How evolutionary psychology validates the agile mindset updated
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The workplace is full of individuals with vastly different personalities, and although it can be greatly beneficial for a team to have a diverse set of personality traits, it can also be a struggle when those clashes to a point where the team cannot pull together. Developing software is a social enterprise and Agile has brought about many great techniques and tools to work better together, but some concepts such as “fail fast, fail often” or “just in time planning” can be challenging for certain personality types to fully endorsed. Similarly, many every day Agile practices rely on high level of extraversion. But what happens to those who are rather introverted and do not quite fit with the culture shift that Agile brought to the workplace? In this multidisciplinary talk, we will draw from personality psychology and evolutionary biology to shed some lights into why we behave the way we do and why the agile mindset might be either easier or harder to adopt for certain personality types. We’ll also investigate how the balance between planning ahead and embracing uncertainty has deep biological roots into how we evolved as a species, and how this influences how we ought to shape software development projects to be aligned with our psychological substructure as human beings. Finally, we’ll cover a few strategies we can apply to help us deal with stress and how we can improve the way we learn and reduce risks in agile projects to build the “right thing” as well as the “thing right”.
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How evolutionary psychology validates the agile mindset updated
- 1. How evolutionary biology validates The agile mindset Dr. David Michel david.michel@tessella.com DavMichel76
- 3. Hmmm… sounds like a nightmare to me Wow, this sounds awesome !!
- 4. Is Agile designed for extroverts
- 5. this is me With Tessella for >10 years Jack-of-all-trade: Developer, BA, tech lead, PM One of Tessella’s Agile experts Coaching teams Running training courses Leading our Agile Community of practice
- 7. Evolutionary Biology & psychology Agile Mindset This talk is about… ?
- 8. Hmmm… sounds like a nightmare to me Wow, this sounds awesome !!
- 10. Working alone Mob programming Workshops Openspace Prefer quiet space to think Work ‘offline’, then report back Stand-ups, Retrospectives One-to-oneinteractions
- 11. Most school only have group work nowadays… Now Before
- 12. Idea of a successful open space But can be a source of stress… … especially for introverts And everyone puts on the headphones!
- 14. Ever had to mediate a conflict between 2 people at work
- 15. Was it really just a matter of opinion?
- 16. What if they saw the world differently?
- 17. Literally…
- 20. Myers-Briggs
- 21. Energy Sociability Influence Attention to detail Diligence Achievement Dependability Cooperation Concern for others Diplomacy Risk-averse Innovation Adaptability Independence Careful Plan ahead
- 22. Agreeableness 23rd Conscientiousness 28th Extraversion 93rd Neuroticism 36th Openness 78th My Big 5 profile
- 24. Concentrate on the task Ignore distractions to focus Pay attention to the environment Keep an eye out for danger
- 25. Right HemisphereLeft Hemisphere • Bigger Picture • React to the unexpected • Concerned with anomalies • Focus on unknowns • Details oriented • Focus on what is known • Tries to impose a logical order on the world From a Darwinian perspective, the brain has evolved 2 hemispheres, representing the 2 “modes of thinking” necessary for survival
- 26. Right HemisphereLeft Hemisphere • Bigger Picture • Focus on unknowns • Concerned with anomalies • React to the unexpected • Details oriented • Focus on what is known • Tries to impose a logical order on the world From a Darwinian perspective, the brain has evolved 2 hemispheres, representing the 2 “modes of thinking” necessary for survival
- 29. Sprinting • Time-box to focus on achieving something • Cannot interfere. If you want changes, you have to wait for the next sprint boundary Spikes • Time-boxed activity to explore unknowns.
- 30. Product Owner Development Team Outward Focus Inward Focus
- 31. Project vs Product Building the right thing Vs Building the thing right
- 34. • Don’t forget the introverts. You might be promoting practices that makes them really uncomfortable • Embrace your inner Yin & Yang. Balance between Delivery & Discovery, Known & Unknowns, explored & unexplored, order & chaos.
