Weeknotes S4 E1 2021
Published in
2 min readOct 8, 2021
Happy Friday! I’m attempting to get back into the weeknoting groove. To that end, I’m trying a condensed format to lower the barrier to pressing the publish button.
Good things
- Starting to see the use of user stories and prototypes being used in the team to better understand the work and challenge assumptions.
- Also encouraging to see the team challenging tech suppliers about the user centredness (or lack thereof) of their products. This has prompted some changes too which I’m chalking up as a win. More of this!
- I’ve recently done some training on coaching which I’ve found enjoyable. I don’t know if I’m a good coach, but I do enjoy listening to other people talk about their challenges and I’m generally curious, which seems to be a useful combination when applied here.
Learned things
- The double diamond is missing the crucial bit where you put the solution into practice.
- Small teams often need people who can wear multiple hats.
- When everything feels like it’s moving, introducing more structure (perhaps even constraints?) can be helpful.
Difficulties
- Hard things are hard. Which is logical, but I need a regular reminder.
- Too much work in progress is easy to spot, but not so easy to resolve.
- There may be a limit to the number of hats you can feasibly wear at the same time.
Stuff I’ve been reading / listening to / watching
- Agile Waste: Stop using story points. Now
https://rigidity.medium.com/agile-waste-story-points-pt-1-a9df2572d0a3 - “Measure the Muttering…” Detecting ‘weak signals’
https://whatsthepont.blog/2021/10/03/measure-the-muttering-detecting-weak-signals/ - Making Tech Better Podcast — Team topologies with Matthew Skelton
https://pca.st/zph7c410 - Graceful degredation
https://www.iterate.org.uk/2-graceful-degradation - How to say ‘No’ after saying ‘Yes’
https://hbr.org/2021/09/how-to-say-no-after-saying-yes