Comments for Partnership & Possibilities http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog A Journal about Collaborative Workplaces Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:10:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 Comment on How Fascinating! by Collaboration Game: Where Are Your Keys? | Scrumology http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/04/30/how-fascinating/#comment-11554 Collaboration Game: Where Are Your Keys? | Scrumology Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:46:35 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=128#comment-11554 [...] Larsen, who had successfully captured my interested on the subject by writing and tweeting about it earlier this year, facilitated the WAYK Open Space session. (you can see more on WAYK at [...] […] Larsen, who had successfully captured my interested on the subject by writing and tweeting about it earlier this year, facilitated the WAYK Open Space session. (you can see more on WAYK at […]

]]> Comment on Circles and Soup by Diana http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/26/circles-and-soup/#comment-11547 Diana Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:29:53 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=134#comment-11547 David & Peter, I'm delighted that you find the post useful. I appreciate your comments. David & Peter,

I’m delighted that you find the post useful. I appreciate your comments.

]]> Comment on Circles and Soup by Peter Saddington http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/26/circles-and-soup/#comment-11544 Peter Saddington Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:13:14 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=134#comment-11544 Great ideas for retrospectives! Thanks! Best, Peter Saddington www.whitebarrel.com/blog Great ideas for retrospectives! Thanks!

Best,
Peter Saddington
http://www.whitebarrel.com/blog

]]> Comment on Avoidable Heroism by Diana http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/29/avoidable-heroism/#comment-11140 Diana Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:16:37 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=142#comment-11140 Thanks for your comment, Matt. I appreciate you for taking the time to read and think about this topic. To clarify, in this post I'm not talking about those occasional instances of real, emergent crisis where any professional steps up to do what needs to be done. I refer to when "being a hero" (e.g., working late, working weekends, sacrificing life balance, etc.) becomes an accepted and regular work practice, rather than anticipating and preventing the need for heroism. Thanks for your comment, Matt. I appreciate you for taking the time to read and think about this topic.

To clarify, in this post I’m not talking about those occasional instances of real, emergent crisis where any professional steps up to do what needs to be done. I refer to when “being a hero” (e.g., working late, working weekends, sacrificing life balance, etc.) becomes an accepted and regular work practice, rather than anticipating and preventing the need for heroism.

]]> Comment on Avoidable Heroism by Matt http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/29/avoidable-heroism/#comment-11072 Matt Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:28:12 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=142#comment-11072 Doctors, Lawyers, business men, accountants... even artists... and almost all professionals work extra time when the going gets tough to make commitments, its what makes you professional. Software Developers need to grow up and get professional and stop avoiding doing the hard work when required. Stop whining and hiding behind nonsense like "Sustainable Pace" and "Avoidable Heroism" and get on with the work! Doctors, Lawyers, business men, accountants… even artists… and almost all professionals work extra time when the going gets tough to make commitments, its what makes you professional. Software Developers need to grow up and get professional and stop avoiding doing the hard work when required.

Stop whining and hiding behind nonsense like “Sustainable Pace” and “Avoidable Heroism” and get on with the work!

]]> Comment on Avoidable Heroism by Ilja Preuß http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/29/avoidable-heroism/#comment-11044 Ilja Preuß Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:28:20 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=142#comment-11044 Marty, I don't care whether commitment with the possibility of unlimited renegotiation is still commitment. The question is what is *effective*. And the fact is that working harder than is sustainable is in nobodys interest. Encouraging teams to "work harder" when they find out that something takes more effort than anticipated doesn't help anybody. Finding out as early as possible, and then being able to collaborate on changing the plan so that we can deliver the best value possible, in a sustainable way, that seems to make more sense to me. Marty,

I don’t care whether commitment with the possibility of unlimited renegotiation is still commitment. The question is what is *effective*.

And the fact is that working harder than is sustainable is in nobodys interest. Encouraging teams to “work harder” when they find out that something takes more effort than anticipated doesn’t help anybody.

Finding out as early as possible, and then being able to collaborate on changing the plan so that we can deliver the best value possible, in a sustainable way, that seems to make more sense to me.

]]> Comment on Avoidable Heroism by Ilja Preuß http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/29/avoidable-heroism/#comment-11043 Ilja Preuß Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:22:15 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=142#comment-11043 I once heard a nice, supposedly true story from Alistair Cockburn: One Monday a developer came to his manager and bragged about how he had worked all weekend to enable the team "make the sprint commitment". The manager said something like "next time this happens, I want you to stay home at the weekend. I want you to feel the pain of knowing that on Monday you will have to tell the PO that you didn't live up to your commitment. I hope that will help you learn to not overcommit." I once heard a nice, supposedly true story from Alistair Cockburn:

One Monday a developer came to his manager and bragged about how he had worked all weekend to enable the team “make the sprint commitment”. The manager said something like “next time this happens, I want you to stay home at the weekend. I want you to feel the pain of knowing that on Monday you will have to tell the PO that you didn’t live up to your commitment. I hope that will help you learn to not overcommit.”

]]> Comment on Avoidable Heroism by Marty Nelson http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/29/avoidable-heroism/#comment-10894 Marty Nelson Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:50:14 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=142#comment-10894 Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful insights Diana. I was going to give you some more detail on this situation, but instead was struck with an inspiring postulation that: anti-patterns never exist as singularities. "Avoidable Heroism", left unchecked, can be abused. Commitment with expectation of unlimited renegotiation is hardly commitment. "Expecting" others to compensate for our mistakes is a missed opportunity for the full value of the learning experience they bring. So, what anti-pattern(s) exist that provide additional boundaries to behaviors around commitment and negotiation that allow trust to flourish? Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful insights Diana.

I was going to give you some more detail on this situation, but instead was struck with an inspiring postulation that: anti-patterns never exist as singularities.

“Avoidable Heroism”, left unchecked, can be abused. Commitment with expectation of unlimited renegotiation is hardly commitment. “Expecting” others to compensate for our mistakes is a missed opportunity for the full value of the learning experience they bring.

So, what anti-pattern(s) exist that provide additional boundaries to behaviors around commitment and negotiation that allow trust to flourish?

]]> Comment on Circles and Soup by Adapting Steven Covey’s concept to retrospectives « david.segonds.org http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/07/26/circles-and-soup/#comment-10867 Adapting Steven Covey’s concept to retrospectives « david.segonds.org Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:16:24 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=134#comment-10867 [...] article describe an innovative retrospective process that one can use to help focus a Scrum team on the [...] […] article describe an innovative retrospective process that one can use to help focus a Scrum team on the […]

]]> Comment on LoC & Mary Parker Follet by Mark Knell http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/2010/05/30/loc-mary-parker-follet/#comment-10482 Mark Knell Mon, 28 Jun 2010 18:34:16 +0000 http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog/?p=130#comment-10482 Nice piece. I came in wondering how you were going to relate Mary Parker Follet to lines of code, though! Heh. Nice piece. I came in wondering how you were going to relate Mary Parker Follet to lines of code, though! Heh.

]]>