Session 1: Connect the Dots: How Simple Diagrams Reveal Hidden Dynamics
Don Gray
According to Russell Ackoff, “Today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions.” We’re taught to solve problems in school. School problems involve linear thinking and simplifications. This allows the teacher verify we’ve learned what they think is important and find the “one right answer” to the problem.
Unfortunately, solving problems this way doesn’t work well when dealing with people. People behave in complex ways, not in linear fashion. They adapt and change in ways we don’t expect when we try to improve. In an effort to find the “one right answer” we simplify and ignore relevant data. This means we build incomplete pictures of the problem we’re trying to solve.
I worked with one client who wanted their agile teams to improve estimating. Management decided to grade team members on how well they met their time estimates every two weeks. This made team members unwilling to pull work into a sprint. Even though they could get more work done, it meant they would be graded down for missing their estimate.
In this session you’ll learn a way to connect the dots that gives a more complete picture. Having a more complete picture means fewer surprises. The value in this process comes from finding things you didn’t consider and missed cause-effect relationships.
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