Appreciative Enquiry : Presented by Sridharan Vembu

The Power of Appreciative Inquiry

Sridharan Vembu

This presentation is copyrighted to Sridharan Vembu of ThoughtWorks Technologies Pvt. Ltd. No copy or use of this presentation should occur without prior permission

To a hammer everything looks like a nail...


The creators


Co creator and Influencer


About “What is leadership”

Peter Druker ∗ Leadership is about creation of alignment of strengths in ways that make a system’s weakness irrelevant


Appreciative Inquiry is…

David Cooperrider

∗ Cooperative co-evolutionary search for the best in people, their organizations, communities and the world around them. It involves systematic discovery of what gives “life” to an organization or community when it’s most effective, and most capable in economics, ecological and human terms


Provides theories and tools for

Appreciative Enquiry*

Ø Elevation of system strengths

Ø Unification and configuration of system strengths

Ø Magnification of system strengths outward into society

* - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cooperrider#Appreciative_Inquiry


Appreciate – to value, to recognize with gratitude, to increase in value

Inquiry – to seek to understand through the asking of questions

Appreciative Enquiry is..

https://www.scrumalliance.org/system/slides/92/original/Michael%20Fortunato_Appreciative%20Agile.pdfThis presentation is copyrighted to Sridharan Vembu of ThoughtWorks Technologies Pvt. Ltd. No copy or use of this presentation should occur without prior permission

5 Principles of Appreciative Inquiry

Constructionist Principle Simultaneity Principle Poetic Principle

Anticipatory Principle Positive Principle


The 4 D Cycle

Discover

Dream

Design

Destiny Affirmative Topic Choice


In the very first question we ask!!

Seeds of change are…


Let’s get into our territoryThe Agile World…


∗ What went well / What did not go well / Puzzles / Possibly, few action Items!!

∗ Or Start / Stop / Continue∗ How much time you usually spend on each category?∗ We usually give it a quick pass to “What Went Well” and

focus more on “What didn’t go well” – right?∗ Why?

Retrospective – a standard format


∗ Let’s cancel this iteration’s retrospective, as there are no issues to discuss

∗ Only couple points on what went well, but 20 pointson what didn’t go well

∗ Team members harping on a specific problem more than needed

∗ Maximum presence in a retrospective after an “unsuccessful” iteration

Symptoms


Questions are never neutral..

Problem Solving Mindset

∗ Why are you always late for Stand-ups

∗ How come you missed such a critical acceptance criteria (AC) in your test scenario/plan?

∗ Why are you estimates always off?

Appreciative Mindset

∗ Would you like to come up with a better time that works for you as well as the team?

∗ How do we collaborate better to improve the effectiveness of the test plan

∗ What additional help / information do you need to come up with better estimates?


Write down one critical issue that you and your team discussed in the most recent retrospective

Exercise


Scenario 1: In a distributed, multi vendor agile program -lack of capabilities and commitment from one of the teams

Few Scenarios


Scenario 2: In a program transition, lack of motivation from both incoming and outgoing teams

Few Scenarios


Scenario 3: Distributed Agile – quarterly prioritization workshops – Team met the target in terms of total Story points, but way too many scope changes –unhappy PMO lead

Few Scenarios


Scenario 4: Project started in capped T&M Mode with 2 vendors (UX/UI, backend development)UX/UI vendor too costly, client asked other vendor to take over UX/UI. 200% scope creepNo additional budget from clientTogether with Business and PO, team did functional and technical redesign, scope negotiations throughout execution phaseDelivered successfully on time, with ~10% extra budgetExtremely stressful execution phaseConducted end-of-project Appreciative Inquiry.

Few Scenarios


Few Scenarios


Scenario 5: Team was not motivated – did not find the project interesting – no learning opportunities – customer interactions were reluctant and looking for excusesAbsence of Product Owner from customer side –chaotic environment – ever changing requirements –loss of trust from both sides

Few Scenarios


Using the 4 D Processes cycle, restate the same problem statement in a way to create possibilities

Can you visualize a different outcome?

Exercise


∗ Not a replacement for Retrospective∗ Appreciative Inquiry - It’s a journey, not a destination∗ Works effectively when you do it in an “inside-out” fashion∗ Need for incentivizing individuals would slowly fade away and

become irrelevant∗ Anyone in the team can initiate, doesn’t necessarily have to wait

for SM or PM or some lead∗ Don’t need to use the carrot and stick approach, ever∗ Do not make it ceremonial – It has to be a behavioral change∗ More religiously you practice in your project / at workplace, you

would see a positive change extending into your personal life as well

Thoughts…


Thank YouQuestions?


Engineering

Appreciative Enquiry : Presented by Sridharan Vembu