Blog by Todd

King Communication

Todd Pollock — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:04:39 +0000

Communication is important…and it’s hard. How’s that for profound? I am loving working in an Agile environment. Of the multitude of kinks we need to work out, most of them center around the lack of consistent, effective communication. We all know these two:

And I think we all love them. But check this out:

BA does some analysis and gets a story up (the right way)
Story gets plopped in an iteration (the right way)
Story get chewed up a bit (you know, folks just responding to change per the manifesto)
Individuals start to interact in order to get the story right
Everyone is happy. But your comprehensive documentation (produced by BAs and Testers) is not so comprehensive anymore

Some folks can deal with this. Others cant. Others dont want to. Was the change communicated well and to the right people? They *were* happy. Hard to tell in this scenario. I can’t rightfully account for the “cants” and “dont want tos.”

This on a day that started with a deep dive into Acts 14. I found myself giggling on my way to the study. Imagine a bunch of semi-literate cavemen going nuts as your throw down the Gospel. You don’t know their language but they are clearly psyched. You are praising God but also shamefully patting yourself on the back for your masterful ability to communicate effectively.

That’s right about when the priest of Zeus shows up with the filthy stinking farm animals. You know the rest. Paul = Hermes. Barnabus = Zeus. It doesn’t say, but Paul may have enjoyed that mistake for just a second…

Hermes is generally known for his looks, a claim Paul can’t generally make. At any rate, Paul realized the communication issue pretty quickly. Response:

Tear shirt (convey to your audience that they misunderstood the message)
Start over (revise and redeliver the message to ensure understanding)

Maybe we need to start tearing our shirts more. Or…maybe it’s the other one.

Nerf Darts

Todd Pollock — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:56:42 +0000

Every man knows how much fun it is to play with Nerf Darts. I’m not complaining. I partake.

I’m a few Agile engagements in and I’ve noticed that there is a strong correlation between enthusiasm for the Agile methodology and enthusiasm for games in which objects are thrown across the room (often at other people and/or designated targets.

This is an observation by me. Perhaps shared by many. That’s all.

In theory

Todd Pollock — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:04:42 +0000

Senour: Theoretically, these posts would be a mixture of professional and personal posts that would:

Establish a personal persona
Establish a professional persona
Provide a home base that links out to social media sites (FB, LinkedIN, etc.)
Highlight some photos/videos of interest
Highlight some web-based project
Do some other stuff

Additionally, it could be a place to promote the good work of other folks who are providing thought leadership in our areas of expertise.

As an example, I’d link to a particularly good post by a top notch BA thought leader like Jonathan Babcock:

Solid blog post by Jonathan Babcock. Photo from the post:

Would love to hear your thoughts on this, Mr. Reed.

2010

Todd Pollock — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:39:44 +0000

There should probably be a limit to the number of times that you an start and stop a blog. I’d probably be close to it. So here goes again. Lately, I’m quite smitten (and consumed) with these guys (no offense, Luke):

Perhaps you can see why.

I’m also trying to do a lot more reading this year. My newly acquired Kindle will theoretically make that easier. For now, it’s The Road on the fiction side. A bunch of Agile books on the work side (including Lean-Agile Software Development. Acts on the spiritual side (entering the eleventh chapter now). And one can never stop reading any output from Jay Nordlinger.

I’ve got some fun side projects on my plate for the year. Perhaps I’ll convince some folks to help me out.

Later.