The Magazine for Agile Developers and Agile Testers

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October 2010

issue 4www.agilerecord.com freedigitalversion madeinGermany

52 www.agilerecord.com

Withmygoodfriend,MaryLynnManns,I’vewrittenabooken-titledFearlessChangewhichdescribespatternsforintroducingnew ideas.MaryLynnand I struggled tocomeupwithagoodnameforourbookandfinallydecidedon“Fearless”asareflec-tionofoneofthemostimportantpatternsinthecollection:Fear Less.Thispatternaddressestheproblemofresistancetonewideas.Ourusualreactiontothosewhoareskepticalaboutourideasistotreattheresistorsasnaysayersandavoidthem.Wedon’twanttohearanythingcriticalofournewidea.Wetendtosurroundourselveswith thosewhoagreewithus. Thismeanswelimitwhatwecanlearnabouttheideaorhowtoimprovetheintroductionprocess.Wehappilygoforwardbelievingthatalliswell—exceptfor“those”negativepeoplewhojustwon’tlisten!

TheFear Less pattern advises innovators to listen carefully tothosewhoaren’tinitiallyenthusiasticaboutthenewidea.Listenand learn.Asmymotherusedtosay,“Listenhardtowhatyoudon’twanttohear.”Theskepticwhotakesthetimetotellyouwhatwon’tworkisofferingagift.Appreciateit.

OftenwhenI talkaboutthispattern, I tell thestoryofskepticswhonotonlygavemethegiftoftheirviewpoints,butwhenIap-preciatedthem,whenIlistened,thoseskepticsbecamemygrea-testsupporters.Theydidn’tnecessarilysignupwholesalefortheidea,buttheyhelpedmedothebestjobpossibleofbringingtheideatorealfruitionintheorganization.Ioftenthoughtthatmay-benoonehadeverseriouslylistenedtothembefore.Iwonderedwhatthat’slike—nottohaveanyonelistentoyou.

Listen to understandMaryLynnandIdiscoveredamagicalwritingtechnique.Whenwewouldgetstuckonsomepartofthebook,Iwouldsay,“Askmeaquestion.”ThenMaryLynn (shewas reallygoodat this!)would say, “Linda, why <important question>?” Then I wouldstartexplainingas Iwould toanaudiencememberwhomighthaveaskedthesamequestion.MaryLynnwouldtypefuriouslytocapturewhatoftensurprisedbothofus.Thisprocessreminds

meofsomethingthatauthorE.M.Forsterobserved,“HowdoIknowwhatIthinkuntilIsayit?”Itseemsthatweneedsomeoneto“listenusintounderstanding.”

In Barbara Waugh’s book about her experience as a changeagentatHP,sheproposed:

BarbaraexplainsthatshefirstheardaboutthegenerativepoweroflisteningfromNelleMorton,thelatefeministtheologianandauthor,whobelievedthatlisteningisagreatandpowerfulskillthatopensthecreativefloodgatesinthepersonbeinglistenedto.Thelistener’sattentive,unbroken,andreceptivesilenceinvi-tesspeakerstoexploretheirthoughtsandcomeupwithideasthatthey’veneverhadbefore.Ideasthatliterallydidn’texistuntiltheywere“listenedintospeech.”

Listen to better healthListeningcanhavedeeperimpactforusthanhelpingusunder-standwhatwearethinking.IwasintriguedbyreadinganaccountofanexperimentinThe Placebo Response.Inthemid-80s,seve-ralfamilyphysiciansinCanada,ledbyDr.MartinBass,studiedalargegroupofpatientswhovisiteddoctorswithawidevarietyofcommonsymptoms.Theinvestigatorsasked:Whatbestpredictswhetherthepatientwillsaythatheisbetteronemonthlater?

Theirdetailedreviewofthemedicalrecordsshowedmanythingsthatdidnotpredictwhetherthepatientwouldgetbetter:thetho-roughnessofthemedicalhistoryandphysicalexam,whetherthephysiciandidanylabtestsorX-rays,andwhichmedicationswereprescribed.Almosteverythingphysiciansaretaughtturnedouttomakenodifferenceforthisgroupofpatients.

© Artsem

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Listen each other to a better placeby Linda Rising

“Instead of a great keynote speaker, what if we have a great keynote listener who can listen us into creating our visions for HP’s future?”

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Thedoctorswereabletoidentifyonefactorthatbestpredictedwhetherthepatientwouldreportfeelingbetterafteronemonthandthatwas—whether the patient said that the physician had carefully listened to the patient’s description of the illness at the first visit to the doctor.

Inafollow-onstudy,Bassandhiscolleaguesconsideredalargegroupofpatientswhocameinwiththenewonsetsymptomofheadache.Afterayear,theyfoundthatwhatbestpredictedanimprovementintheheadacheswasthepatients’reportthat,attheveryfirstvisit,theyhadachancetodiscusstheirproblemful-lyandfeltthephysicianwasabletoappreciatewhatitmeanttothem.BarbaraStarfieldofJohnHopkinsUniversitydidasimilarstudyofpublichealthclinicpatients inBaltimoreandreachedthesameconclusion.Thedoctorslistenedtheirpatientsintobet-terhealth.

Listen to reach a better placeImetsomeoneataconferencerecentlywhosaid:“Iwanttotalktoyouaboutpatterns.What’sthebigdeal?Ireallydon’tlikepat-terns.WhyshouldI?Idon’tgetit!”

Ibeganmystandard“whypatternsaregreat” talk, throwing ineverything but the kitchen sink inmy attempt to convincemyprotagonistand“sell”patterns.Finally,Ipausedandthepersonsaid:“But,thosepatterns<aboutaparticularsubject>arewor-thless!”

