy groupsEtudesKatasRoad trips

Create Learning Times

Schedule slackGold cardsLunch & learns

Learning Workspace

Tinkering School

http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html

“Our tendency is to be interested in something that is growing in the garden, not in the bare soil itself.

But if you want to have a good harvest, the most important thing is to make the soil rich and cultivate it well.”

Shunryu Suzuki