Three drawings I use to explain agile

And the stories I tell about them

Sometime in grade school, I had an epiphany.

I discovered that my memory for numbers, dates, and equations was average at best, but my memory for images and stories was fantastic. If I found a way to represent something visually there was a pretty good chance I would remember it forever. If not, 🤷.

What started as a study hack quickly became my default way to absorb and retain knowledge. Whether it’s machine learning algorithms, statistical concepts, or organizational design, visualizations are a huge part of how I interpret and internalize the world.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been coaching product leaders and product teams trying to transform the way a giant organization works. We talk about things like communicating priorities, why iterative development is important, and how to balance tech debt versus refactoring. When those concepts come up, I draw out my mental model of that idea and it (almost) always helps us communicate much more effectively.

Here are a few of the drawings I make over and over again.

Risk & Release Frequency

Small, frequent releases are safer than big, infrequent releases.