Understanding Each Other - Ladder of Inference + Yes and... Thinking

Understanding Each Other

…and building on each other’s ideas…

Exercise TimeGame

Instructions• Separate into 3 teams• Elect a leader• Leader gets a goal & shares

w/team (visual sharing only)• 1st team to arrange all chairs

to meet goal w/in 2 min wins!

NO TALKING!Accredited

to Chris Sims

Debrief

Exercise

• I’m going to present an image of people in rush hour in NYC; I’ll have an arrow pointing to one person.

• I want you to write down the following:– Is this morning or afternoon rush? What gave you the clue?– What type of work do you think that person does & why

you thought that?– What do you think that person is thinking?– If you were given $1000 to help that person in some way

other than giving it directly to them, how would you go about doing it? Why did you select this choice?

Exercise (Again)

• I’m going to again present the same image of people in rush hour in NYC; I’ll have an arrow pointing to a different person.

• I want you to write down the following:– What type of work do you think that person does &

why you thought that?– What do you think that person is thinking?– If you were given $1000 to help that person in some

way other than giving it directly to them, how would you go about doing it? Why did you select this choice?

Next Step

• For both your responses, categorize what your answers were into the following:

What was factual?(What could I actually see…)

What did I infer?(What did I believe may be occurring…)

Why did I think that?(Any prior event that to led my thinking…)

Ladder of Inference

Event

How To Find Common Ground When Engineers Don’t Like Features – Teresa Torres, Jan 2013

The Event Of Conversation

The Event Of Conversation

The Event Of Conversation

The Event Of Conversation

How do we

ourbeliefs

from getting

prevent

in the way?

a shared visionCo-create

assumptionsVoluntarily make

explicit

“Yes and…”Utilize thinking

Let’s Learn the Basics of Improv

Yes BUT --- • Split into pairs• Pick a person to start…• For the next 3 minutes - • That person will say something they want to do– The other person is to contradict them and propose

something else– ALWAYS start the sentence with “Yes, but…”– (even better if you say “we should do” in this counter-

proposal)

Take 1

Thanks to Mike Sutton for my learning of this

Let’s Learn the Basics of Improv

Yes AND --- • Same pairs• Other person to start…• For the next 3 minutes - • That person will say something they want to do– The other person is to add to it and propose

something additional– ALWAYS start the sentence with “Yes, and…”– (even better if you say “we can do” in this addition)

Take 2

Thanks to Mike Sutton for my learning of this

Debrief

• So how did you feel with the “Yes, but…”?• Any different with “Yes and…”?

• Did you see any change in your thinking when moving to “Yes and…”?

CoreValues

Accredited to Michael Sahota & Olaf Lewitz

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

We are uncovering better ways of developingsoftware by doing it and helping others do it.Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and toolsWorking software over

comprehensive documentationCustomer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items onthe right, we value the items on the left more.

Select Team Core Values• Select Personal Core Values

– Use Page of Core Values (feel free to add additional ones)– Select 5 that you feel you care about the most; that you feel you

exhibit; write each one on a sticky– Rank these in order of importance to you– Take the top 3 and post on the wall

• Since the Team’s Identity& Values are the Sum of the Set of It’s People– Affinity analysis to cluster the top 4-6 across everyone– First of 5 for commitment to these

• Generate value statements from these (time permitting)

Establish Working Agreements

• Write behaviors & actions that are important to you for good working relationships, be specific

• Keep in mind the team’s core values and what will help the team avoid problems

• Confirmation/refinement that these will work