The Power of Appreciative Inquiry
Sridharan Vembu
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To a hammer everything looks like a nail...
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The creators
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Co creator and Influencer
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About “What is leadership”
Peter Druker ∗ Leadership is about creation of alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weakness irrelevant
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Appreciative Inquiry is…
David Cooperrider
∗ Cooperative co-evolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations, communities and the world around them. It involves systematic discovery of what gives “life” to an organization or community when it’s most effective, and most capable in economics, ecological and human terms
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Provides theories and tools for
Appreciative Enquiry*
Ø Elevation of system strengths
Ø Unification and configuration of system strengths
Ø Magnification of system strengths outward into society
* - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cooperrider#Appreciative_Inquiry
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Appreciate – to value, to recognize with gratitude, to increase in value
Inquiry – to seek to understand through the asking of questions
Appreciative Enquiry is..
https://www.scrumalliance.org/system/slides/92/original/Michael%20Fortunato_Appreciative%20Agile.pdfThis presentation is copyrighted to Sridharan Vembu of ThoughtWorks Technologies Pvt. Ltd. No copy or use of this presentation should occur without prior permission
5 Principles of Appreciative Inquiry
Constructionist Principle Simultaneity Principle Poetic Principle
Anticipatory Principle Positive Principle
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The 4 D Cycle
Discover
Dream
Design
Destiny Affirmative Topic Choice
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In the very first question we ask!!
Seeds of change are…
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Let’s get into our territoryThe Agile World…
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∗ What went well / What did not go well / Puzzles / Possibly, few action Items!!
∗ Or Start / Stop / Continue∗ How much time you usually spend on each category?∗ We usually give it a quick pass to “What Went Well” and
focus more on “What didn’t go well” – right?∗ Why?
Retrospective – a standard format
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∗ Let’s cancel this iteration’s retrospective, as there are no issues to discuss
∗ Only couple points on what went well, but 20 pointson what didn’t go well
∗ Team members harping on a specific problem more than needed
∗ Maximum presence in a retrospective after an “unsuccessful” iteration
Symptoms
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Questions are never neutral..
Problem Solving Mindset
∗ Why are you always late for Stand-ups
∗ How come you missed such a critical acceptance criteria (AC) in your test scenario/plan?
∗ Why are you estimates always off?
Appreciative Mindset
∗ Would you like to come up with a better time that works for you as well as the team?
∗ How do we collaborate better to improve the effectiveness of the test plan
∗ What additional help / information do you need to come up with better estimates?
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Write down one critical issue that you and your team discussed in the most recent retrospective
Exercise
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Scenario 1: In a distributed, multi vendor agile program -lack of capabilities and commitment from one of the teams
Few Scenarios
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Scenario 2: In a program transition, lack of motivation from both incoming and outgoing teams
Few Scenarios
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Scenario 3: Distributed Agile – quarterly prioritization workshops – Team met the target in terms of total Story points, but way too many scope changes –unhappy PMO lead
Few Scenarios
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Scenario 4: Project started in capped T&M Mode with 2 vendors (UX/UI, backend development)UX/UI vendor too costly, client asked other vendor to take over UX/UI. 200% scope creepNo additional budget from clientTogether with Business and PO, team did functional and technical redesign, scope negotiations throughout execution phaseDelivered successfully on time, with ~10% extra budgetExtremely stressful execution phaseConducted end-of-project Appreciative Inquiry.
Few Scenarios
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Few Scenarios
This presentation is copyrighted to Sridharan Vembu of ThoughtWorks Technologies Pvt. Ltd. No copy or use of this presentation should occur without prior permission
Scenario 5: Team was not motivated – did not find the project interesting – no learning opportunities – customer interactions were reluctant and looking for excusesAbsence of Product Owner from customer side –chaotic environment – ever changing requirements –loss of trust from both sides
Few Scenarios
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Using the 4 D Processes cycle, restate the same problem statement in a way to create possibilities
Can you visualize a different outcome?
Exercise
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∗ Not a replacement for Retrospective∗ Appreciative Inquiry - It’s a journey, not a destination∗ Works effectively when you do it in an “inside-out” fashion∗ Need for incentivizing individuals would slowly fade away and
become irrelevant∗ Anyone in the team can initiate, doesn’t necessarily have to wait
for SM or PM or some lead∗ Don’t need to use the carrot and stick approach, ever∗ Do not make it ceremonial – It has to be a behavioral change∗ More religiously you practice in your project / at workplace, you
would see a positive change extending into your personal life as well
Thoughts…
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Thank YouQuestions?
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