Troubleshooting Agile

It's time to talk about commitment! Not engagement, which is insufficient to produce effective results. In this episode - a repost of a previous conversation - Squirrel and Jeffrey offer specific tools for effective commitments and tell a story about a company that created a pile of bones instead of a Walking Skeleton. You’ll hear lots of references to “the book.” That’s our book - Agile Conversations!! You can learn more about that here: https://agileconversations.com/agile-conversation-book/ SHOW LINKS: - Domain-Driven Design: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-driven_design - Big Book of Concepts: mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-book-concepts - Specification by Example: gojko.net/books/specification-by-example/ - Walking Skeleton: wiki.c2.com/?WalkingSkeleton -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at inf

What if complaining could be a good thing? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the benefits of ‘positive complaining’ and how it can be used to strengthen relationships and offer valuable insights into what matters to the person complaining. Links: Trust Conversation (TDD for People): https://itrevolution.com/articles/test-driven-development-for-people/ Co-conspirators episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/co-conspirators-and-citcon Squirrel Squadron: https://squirrelsquadron.com/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversatio

when it turns out you’re lacking two out of the three?! In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about their own experience of this, the concept of leaky abstractions, and the importance of shared problem ownership. Links: - Simon Sinek: https://simonsinek.com/books/start-with-why/ - Somebody Else's Problem Field: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Problem_Field - Previous episode about Walking Skeletons - Ep125: Commitment Engagement is Not Enough: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/commitment-engagement-is-not-enough - Previous episode about Cycle Time - Ep249: Estimates: A Productive Argument, Part I https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/reporting-estimates -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com ----------------------------

Should you start a Guild?In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss examples of adverse possession, including listener Marcel-Jan’s experience of starting a Python guild within his team, and how you can take similar proactive steps to help build a more engaging and dynamic community of practice. Links: Co-conspirators episode: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/co-conspirators-and-citcon Adverse possession: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dsquirrel_squirrel-squadron-events-activity-7015965093418934272-1qZf/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult

What does it mean to be a co-conspirator? On the run up to CitCon Auckland 2025, join Squirrel and Jeffrey as they reflect on the event they first met, its history and how ‘co-conspirators’ have been pivotal in their careers and client work. Links: - CITCON ANZ 2025: https://citconf.com/auckland2025/ - Chris Matts Communities of Practise: https://theitriskmanager.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable orga

What does it mean to be a flexible leader? In part two of this two-part episode of Troubleshooting Agile, we welcome back Kevin Eikenberry to talk about ‘flexors,’ approaches to leadership that can help leaders and team adapt more effectively, and develop a mindset of experimentation. Links: - Kevin Eikenberry: http://kevineikenberry.com and http://kevineikenberry.com/gift - Flexible Leadership https://kevineikenberry.com/flexible - Betterism: https://thectoclub.com/news/lies-your-tech-team-tells-you/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations.

What does it mean to be a flexible leader? In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, we welcome Kevin Eikenberry to talk about complex vs complicated situations, how to experiment rather than sticking to rigid policies, and his new book ‘Flexible Leadership’ Links: - Kevin Eikenberry: http://kevineikenberry.com and http://kevineikenberry.com/gift - Flexible Leadership https://kevineikenberry.com/flexible - Cynefin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin_framework - Naive Realism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%C3%AFve_realism -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through

Is trust the ability to predict someone’s actions? And can it apply to organisations as well as individuals? Join your hosts, Squirrel and Jeffrey, as they tackle the importance of delivering consistent results to foster trust, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - TDD for People, a method for building trust: https://itrevolution.com/articles/trust-and-test-driven-development-for-people/ - Stock picking scam: https://ask.metafilter.com/216295/Is-this-famous-investment-scam-real-or-fiction - Agile Conversations: https://agileconversations.com/agile-conversation-book/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where the

What are the challenges when it comes to implementing Toyota Kata at scale? In this episode of Troubleshooting agile, Jeffrey talks about how they’re using the Improvement and Coaching Katas to foster better structured learning and accountability across multiple teams. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Shu, Ha, Ri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Previous episode - Toya Toyota Kata A-Z: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/toyota-kata-a-z -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade lat

Why can't I apply for a driving license at 3 AM? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey in discussion on the history and challenges of modernising legacy systems and how delivering incremental improvements can "strangle" the pitfalls of a full rewrite, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Dafydd Vaughan on DVLA batch systems: https://dafyddvaughan.uk/blog/2025/why-some-dvla-digital-services-dont-work-at-night/ - Joel Spolsky on not rewriting: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficul

