All the small things - XP Conference 2024

Originally presented at XP2024 Bolzano

While agile has entered the post-mainstream age, possibly losing its mojo along the way, the rise of remote working is a more severe blow than its industrialisation.

In this talk, we'll examine the cumulative effect of the constraints of a remote working environment and of the common countermeasures.

Transcript

1. All the small things Alberto Brandolini @ziobrando
3. About me • Alberto Brandolini • Founder @ avanscoperta • @ziobrando on social media • Invented EventStorming • 💩 sommellier • Old Enough to be grumpy
9. https://capture.dropbox.com/iBs1T4hJ9f9LqWNf
11. Hunt for Talent Pandemic Back To Office Great Resignation Great Layoffs AI?
12. The pendulum is still swinging
13. In Many Directions
14. Turning to Remote And the little challenges of an “Obvious” Choice
15. • Big Picture EventStorming • House Speciality & Cash Cow • Strong commitment to make it work Remotely
16. https://capture.dropbox.com/8uJQAuUZNAuNg1RP
17. Countermeasures: Moved from in person to Zoom Moved from Paper Roll to Miro Moved from Chaotic to facilitated Changed Reference Grammar Changed Duration Changed Facilitation Style …
18. Compulsive experimentation
19. I’m safe now
20. I’m So Happy the Pandemic Ended
21. In-person experience Big Results in ONe Day Commitment to finish Full Day In Person High Conversation Throughput Peer Pressure Lo Fi Deeper Learning Experience $ Localized conversations % Early Results & Full Focus
22. Micro-Laziness as a key facilitation tool Wall accessibility Markers availability Sitting or standing
23. From Problems to solutions Constraint Problem Solution Side Effect Pandemic IN Person is Banned Move to Digital (Miro + Zoom) Friction in Execution Working on Miro No Miro Fluency 20 min warm up Delayed Results, smaller Timeframe Working on Zoom Zoom Fatigue Shorter Chunks, only Half Day Delayed Results, more chances for opting out New to Miro Friction with Tools More active facilitation More Passive Participation Active Facilitation No space for reactivity Heavily Scripted Boards Decreased Ownership Zoom & Miro Delayed Results Anticipated Sorting Higher Chance of mistakes Each side effect affects the overall perception of value
24. Remotely… Disappointing Results No Commitment to finish 3 Half Day Sessions Remote Low Conversation Throughput Limited Peer Pressure Digital Shallow Learning Experience Centralized conversations Delayed Results Open to distractions More Passive role Still better than the alternatives, but …we know what it could have been
25. Always Too Short!
26. Some things just Didn’t Happen
27. By Javier Somoza, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48092778 How Many Ingredients can We Change?
28. There is a Threshold Below a given threshold, things just stop happening By Atakbi1 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23008927
29. Zoom Fatigue Let’s look into it
30. Kahneman still rules! • WE can describe zoom fatigue as “the result of continuously turning system one (cheap) brain activities into (exhausting) system two ones. 🧠 System 1 is the quick, always active, portion of the brain. It’s great in pattern matching, but not exactly smart. System 2 is responsible for deeper thinking, but consumes a lot more energy. When the energy is depleted we fall back to system 1 without noticing.
31. Tech Stack effect • Technology affects emotions • And subconscious perception of other human beings • Consultants buy appropriate hardware, employees use what is provided. Low internet speed Video is switched off Empathy is gone Emotional Zoom fatigue on everybody Increased probability of being labeled an […] No double screen Missing details Continuous Clarification Single conversation bandwidth Bad microphone Cracking sound Unconsciously labelled as annoying Missing immediate feedback Lower Throughput Increased risk of blindness Mostly a matter of money ❤ 🧠
32. If you’re having a great time on zoom you’re probably pissing off somebody
33. Cracks Everywhere Constraint Problem Solution Side Effect Online meetings Extremely annoying and disengaging Preparation and formats No meeting without a format Prepared format A format for every meeting Download meeting template Feeling like a cog in the machine. Prepared format Need preparation time Only planned meetings Good by spontaneity Can we have a non scripted conversation some day?
34. Brain energy is limited 🧠 🧠 🧠 🧠
35. Brain Energy is now the dominant currency in the organization This is the one thing you should probably optimise for “Time Management” is just not smart enough 🧠
36. A Model For Decisions Rudimental, but effective
37. A model for little decisions Upside Downside Time Probability Reference Frame
38. One Last Beer… Having Fun Hangover By Tomorrow Probability Artificial Short Term
39. LOOKS LIKE AN ADDICTION
40. One more FEATURE… Revenues! TECHNICAL DEBT In a few weeks Probability Artificial Short Term
41. EXPERIMENTS & CHANGE Expected Benefit Perceived Cost Delay Probability How long can we wait?
42. Too Late, Too Little Expected Benefit Perceived Cost How long can we wait?
43. Strategic Decisions Getting Depleted before the goal
45. Strategic Decisions • Creating the context • Making sure everyone is heard (or displayed) • Converging on a shared conclusion
46. Enough time to make it happen Remote Strategic Decisions? Zoom Fatigue Remote dynamics We can talk about countermea sures, but…
47. Information Radiators • Observable (Whether you want it or not) • Designed to signal important issues • Intended to be public
