Change Harvesting – GeePawHill.org

Slash the Load

Coaching, Change Harvesting, Leading Technical Change / October 25, 2022 / 4 minutes of reading

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Leading Technical Change

The people who hire me ask me to help their teams make changes. Most of the time, my first step is to see how I can slash those teams’ load. Here’s a technique card from my seminar, “Leading Technical Change” Raw text of a technique card: Wait, what? First thing I do To me, this is dreadfully obvious, but for a lot of folks seeking change, it comes as a completely shocking idea. The weirdest part, though, is that it …

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Ten I-Statements About Change

Coaching, Change Harvesting / June 29, 2022 / 6 minutes of reading

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Leading Technical Change

Here’s ten I-Statements about change, in the geek trades, and beyond. My hope is that it will give you a richer sense of where I’m coming from in my blogs, talks, videos, and courses. Before we begin, though these statements are about the geek trades, I am actually far more concerned with change in the world. We can change this. We’re the only thing that possibly can. Stay safe, stay strong, stay angry, stay kind. Black Lives Matter. A little …

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Trade Collapse Begins?

Change Harvesting / June 16, 2022 / 3 minutes of reading

I’ve oft mentioned how the twin cost-revolutions in geekery warped & nearly destroyed our trade. Then wondered if we’ll get to a place where it’s no longer profitable for most companies to write bad software poorly. This morning I wonder if I’m seeing the beginning of it. I don’t have any facts & figures for you. But it feels like I’m seeing more and more companies wonder if the gravy train’s caboose will soon pass the station. It won’t happen …

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MMMSS – The Pin-Making Floptimization

Change Harvesting / December 30, 2021 / 10 minutes of reading

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Many More Much Smaller Steps

In our efforts to optimize the Many More Much Smaller Steps (MMMSS) path, we’ve tried and rejected the "shortest-distance" floptimization. Today, let’s take up the "pin-making" floptimization, in which we create specialists, stations, and hand-offs. Many More Much Smaller Steps – First Sketch | GeePawHill.org The first plank of my take on fixing the trade is MMMSS: If you want more value faster, take Many More Much Smaller Steps. Today I want to start laying this out for folks. This …

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MMMSS – The Shortest-Distance Floptimization

Change Harvesting / December 21, 2021 / 10 minutes of reading

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Many More Much Smaller Steps

We’ve built ourselves a positive case for "Many More Much Smaller Steps" (MMMSS). There’s a counter-case, tho, based in a trio of proposed optimizations. Sadly, those optimizations usually flop. Today, let’s take up the "Shortest Distance" floptimization. Many More Much Smaller Steps – First Sketch | GeePawHill.org The first plank of my take on fixing the trade is MMMSS: If you want more value faster, take Many More Much Smaller Steps. Today I want to start laying this out for …

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MMMSS – The Intrinsic Benefit of Steps

Change Harvesting / November 16, 2021 / 8 minutes of reading

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Many More Much Smaller Steps

We’ve covered the MMMSS idea a couple of times now. This time we want to consider the key element of the case in favor: the remarkable intrinsic value we receive from Many More Much Smaller Steps. It’s not immediately obvious, so let’s take our time. Many More Much Smaller Steps – First Sketch | GeePawHill.org The first plank of my take on fixing the trade is MMMSS: If you want more value faster, take Many More Much Smaller Steps. Today …

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Random Coaching Tips

Coaching, Change Harvesting / November 2, 2021 / 3 minutes of reading

As a person who has been successfully coaching software development teams for twenty years, let me throw out a few ideas to chew over. With luck, maybe one of them will jiggle the frame enough for you to find a next step. Nothing, absolutely nothing, always works. There are thousands of forces in play in a typical team or organization, and many of them are inherently or ontogenetically anti-change. I vary my game a lot, and I have a lot …

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MMMSS – A Closer Look at Steps

Modern-Synthesis, Programming, Change Harvesting / October 26, 2021 / 9 minutes of reading

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Many More Much Smaller Steps

Earlier, we sketched out MMMSS, Many More Much Smaller Steps, laying out the bare bones. Cool, cool, but now we need to thicken our sense of the idea. Today, let’s close in a little more on what "step" means to us. Many Much More Smaller Steps – First Sketch | GeePawHill.Org The first plank of my take on fixing the trade is MMMSS: If you want more value faster, take Many More Much Smaller Steps. Today I want to start …

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Many More Much Smaller Steps – First Sketch

Modern-Synthesis, Change Harvesting / September 29, 2021 / 5 minutes of reading

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Many More Much Smaller Steps

The first plank of my take on fixing the trade is MMMSS: If you want more value faster, take Many More Much Smaller Steps. Today I want to start laying this out for folks. This isn’t gonna happen in one thread, but let’s get started. Before we dig in a little, let me remind you that I’m aiming here for geek comfort good, respite. I am far more concerned with changing the world right now than I am with changing …

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Three Short Coaching Pro-Tips

Change Harvesting, Coaching / July 6, 2021 / 8 minutes of reading

A respondent asked that I combine these three short Pro-Tip muses into one post, so here goes: Coaching Pro-Tip #1: Everything good about agility is rooted in relationship, so everything good about coaching is, too. As coaches, we usually start from negative trust, and our central priority has to be reversing that position. In the early days of most coaching engagements, one sees lots of issues, of various size and shape. The temptation to start issuing criticism and directives is …

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