EP17: DECIDE - A Technique For Collaborative Decision Making

Geoff and Paul discuss Benjamin Franklin’s “13 virtues” as a practical framework for self-improvement and, more importantly, for developing team norms, shared standards, and a culture of continuous improvement in agile teams. They explain how Franklin created virtues to address his own frustration with not meeting his standards, and how he focused on one virtue at a time in four-week cycles so all 13 were covered over 52 weeks. They propose a team activity where members first brainstorm virtues individually, then share and cluster them, with two constraints: the team must agree on exactly 13, and any single disagreement vetoes a virtue, prompting discussion, negotiation, and reframing (e.g., curiosity vs stability). They stress facilitation rigour, equal participation, time to do it well, and ongoing review, and they will share Franklin’s list plus a larger prompt list and a definition of “virtue.”00:00 Welcome and Banter00:47 Why Franklin Virtues02:37 Remembering the 1303:32 Virtues vs Values05:09 Team Virtues Exercise06:54 Handling Conflicts08:56 Franklin Focus Cycle10:23 Team Milestones Cards11:27 Facilitation Tips13:29 Time-boxing and Review14:52 Resources and Wrap Up

Geoff and Paul welcome listeners back to the Agile Skills Library and introduce Kano analysis, a customer satisfaction model from the 1980s by Noriaki Kano, used to support data-driven prioritisation via surveys comparing how customers feel when a feature exists versus when it doesn’t. They explain the five feature categories—threshold/must-have, linear/one-dimensional, delighted/excited, indifferent, and reverse—and use hotel-room examples (toilets and beds as threshold; bed size, Wi‑Fi speed, and room attributes as linear; anniversary card and chocolates as delighters; padded hangers and heavy bed throws as indifferent; too many pillows/furniture and unwanted items like rats as reverse). They connect Kano to release planning, arguing teams often over-focus on threshold features and should instead balance trade-offs to create a “minimum lovable product,” including knowing when not to build or when to remove backlog items.00:00 Welcome Back Banter01:40 Why Kano Matters04:52 How Kano Surveys Work06:13 Must Have Basics07:12 Hotel Threshold Examples08:58 Linear Performance Needs11:20 Delighters and Exciters15:08 Indifferent and Reverse Features17:45 Using Kano for MVP vs MLP21:05 Wrap Up and Next Steps

Geoff and Paul open by celebrating Paul’s birthday and discussing mixed feelings about ageing and birthdays, then pivot to a coaching technique: a “future perspective” or “retrospective from the future.” Geoff explains imagining a future time (e.g., 6-12 months or five years) where things are going well, describing what’s true, then looking back to identify the decisions and actions that made it happen; he notes it can be analytical or visualisation-based and more strategic than typical retrospectives. They discuss using it individually (including a “Nirvana letter”) or with teams to counter present-focused negativity and create motivating goals. Paul practices the exercise, describing a future with balanced variety and stability, meaningful work, family time, and deeper rugby club involvement that expands into consultancy, plus leading indicators to track progress. They close by asking listeners to leave a review and download companion content to try the technique.00:00 Birthday Banter01:53 Ageing And Milestones02:33 Future Retrospective Idea03:11 How The Exercise Works05:42 Team And Solo Variations06:59 Paul Visualises Five Years09:11 Make It Specific11:09 Turn Vision Into Actions15:09 Leading Indicators And Signals16:41 Mindset And Team Longevity19:06 Birthday Gift And Wrap Up

In this Agile Skills Library episode, Geoff and Paul introduce a workshop technique called “Commit and Expect,” used to clarify responsibilities and improve relationships within agile teams. They describe how a product owner and a development team (and optionally a scrum master) each create two lists: what they will commit to and what they expect from the other party, then compare lists to identify agreements and disagreements and turn shared items into working agreements. The discussion emphasises starting with areas of alignment, using facilitation to handle delicate mismatches, and treating commitments as relationship-building that can grow over time with evidence in retrospectives. They address objections that it resembles a RACI or feels transactional, arguing it prompts nuanced conversations beyond job descriptions. They also mention downloadable templates and briefly demonstrate the technique by negotiating episode editing and content hosting.00:00 Welcome and Setup00:45 Why Commit Expect01:36 Origins and Rediscovery02:59 How the Exercise Works04:10 Agreements and Working Rules06:15 Variants and Team Charter08:35 Conflict Case Study10:42 Go Slow Build Trust12:33 RACI and Transactional Concerns16:44 Facilitation Tips and Templates18:03 Live Commit Expect Demo18:45 Wrap Up and Goodbye

In this episode of the Agile Skills Library, hosts Geoff Watts and Paul Goddard discuss the DECIDE technique, a structured approach to collaborative decision making. They explain the importance of inclusive decision making in agile environments and introduce a deck of seven cards, each representing different stances like deny, inquire, concede, iterate, defend, and endorse. They highlight how this technique can help teams make more democratic and effective decisions, and share their experiences and insights on its application. Listeners are also invited to share their stories and feedback on using this technique.Downloadable content:www.inspectandadapt.com/podcasts/ep17-decide-a-technique-for-collaborative-decision-making00:00 Introduction and Greetings00:11 Today's Topic: The Decide Technique00:47 Importance of Collaborative Decision Making03:30 Introducing the Decide Cards06:36 The Six Stances of Decide09:42 Practical Applications and Customisations16:08 Conclusion and Free Resources