Editor's Notes
- The workplace is full of individuals with vastly different personalities, and although it can be greatly beneficial for a team to have a diverse set of personality traits, it can also be a struggle when those clashes to a point where the team cannot pull together. Developing software is a social enterprise and Agile has brought about many great techniques and tools to work better together, but some concepts such as “fail fast, fail often” or “just in time planning” can be challenging for certain personality types to fully endorsed. Similarly, many every day Agile practices rely on high level of extraversion. But what happens to those who are rather introverted and do not quite fit with the culture shift that Agile brought to the workplace? In this multidisciplinary talk, we will draw from personality psychology and evolutionary biology to shed some lights into why we behave the way we do and why the agile mindset might be either easier or harder to adopt for certain personality types. We’ll also investigate how the balance between planning ahead and embracing uncertainty has deep biological roots into how we evolved as a species, and how this influences how we ought to shape software development projects to be aligned with our psychological substructure as human beings. Finally, we’ll cover a few strategies we can apply to help us deal with stress and how we can improve the way we learn and reduce risks in agile projects to build the “right thing” as well as the “thing right”.
- That’s the question that got me thinking…
- Standup, chaos or working well?
- Introversion and extroversion are not actually related to how outgoing or shy we are, but rather how our brain reward system is structured. For extroverted people, the pathway is short and reacts strongly to dopamine. It pushes them towards seeking novelty, taking risks, enjoying unfamiliar situations more than others. For introverts, the pathway is much longer, and goes through areas in the brain associated with remembering, planning and problem solving. Dopamine plays less of a role there compared to other chemicals like acetylcholine.
- Ever had to mediate a conflict between 2 people at work? I’ve had to do this a few times, and it’s hard. Often, I can hear pros and cons to both sides. And I see the 2 individuals Just talking pass each other, not really hearing each other. They got into a “I’m right, you’re wrong” boxing match. It seems as though the conversation was not about Getting to the truth, but rather about winning the argument.
- You could they just had different opinions about how to approach something. But often, this goes beyond opinions…. In fact I’ve seen people who were both correct, and yet still arguing about who Is right and who is wrong.
- It’s not a matter of opinion, it goes much deeper than that. Because people see the world differently
- I mean, LITERALLY, differently. They value different things, they pay attention to different things, we are all biased but biased in different ways.
- A good example of people seeing the world differently is this: Doers and dreamers On one hand, we’ve got doers, who, as the name implies, do things. They want prioritise acting. They tend to be productive, they like to optimise things, avoid distractions…. Too many options is stressful. But because doers don’t waste time exploring options, they limit themselves. The dreamers, however, tend to think about possibilities, options. they like to experiment, innovate. The lack of option that is stressful here. Here is how they can clash: a doer ask a dreamer. I’m stuck with this problem. I don’t know whether to go with option A or option B. And the dreamers, have you thought about option C and D? to which the doers replies: “thanks, now I have even more options I still don’t know which one to go with”
- Which character are you?
- Now there are many tests out there. The red/blue/green/yellow one that categorises people according to just 2 dimensions The most famous being the myers briggs test… which is mostly nonsense. But one that is actually scientifically sound, based in empirical data: the big five model
- Agreeableness 23rd Compassion 31st Politeness 21st Conscientiousness 28th Industriousness 14th Orderliness 54th Extraversion 93rd Enthusiasm 92nd Assertiveness 88th Neuroticism 36th Withdrawal 41st Volatility 34th Openness 78th Intellect 82nd Creativity 63rf
- Sprint: Because you’re only working for a short, quick period of time you have to focus on what you’re trying to accomplish. Once you commit to a sprint, you are essentially telling all others involved that “yes, I am going to accomplish this task in this set period of time.” Now you’ve set a certain goal and are expected to come through. Backlog: Spikes?
- You might have seen this symbol before… on tatoo or at a Chinese temple. It comes from Taoism, a religion born in China. It has far more meaning than you probably realise. Yin is the dark one, yang is the dark. Each side has a dot of the opposite colour. Which gives a clue to the meaning of yin and yang: everything contains the seed of its opposite.