Bob Galen "Putting the 'Story' Back in the User Story"

Putting the
“STORY”
Back in the User Story
Bob Galen
President & Principal Consultant
RGCG, LLC
bob@rgalen.com

Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC
Introduction
Bob Galen
n  Independent Agile Coach (CSC) at RGCG, LLC
n  Principle Agile Evangelist at Velocity Partners
n  Somewhere ‘north’ of 30 years overall experience J
n  Wide variety of technical stacks and business domains
n  Developer first, then Project Management / Leadership, then
Testing
n  Senior/Executive software development leadership for 20 years
n  Practicing formal agility since 2000
n  XP, Lean, Scrum, and Kanban experience
n  From Cary, North Carolina
n  Connect w/ me via LinkedIn and Twitter @bobgalen
Bias Disclaimer:
Agile is THE BEST Methodology
for Software Development…
However, NOT a Silver Bullet!
2

Storytellers
Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC 4

Outline
n  Intro
n  The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling – Stephen Denning
n  Tell to Win – Peter Guber
n  Techniques
n  Examples
n  Workshop Storytelling
n  Close

Story Models

Story Telling Model
Stephen Denning
n  The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling
published in 2005. Author of Squirrel Inc.
n  Similarities to The Story Factor, but with a leadership
and more in-depth focus.
n  Denning has gone on to become immersed in
innovation, leadership reinvention, and agile methods.

8 Narrative Patterns
Stephen Denning
1.  Motivate Others to Action
q  Using narrative to ignite action and implement new ideas
2.  Build Trust in You
q  Using narrative to communicate who you are
3.  Build Trust in your Company
q  Using narrative to build your brand
4.  Transmit your Values
q  Using narrative to instill organizational values

8 Narrative Patterns
Stephen Denning
5.  Getting Others Working Together
q  Using narrative to get things done collaboratively
6.  Share Knowledge
q  Using narrative to transmit knowledge and understanding
7.  Tame the Grapevine
q  Using narrative to neutralize gossip and rumor
8.  Create and Share Your Vision
q  Using narrative to lead people into the future

General
Techniques

Basic Framework
Still quite effective…
n  Tell them what you’re about to tell them
n  Tell them
n  Tell them what you just told them
n  Oreo Cookie Model (sandwich)
n  From a Planning and a Strategy perspective, consider:
q  Opening Moves
q  Middle Game
q  End Game

The “One Thing”
When it comes to risky, controversial, and emotional
conversations, skilled people find a way to get all
relevant information out into the open.
That’s it. At the core of every successful conversation lies
the free flow of relevant information. People openly and
honestly express their opinions, share their feelings, and
articulate their theories.
They willingly and capably share their views, even when
their ideas are controversial or unpopular.
12

The Pareto Principal
Crossing the Chasm
n  Communicate mostly to the 80%
n  Communicate mostly to the Early Adopters and the
Majority
n  Tailor your message to these folks; reach out to their
interests, connecting to them

Connecting to Your Audience
n  Reference their perspectives
n  Reference their context
n  What would you want to hear IF you were in their shoes
n  What sorts of history relates to your topic
n  Walk about, make eye contact
n  Talk about what you’d like to help the audience do, how
you’d like to serve them
n  Keep the Servant Leadership mindset in mind
throughout

Goals & Objectives
n  You can’t force collaboration. You can encourage it
towards specific expectations surrounding Goals &
Objectives…
q  Major initiative
q  Major project
q  Major new methodology
q  Challenging new
technology
q  Quarterly / Annual
goal-setting
q  Connecting alignment to the top-line strategies
n  We’re all being measured together

Clarifying & Listening
n  Were you listening?
n  Play it back to me…what were the key points?
n  What do you think will be the most challenging parts of
the strategy?
n  Is this the right direction? Does anyone see crucial
adjustments that need to be made?

Humor
n  Self deprecating humor can be incredibly
powerful in stories— particularly as an introductory
device
n  Share internal stories that are commonly views as
humorous
n  Twist questions around, be playful with your audience
n  You don’t have to be a comedian; be yourself

Adding Context
n  Add appropriate breadth and depth to the context that
folks normally wouldn’t have—
q  Risk context
q  Organizational context
q  Impact context
q  Customer context
q  Dependency context
q  Quality context
q  Leadership context
q  Technical context
q  Revenue context

Visualization
n  Try to paint a picture
q  Directionally committed – Burn the ships behind you
n  Let pictures do some of your talking for you
n  Mine the organization for supportive “pictures”
q  Defect reports, project failures, M&A intentions, success & failure
email, metrics, virtually anything that adds to the imagery

When trying to make a point…
n  Let it emerge…
n  Don’t start with it:
q  This is a story about incredible courage. At the end, you will
aspire to be like me
n  Or end with:
q  And now I expect you all to be like me
n  Allow everyone to come to their own conclusions.
n  Of course, you can recount what it means to YOU

Group-based Workshop
Storytelling
n  Now let’s try some practice.
We’re going to try:
q  First to use a User Story format to
communicate a request
q  And then try telling a story to get the
same point across
n  You get to pick:
q  Refrigerator
q  Vacation
q  Or something of your own choosing
n  Flow
q  5 minutes for the
User Story
q  10 minutes for the
STORY
q  10 minutes for
Debrief
Please get into your
role playing, make
stuff up, and have
fun!

Wrap-up
•  Hope we challenged your existing
assumptions a bit
•  Inspire you to start storytelling as a communications tool
•  What did I miss?
•  Final questions or discussion?
Thank you!
2222

Contact Info
Bob Galen
Principal Consultant,
RGalen Consulting Group, L.L.C.
Experience-driven agile focused training,
coaching & consulting
Cell: (919) 272-0719
bob@rgalen.com www.rgalen.com
bgalen@velocitypartners.net www.velocitypartners.net
Blogs
Project Times - http://www.projecttimes.com/robert-galen/
BA Times - http://www.batimes.com/robert-galen/
Podcast on all things ‘agile’ - http://www.meta-cast.com/
23Copyright © 2014 RGCG, LLC 23

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