Geoff and Paul, agile and leadership coaches, introduce a prioritisation technique Paul calls “Top Trumps prioritisation,” inspired by the card game where each card shares comparable attributes. Applied to product backlog items or user stories, the group first agrees 4–5 common value criteria (often aligned to product strategy or OKRs) that apply across all items, then scores each item against each criterion (e.g., out of 10) to reduce subjective debate. Scores can be agreed collaboratively, averaged from multiple stakeholders, and optionally weighted because criteria may not be equally important; the resulting total value score can be compared across backlog items and combined with estimates to consider ROI. They discuss running the exercise in workshops, anonymously, or online, and offer downloadable templates for listeners.00:00 Sunny Welcome00:26 Podcast Format00:55 Top Trumps Prioritisation01:47 How Top Trumps Works03:49 From Game to Backlog05:32 Pick Value Criteria07:33 Score Stories and ROI09:53 Weighting the Criteria11:45 When to Use It13:12 Templates and Download14:13 Variations and Scaling15:04 Wrap Up and Call to Action

Geoff and Paul discuss the “Wheel of Life,” a pizza-shaped self-assessment tool borrowed from life coaching that can be used with individuals or teams to visualise how different aspects of work or life are going. They explain setting context and psychological safety so it’s clearly for self-development, not performance management, then co-creating 6–10 segments, defining what 0 and 10 mean, and scoring subjectively. For teams, members score individually first to avoid bias, then compare results and focus on spreads rather than averages to surface differing perceptions. The coach prompts reflection on the shape, helps select one or two focus areas, and encourages small experiments to improve scores and revisit over time. They give an example team wheel (e.g., goals, collaboration, psychological safety, quality, stakeholder alignment) and a personal energy-level example, and mention downloadable templates and a request for listeners to share and rate the podcast.Downloadable content here: www.inspectandadapt.com/podcasts/ep15-the-wheel-of-anything01:17 Introducing Wheel of Life02:28 How the Wheel Works05:08 Safety and Confidentiality06:13 Scoring and Reading the Shape08:21 Team Use and Differences11:29 Run Small Experiments12:33 Team Health Example17:23 From Two to Three Mindset22:01 Templates and Wrap Up22:17 Where to Find Us22:51 Final Goodbye

Geoff and Paul discuss the long-running agile training exercise “The Ball Point Game,” often used in in-person Certified ScrumMaster courses to teach iterative improvement, inspect-and-adapt, and self-organisation. They explain the setup (typically 10–12 people and many tennis-ball-sized balls) and core rules: each ball must touch everyone, have airtime between people, not be passed to a closest neighbour, return to the starter, and dropped/removed balls incur a penalty while the team self-scores. The game is played over eight timed iterations with planning, running, scoring, and re-estimating, and teams usually improve after a chaotic first round. They highlight learning outcomes around experimentation, the dangers of targets and competition, facilitation/Scrum Master questioning, lean waste and flow, leadership dynamics, and contrasts with waterfall-style planning, and they plan to share a PDF of rules and invite listeners to submit scores or videos.00:59 Podcast Intro Setup01:25 Ball Point Origins03:06 Game Rules Explained06:18 Iterations Timing Format10:09 Early Rounds Expectations11:52 Experimentation Mindset14:46 Targets Scores Psychology18:00 Facilitation Prompts Tips23:04 Variants Flow Competition27:43 Wrap Up Resources Challenge28:29 Final Goodbye

Geoff and Paul discuss “powerful questioning” in agile coaching and introduce a practice technique called Hot Seat Questions. They note the term “powerful questions” is often overused and shouldn’t be forced, but good questions can help shift thinking and open up new solutions. In the exercise, a group designates a “hot seat” where one person shares a coaching scenario for 30–60 seconds; each listener then asks one question that the hot-seat person does not answer, but instead gives feedback on the question’s impact (e.g., “That question was powerful because…” or “It could have been more powerful if…”). They emphasise psychological safety, letting go of the need to know, avoiding leading or rambling questions, and noticing nonverbal cues. They end with a brief example and mention downloadable guidance and a request for reviews.Downloadable content: www.inspectandadapt.com/podcasts/ep13-hot-seat-questions00:00 Welcome and Catch Up01:06 What Makes Questions Powerful03:57 Hot Seat Questions Overview04:58 How to Run the Exercise07:51 What Powerful Looks Like09:22 Safety and Letting Go11:13 Feedback Structure and Observations12:35 Common Question Traps15:05 Live Hot Seat Demo19:19 Wrap Up and Resources

In this episode of the Agile Skills Library, hosts Paul Goddard and Geoff Watts introduce their audience to the 3D Team Dynamics model. They delve into the origin and application of this technique, which helps in assessing and improving team behaviours. The model categorises behaviours into developing, detailing, and disruptive actions, with subcategories for each. The hosts also discuss the concept of a team heat map, which tracks physical movement and airtime distribution within a team. Throughout the episode, they encourage listeners to try out these techniques and provide downloadable content for practical use.Downloadable content:https://www.agilify.co.uk/resources/the-agile-skills-library/ep12-exploring-the-3d-team-dynamics-model/00:00 Introduction and Welcome00:35 Introducing 3D Team Dynamics02:23 Developing Actions in Team Dynamics05:42 Detailing Actions in Team Dynamics08:47 Disruptive Behaviours in Team Dynamics11:56 Using the 3D Team Dynamics Data17:51 Team Heat Map: The Fourth Dimension21:27 Conclusion and Final Thoughts