How to develop habits in an Agile environment to perform better with less energy
Blame in the retro? Threats when work is not finished? Complaints rather than acting? You might have developed some bad habits here.
Are stand-ups taking forever? Are team members not updating the story board? Are retrospective actions not followed up upon? You might want to develop some good habits here.
Habits are regularly repeated routines, most often done subconsciously. Developing (the right) habits is crucial for individuals and teams to minimize the energy needed to perform at a high level. By developing a habit, more effort can be spent on the actual work rather than on the support functions.
Developing habits is not about working harder, but smarter. Habits enable you to:
get rid of bad behavior and establish good behavior
save time during meetings
boost reliability and, ultimately, trust
Research and new findings within the last years have shown enormous potential for habit development having a huge impact on personal and business behavior. Applying this to Agile seems very promising.
5. What is a Habit?
• “Actions performed routinely in certain contexts and situations
often unconsciously.”
• automated goal-oriented behaviour
Source: ”Force of habit" by Teal Burrell in NewScientist, 16/01/2016
6. Why Habits?
• to anchor behaviour
• to master a skill
• to save energy
7. 40 % of our daily behaviour is habitual.
Source: ”Force of habit" by Teal Burrell in NewScientist, 16/01/2016
8. Source: ”Is it worth the time?” by XKCD, https://xkcd.com/1205
10. 4 VARIABLES FOR HABIT DEVELOPMENT
Patience Small Steps Schedule Convenience
66
11. Patience
How long will it take to form a habit?
18minimum
66average
254maximum
Source: ”Here's how long it takes to break a habit, according to science" by Signe Dean (24/09/2015, http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-how-long-it-takes-to-break-a-habit-according-to-science )
12. Small Steps
Brush One
Tooth at a Time
Source: ”Tim Ferriss and Neil Strauss Talk Writing, Creativity on creativeLIVE" by Tim Ferris and Neil Strauss ( 13/07/2013, http://youtu.be/2dTQWQXhSJU )
14. + +
Scheduling
Tie new habit to something you already do
Source: ”Force of habit" by Teal Burrell in NewScientist, 16/01/2016
15. The Progress Principle
• “Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and
perceptions during a workday, the single most important is
making progress in meaningful work.”
Source: "The Power of Small Wins" by Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer in HBR (05.2011)
Scheduling
23. ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ❌ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ❌ ❌ ☠ ☠ ☠ ☠ ☠
Scheduling
Slipped just once? No big deal. Your momentum carries you.
Never slip twice. Lost momentum makes it hard to get back up.
Source: ”Force of habit" by Teal Burrell in NewScientist, 16/01/2016
24. Convenience
A key for developing
a habit is making its
execution as
convenient as
possible.
Convenience
25. "A clever tweak to how apples are sold is making everyone eat more of them" by Roberto A. Ferdman in The Washington Post (19.05.2016,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/19/the-apple-industrys-strange-savior/?utm_term=.65ade537d973 )
Sliced Apples
• 60-70% higher
apple consumption
• "…even the
simplest forms of
inconvenience affect
consumption…”
Convenience