48. Countermeasures Constraint Problem Solution Side Effect Remote working Lack of strategy awareness Shared Strategy Decisions Inconclusive strategy sessions Strategy Sessions On Miro Inconclusive strategy sessions Predefined strategy formats Extra cognitive load Strategy Sessions On Miro Inconclusive strategy sessions Split into more sessions More stress Strategy Sessions On Miro Many inconclusive sessions Centralised decision Transparency Centralised decision Transparency Articulated on official channels Passive Role on Remote
49. Company core had better tools for deciding
50. Remote colleagues settling on a more passive role
51. Onsite Coaching Lead by Example, they say
52. A tale from the past Me, “Agile Coaching” in a large organisation 17 teams, actively helping 2 Available to 17 for chat Installed & improved 2 physical boards A few weeks later Every Team had a Board
53. The virtuous loop Big Visible Results Commitment to insist In Person People accessibility Peer Pressure Lo Fi Snowball Effect Paved the way to imitators Big Observable State $ Full Focus Tangible Local Result Problems couldn’t be ignored
54. A Model For Change Rational Drive Punch <- Information radiator Pave the way <- Assisted Daily Standup Reinforcement and Reward <- Small Results
55. Information Radiators • Observable (Whether you want it or not) • Designed to signal important issues • Intended to be public
56. Visibly different board for team A Caught attention from top management Faster issue resolution path Everybody wants a Big Visible Board!
57. Not a free meal Constraint Problem Solution Side Effect Remote No Physical Board Digital Boards No Punch, Only Intentional observability Digital Boards No Punch … Delayed or aborted Changes Digital Boards Shorter Chunks, only Half Day Delayed Results, more chances for opting out New to Miro Friction with Tools More active facilitation More Passive Participation Active Facilitation No space for reactivity Heavily Scripted Boards Decreased Ownership Zoom & Miro Delayed Results Anticipated Sorting Higher Chance of mistakes
59. Changing Remote Organizations Did we already lost the train?
60. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
61. Individuals and interactions only through processes and tools
63. More small cracks Constraint Problem Solution Side Effect Remote Working No ‘place’ Online Meetings + Channels + Wiki Zoom Fatigue + Mostly connected Remote Working NO System To Hack Another Channel? Another Meeting? Becoming Part of the Problem Remote Working No Place to hack … No snowball effect Remote Working Individual Habits are invisible … Increasingly hard to correct Remote Working Examples are invisible Small Videos Decreased Ownership Remote Working People Hating Videos … One more wasted effort
64. Onsite Coaching • Made the system observable • Hacked The System • Hacked the Physical Space to change Teams’ habits • Talked mainly to the team, occasionally to Individuals • Provided Visible example
65. Team drift Team Member Team Member Team Member Colocated team Meeting Rooms Whiteboards Hallways Information Radiators Coffee Space Casual Conversations Workstations Remote team Meeting Rooms Digital Whiteboards Hallways Information Radiators Coffee Space Casual Conversations Workstations? Team Member Team Member Team Member Conversation Channels Video calls Wikis Microphones? Cameras? Lights? Team Habits Individual Habits
66. Observability
67. Imitation
68. Working on teams & Systems
69. Working on Individuals
70. Personal Hacking • Significant extra cognitive load • Working on personal routine
71. Limited resources • Can’t be in control 24 hours per day • Or 8.
72. Work-life balance Fridge is an Information Radiator for the family Can we colonise that space?
73. Working on individuals Can’t be forced Vulnerability: you need to admit something needs to change Takes More Time
74. “Have faith!” Can we afford this? Perceived Cost “It will improve”
76. We have a new team starting next week. Yo Ready?
77. Who selects the tools?
78. You’ll Use Jira and Teams It’s already been decided!
79. Not the same thing
80. Enjoy!
81. Side Effects? Issue tracker requiring specialisation and admin rights -> Good Bye Team Empowerment Ugly Wikis -> No reward for contributions Chats are not Channels Calendars as a torture tool
82. Seen from the outside This can be surprisingly scary
83. Corporate loyalty “redefined” Company A: people I have zoom calls with, discussions on Slack and tickets on Trello Company B: people I have Team calls and Chat with, and Tickets on Jira
84. All the examples of good behaviour are only happening in digital 90% of your room, environment is still yours No easy way to transfer offline thinking through online media
85. Most interactions are scripted
86. How can We think outside of the box if all We’re given is Boxes?
87. Every Limitation has a countermeasure
88. Every Countermeasure has a cost
89. Most countermeasures require intentionality
90. Time to wrap up!
91. Interactions are Mostly mediated by processes and tools
92. Tooling Matters A lot more than it used to
93. Tooling is probably in the wrong hands And one more decision from above
94. Remote Organisations are harder to change After forced response to external forces, we’re settling
95. From team habits to individual habits
96. From team Addictions to individual Addictions
97. Without intentionality we are doomed to repeat ourselves
98. Intentionality is not a free meal
99. Offices?
100. Thank You! Alberto Brandolini info@avanscoperta.it Slides will be published on https://www.slideshare.net/ziobrando/