Ah,sotheproblemwasnotwith“patterns”atall,butwith“thoseparticularpatterns,”and,asithappens,Ididn’tlikethemeither.AssoonasIacknowledgedthat“thoseparticularpatterns”werenot very good ones, the speakerwas happy andmoved on toanothertopic—enoughsaid.

Iwasastounded.HowmanytimesmustIlearnthislesson?Igetcountlessnumbersofquestions inemailandduringpresenta-tions.AssoonasIhearakeyword,I’moffandrunning,assumingthat,ofcourse,Icananswerthat!Iamcarefultosayattheend,“Doesthatansweryourquestion?”But,ofcourse,manytimesIwonderifthequestionerisintimidatedbythesituationandnodsoutof politeness. If only Iwould stopand really listen. I couldlistenthequestionerstoabetterplaceandgorightalongwiththem!IfIhadonlydonethiswiththepatternsobjections,Icouldhavelistenedhimintoappreciatingpatterns,insteadofarguingmycase.

Nowand then, I likeseeingold re-runsof the televisionseriesMASH.JustafewweeksagoasIwasthinkingaboutthepoweroflistening,Isawtheepisodewhereasoldierkilledinbattlehastroublerealizingthathehasdied.Hetriestocommunicatewithmembers of theMASH unit, but only Klinger, who is sufferingfromahighfever,canhearhim.The“dead”soldierobservesthatofallthethingsthathethoughthewouldmissafterdeath,theworst is that he is talkingbut noone is listening.Noone canlistenhimtoabetterplace.Howmanypeoplespendtheirliveslikethis?

Listen to our customers

Thinkofthepowerofadoptingthistechniqueintheworkplace!Whatwouldhappenifwelistenedtoourcolleaguesandourcus-tomers?Whatwouldchangeinourhomes,ifwelistenedtothemembersofour family?Wouldweallhelpeachother tobe inabetterplace?OneofthecustomerinteractionpatternsIhavewritteniscalledListen, Listen, Listen.Itisabouthelpingyouandyourcustomermovetoaplaceofbetterunderstandingandbuil-dingatrustingrelationship.Thekeystoneofthatpatterncollec-tioniscalledIt’s a Relationship, Not a Sale.

LetmerecommendthefreenewsletterGoodExperiencehttp://www.goodexperience.com/signup.php

A recent issue pointed to aWall Street Journal article aboutVodafone‘sattempttomakeasimplercellphone(Mobile Pho-nes, Older Users Say, More Is Less):

http://tinyurl.com/a9oqd

Here‘sanexcerptfromthatarticle:

Whatawake-upcall!Listening,reallylisteningtoyourcustomerscanmoveyoutoabetterunderstandingofcustomerneedsthatyourproductcansatisfy.

Listen to each otherOnapersonallevel,youmighttrywhathumoristLorettaLaRochecallsPowerWhining.Simplytellafriendthatyou‘restressedandneed2minutestounload.Thefriend’sjobisjusttolistenwithoutinterrupting.Whenyou‘redone, reciprocate.Whenbothof youhavefinished,wrapupwitha1-minutemonologueeach,descri-bingthethingsforwhichyouaremostgrateful.Thelastbitputseverythingintoperspectivebyremindingyoubothtobegratefulforallthethingsthataren‘tstressingyouout.Weneedthatkind

What [Vodafone] heard fromconsumersaged35to55shockedexecutivesoftheNewbury,Englandcompany.Manyinthatagerangedidn‘tknowtheircellphonenumbersorhowtousebasicfunctions.One-third,forexample,saidtheydidn‘tknowhowtotellwhentheyhadreceivedatextmessage.Somethoughttheenvelopeiconthatsignalsamessagemeanttheirphonebillhadarrived...

Many35-to55-year-oldsalsodidn‘tlikegoingintoVodafone retail stores because the young staff -averageage24–talkedinacronymstheycouldn‘tunderstand. These consumers said they weren‘tinterested in the cameras, Internet browsers andmanyoftheotherfeaturesthatarebecomingstan-dardonthelatestcellphones.“Ourbiggestcusto-mersegmentturnedroundandsaid:‘Youhaven‘tbeen listening to us,’” says Guy Laurence, thecompany‘sconsumer-marketingdirector.“Itwasanindustryforkids.”

54 www.agilerecord.com

Linda RisingWith a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in the field of object-based design me-trics, Linda Rising’s back-ground includes university teaching and industry work in telecommunications, avionics, and tactical wea-pons systems. An interna-tionally known presenter

on topics related to patterns, retrospectives, agile de-velopment, and the change process, Linda is the author of numerous articles and four books – Design Patterns in Communications, The Pattern Almanac 2000, A Pat-terns Handbook, and Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas, written with Mary Lynn Manns. Find more information about Linda at www.lindarising.org.

> About the authorofremindertohelpusstayonanevenkeel.

Finally,incaseyoufeelthatnoonelistenstoyou,thebestwaytosolvethisproblemistostartlisteningtoothers.Givesomeo-nethegiftofyourattentionandyouwillprobablyfindthatsoonotherswillbe listening to you.Couldwestartachain reactionthatmighthelpanoisyworldthatneedsthesilenceofpersonalattention?Letmeknowifitworksforyou!■

ReferencesBrody,Howard,The Placebo Response,CliffStreetBooks,1997.

Manns,MaryLynnandLindaRising,Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas,Addison-Wesley,2004.

Waugh,BarbarawithMargotSilkForrest,The Soul in the Compu-ter,InnerOcean,2001.

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