Note: I’m experimenting with bringing back some older writing that seems to still be relevant. I’ve put it in a separate section of this account. Let me know what you think. First published May 2007 Appreciating what is going well is a powerful alternative to the common engineering problem/solution mindset. This paper describes how Appreciative Inquiry can be applied to XP.
Some of the team challenges you described made me think about friction. And "Friction Creep", which might be defined as "The constant addition of friction to a system over time".
Friction Creep seems to be the default state of the system, and the challenge is to deliberately"fight" it and lower the friction. Where one main way to lower the friction is tidying.
And as you wrote somewhere else, a big challenge is also to know "when" and "how much".
Reminded me of something I read in Jim Collins book “Good to Great”. He talks about focusing on possibilities or opportunities instead of problems. It’s really just applying a glass half full mindset.
To quote:
“The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems
Very timely to read this article as I'm nearing the end of The Socratic Method by Ward Farnsworth -- both approaches focus on asking questions to gain insight but the questions themselves take almost opposite positions: AI looking for good things to build up, SM looking for weaknesses and inconsistencies.
Some of the team challenges you described made me think about friction. And "Friction Creep", which might be defined as "The constant addition of friction to a system over time".
Friction Creep seems to be the default state of the system, and the challenge is to deliberately"fight" it and lower the friction. Where one main way to lower the friction is tidying.
And as you wrote somewhere else, a big challenge is also to know "when" and "how much".
Really great article , please keep it up , we need more XP related stories!
Reminded me of something I read in Jim Collins book “Good to Great”. He talks about focusing on possibilities or opportunities instead of problems. It’s really just applying a glass half full mindset.
To quote:
“The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems
Wow! This is very powerful. Thanks!
Very timely to read this article as I'm nearing the end of The Socratic Method by Ward Farnsworth -- both approaches focus on asking questions to gain insight but the questions themselves take almost opposite positions: AI looking for good things to build up, SM looking for weaknesses and inconsistencies.