Using silent work techniques

This session by Lyssa Adkins was one of the highlights of the conference for me. The practices that were introduced were immediately actionable while being innovative and different to other approaches I’d seen. The simplicity of these techniques is what makes them appealing while they address a very real issue, how do we ensure that all team members are represented in team meeting? We have all been in meetings dominated by a couple of strong characters. Often the smartest ideas are in the heads of someone who either is not willing to fight for air time or does not believe that the idea is sufficiently well formed to be presented to the group.

The techniques we applied were based on the scenario of a requirements meeting. The idea here is that a team is working on a product and needs to come up with the next release of stories. Each step described below was executed and the ideas generated were increasingly “left field”. Lyssa’s assertion was that many teams have achieved a level of practice that successfully deliverers mediocre results faster than was the case before adopting agile. The “left field” ideas were seen as valuable in the identification of new and innovative ideas that make the difference between a mediocre product and an exceptional one.

Step 1: Round table discussion
As a group we discussed possible stories and wrote them on cards. This proved to be slow as we delved into detail and semantics in the wording of stories based on the product theme we had selected. This approach is common in teams and does effetively identify key system uses.

Step 2: Card storming
In the next exercise we individually wrote stories on cards. This introduced a risk of duplication that was easily filtered out at the end. A key benefit here was the variety of stories and the quantity generated. We had successfully engaged everyone around the table.

Step 3: Collective authoring
I struggled for a name for this (Lyssa may have one). Each team member writes the first line of a user story on a card, “As a _____”. The card is then passed to the team members left so all cards have moved to a new person. Then the next line is written “I would like _____”. The cards are passed again and the final line is added “so that ____”.
This is where innovation really begins, as stories become more novel the energy in the room increases. However, I felt that of the three approaches this was least effective in producing valuable stories. On the other hand this set the stage for Step 4.

Step 4: Collective authoring 2
As in step three cards were passed round the table with the story being written a line at a time. The difference here was the order; first the value, second the user, third the feature. This provided some really novel features in addition to some spectacularly silly options. As a team building exercise this struck me as valuable. As a means for enabling innovation it has to be tried.

Each of steps 2-4 was executed with no conversation; hence the title silent work techniques. All team members were engaged and able to contribute fully and equally.

On a personal note, I am more comfortable in conversation than in card storming. I am slow to get going with ideas and benefit from the noise of group conversation (as friends will tell you I don’t struggle to be heard). However, I have recognised the element of teams that struggle to engage and I do believe that as a team we can miss out on ideas if we don’t provide space for contribution.

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