Does asking for the “dumbest” solutions stimulate the most creative ideas? Join Squirrel and Jeffrey as they answer two listener questions on the theme of boosting creativity, including why you might wear a funny hat to your team warm-up, in this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Core Protocols Checkin: https://thecoreprotocols.org/protocols/checkin - Dave Snowden on Changing Clothes: https://medium.com/@brixen/dave-snowden-how-leaders-change-culture-though-small-actions-766cd2bf5128 - Niko Niko chart: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/niko-niko/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied

Balancing psychological safety and high standards is crucial for high performance in your tech team. Join Squirrel and Jefferey for a discussion on this, plus the misconceptions around perks and productivity, in this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile LINKS - Safety vs standards article: https://www.leadingsapiens.com/psychological-safety-vs-high-standards/ - Challenge article: https://www.nobelcoaching.com/tag/challenge/ - Flow book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66354.Flow - Brian Marick: http://www.exampler.com/ease-and-joy.html -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of man

Can you drive change in your organisation by accelerating crises? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss Deming’s philosophy and explore how visibility and awareness of issues can bring about necessary change. LINKS - Deming: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming - Panel discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu7JMAQggfo - Information radiators: https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/information-radiators/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profit

Is your plan to avoid conflict making things worse? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the Paul and Ted Case Study, the concept of 'easing in,' and what leaders should do instead, on this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. LINKS - Eight Behaviors for Smarter Teams: https://www.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/917018/Eight-Behaviors-for-Smarter-Teams-2.pdf -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for growing profitable organisations through better communication. Squirrel

Do you document and analyse failure? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey draw inspiration from Donald Knuth's detailed study of his own software mistakes to give you the lowdown on learning from past mistakes, including meaningful postmortems and retrospectives. LINKS: - Knuth's paper: https://yurichev.com/mirrors/knuth1989.pdf - Foundation Failures: https://www.abebooks.com/Foundation-Failures-Szechy-C-Concrete-Publications/20924178050/bd -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united in their passion for gr

What do you do when you inherit a 20 year old codebase? In this episode, Squirrel and Jeffrey look at an extreme example of legacy software and discuss why it's important to understand past contexts as well as address modern discrepancies. Links: - Brian's Archaeology Tips: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-tips-software-archeologists-brian-reich-n0ase - Ask Why, But Never Answer: https://blog.jbrains.ca/permalink/ask-why-but-never-answer - Macintosh's Backward Capacitor: https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2024/11/the-capacitor-that-apple-soldered-incorrectly-at-the-factory/ -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they stu

How do you make sure that critical information is preserved over time? Tune in to learn about “reverse smuggling,” lost TV shows, outdated video game formats, and Ron Landley's Petrochemical archaeology, in this week’s episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Grant's article; - Petrochemical archaeology from Ron Landley: https://landley.net/history/mirror/institutional_memory.html - Dr. Who archaeology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art of management through difficult conversations. Over a decade later, they remain united

Can extreme constraints help you think of radically different solutions? In this week’s episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel explore what happens when you point a figurative gun at your team, inspired by Grant Slatton's provocative article 'Algorithms We Develop Software By’ Links: - Grant's article; https://grantslatton.com/software-pathfinding#algorithms-we-develop-software-by - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Independence Day: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/three-incendiary-questions-douglas-squirrel-seqre/ - Feature thinning: https://agileconversations.com/blog/ford-not-ferrari-feature-thinning-and-roi/ - Oblique Strategies cards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedbac

Would you delete your unfinished work to ensure a fresh start? On this week’s episode, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss whether using deletion as a tool can provide focus and improvement, with help from Grant Slatton's provocative article 'Algorithms We Develop Software By’ Links: - Grant's article; https://grantslatton.com/software-pathfinding#algorithms-we-develop-software-by - Thinking, Fast and Slow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Independence Day: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/three-incendiary-questions-douglas-squirrel-seqre/ - Feature thinning: https://agileconversations.com/blog/ford-not-ferrari-feature-thinning-and-roi/ - Oblique Strategies cards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedb

Do you or your team show resistance to change? There are some common ingrained habits that can affect your ability to learn. Find out how difficult conversations, pair programming, and test-driven development can help you create new habits to foster meaningful transformation, in this episode of Troubleshooting Agile. Links: - Toyota Kata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Kata - Karate Kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Karate_Kid - Shu Ha Ri: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari - Wardley mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardley_map -------------------------------------------------- You'll find free videos and practice material, plus our book Agile Conversations, at agileconversations.com And we'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show: email us at info@agileconversations.com -------------------------------------------------- About Your Hosts Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick joined forces at TIM Group in 2013, where they studied and practised the art