Learning is Horrible

"Learning is horrible" Jeffrey Fredrick

Why did people join: + clickbait title + wider scope promised + most important thing jtf knows

[jtf's wife hates title]

learning = closely related to agile (+ vice versa)

People don't understand what agile tranformation is asking of them (and of others?)

[Slide: dobled reoccuring revenue in 5 years - jtf talks about his company]

[Slide: harsh realities - collaboration hard for humans - high performance requires difficult emotional work]

difficult emotional work = going against instincts

terrifying if doing it right

jtf - sometimes he feels he acts like a terrible human being

new skills for different outcomes

[Slide: do you like to be wrong, ... to learn]

lots of other ideas jtf says we're overintellectualizing

but jtf observes - most people think being wrong would feel bad

learning is the detection and correction of error

=> finding out you are wrong feels bad

but being wrong feels just like being write (because you don't know yet)

=> learning is horrible because it is done at the moment where you discover that you are wrong

[Slide: TIM Group]

jft thought they had a healthy agile culture

[Thinking fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman, System 1 & System 2]

system (fast, nearly subconscious) 1 is biased

system (slow, deliberate) 2 is lazy

system 1 fits facts to a coherent theory - theory may not be true

narrative fallacy

system 2 makes up justifications for actions after the fact

cognitive bias

availability heuristic

[Slide: Uncanny valley, article about MS by Ben Thompson]

true collaboration required BOTH trust and respect AND willingness to disagree

T&D without WtD => groupthink } uncanny

WtD wihtout T&d => conflict } valley

[Slide: Chris Argyris/Knowlege for Action]

[Slide: ladder of inference Peter Senge/The Fifth Discipline]

Dan Milman(?) - peaceful warrior -step out/back, become observer, look at yourself, select what is real

(=mindfulness)

[Slide: assumptions Roger Schwartz/The SkilledFacilitator]

[Slide: 8 behaviours Roger Schwartz]

"Discuss undiscussable issues"

[Slide: TIM Group socialization of 8 behaviours]

[Slide: Espoused theory/theory in use]

skilled incompetence

[Slide: Piano]

practice

[Slide: Withholding information case study]

training exercise used with TIM

script

politeness vs transparency/curiosity

[Slide: emotional agility]

recognize your own patterns (and their impact on other people)

diversion plans to avoid bad patterns

Questions:

Deliberate practice - pick a single behaviour at a time to amplify

Train system 1

Can you change what you observe?