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An Interview with Esther Derby - July 28, 2008

In our last email we featured a short interview with Jerry (Gerald M.) Weinberg. We continue the interview series with Esther Derby so you can get to know her in a bit more depth.

DG: Esther, why is progress towards improved software work so slow? In many cases, we know what to do to improve quality, speed, and cost, but most organizations aren’t doing it. Why not?

ED: The reasons we don’t do what we know we should do to improve software are the same reasons we don’t always do what we should do to improve our health. It’s hard to change habits, we’re under time pressure, we’re under peer pressure.

For some people, making a significant improvement involves admitting that what they have been doing isn’t working. It’s hard for people to admit they’ve been doing things wrong.

People make choices and decisions based on their mental models–their conception of how the world works. So it’s not just a matter of changing what people do. In order to achieve change, the mental model has to change, too. But people tend to take in information that supports their view of the world, and filter out information that doesn’t.

And when we do make a change, we don’t always keep it. We don’t have the support systems in place to maintain the change. We make a small improvement that reduces our symptoms, and our sense of urgency to make the change wanes. Soon we’re back where we started.

DG: How does your work help accelerate progress?

ED: I work to understand what the mental models are, and shift those so that people can see other possibilities. I do that by asking questions listening for the metaphors people use and probing the boundaries of those metaphors.

Sometimes I use simulations to help people “see” aspects of their organizational system.

And I help people talk about the things that seem “undiscussable.” Those are often the very topics and issues that keep organizations from reaching their aspirations.

Once an organization makes a change, I figure out how to keep the changes. I look at the forces that will pull people back to old habits and look for ways to reduce those forces. At the same time, I look for structures and forces that will help keep the change and augment those.

You can learn more about Esther’s thought’s on change by reading her article Change That Fits

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Come to AYE to meet Esther, the other Hosts and 74 other fascinating people!

The AYE Conference is now SOLD OUT.

We invite you to put your name on our waiting list by contacting our registrar, Susie Brame: phone: (503) 799-5132 (USA) email: susie.brame@ayeconference.com

If one of our registrants needs to cancel and a space opens, we will give the people on the waiting list a chance to register. We’ll offer any open spaces in the order the names are added to the waiting list.

If our waiting list grows long enough, we will consider offering a second AYE Conference in 2009.

We love to meet friends of friends, so if you know someone who’d like to be on our mailing list, please forward this message to them. Or, let your colleagues know that they can sign up for these email newsletters on our site. Or, send their email address directly to me (Don).

Writing on behalf of the AYE Hosts,

Don Gray
don@donaldegray.com
www.ayeconference.com

P.S. I work with Esther distributing the AYE newsletters, and you’ve indicated you wish to be on our mailing list. If you’d rather not receive more news items about our AYE Conference, reply to this email or drop me a line and I’ll take you off our list.

Stories from AYE
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Election Memories by Esther Derby

At the very first AYE, in 2000, I tried to stay awake late enough to hear the results of the American presidential election, which have usually been announced before midnight, Arizona time. Knowing I’d been at AYE for election day, I’d cast an absentee ballot. Imagine my surprise when I awakened at 6am to discover that the election was still undecided.

An Interview with Jerry Weinberg - June15, 2008

In an earlier email we introduced the AYE Hosts. In the next series of emails, we’ll have a short interview with each host so you can get to known them in a bit more depth. In this email, I’ve interviewed Jerry (Gerald M.) Weinberg.

ED: Jerry, I’ve heard people say watching you help others to see new options is like watching magic. We know that any sufficiently advanced technology looks like magic. Can you share some of the technique behind opening new options when people are stuck?

GMW: There are many things that can be done as long as the person I’m working with feels safe with me. If they don’t feel safe, I have to work towards that first. If we get there, then some of the things we do are the following:

Those are not the only things, but safety and clear definition are probably always involved, along with listening to the person–not just their words, but their emotional trail.

ED: Can you tell us a story of when you’ve helped someone see new options?

GMW: One of the most common situations is people who feel stuck in their job. They can’t stand their current work, but they think they can’t ask for a different assignment or change the way they’re doing their current assignment. They think they can’t tolerate their boss or one of their co- workers. They believe that if they quit, they could never find another job, or at least a job that pays as well–and they think they cannot possibly live on less money. Obviously, there are many possible exits from this type of situation, but the particular exit depends on the person and their rules. By following the process outlined above, we almost always find at least one exit, but each case is different, even though the process is more or less the same.

ED: Can you give us an example of when you’ve helped *yourself* see new options?

GMW: I used to have a great deal of trouble saying “no” to someone who was obviously needy–a person or an organization. I had a rule that said I must always be helpful to needy people. But I redefined my perception of what “helpful” meant, so that I didn’t personally have to spend time with them to be “helpful.” I now know many other alternative ways to be helpful, like referring them to someone else who can help them, or giving them a little task to do to discover whether they were ready to expend any effort at all to help themselves, or sometimes by simply turning them down so they would have to help themselves, rather than come crying to some “daddy” figure every time the world wasn’t behaving the way they wanted it to behave. Doing this, I believe I’ve become twice as helpful to people.

***

Come to AYE to meet Jerry, the other Hosts and 74 other fascinating people! Registration is limited to 75 participants, on a first-come-first-served basis.

When you register, you also have priority in registering for the optional warm-up tutorial and special post-conference seminars and coaching.

Our tuition discount ($600 less then the at-the-door price) is available through July 31, 2008–if space is still available.

As I write this email, there are only three places left for the 2008 conference. When the conference is full, we will start a waiting list. If there are cancellations we will offer those spaces to people on that list.

Call our registrar, Susie Brame, at (503) 799-5132. You can also contact Susie at susie.brame@ayeconference.com.

For the complete tuition schedule visit this page http://www.ayeconference.com/conference.html.

Of course, you’ll want to know what you’ll get for your tuition. Our entire program of experiential sessions here: http://www.ayeconference.com/Schedule.html.

We love to meet friends of friends, so if you know someone who’d like to be on our mailing list, please forward this message to them. Or, let your colleagues know that they can sign up for these email newsletters on our site. Or, send their email address directly to me (Esther).

Writing on behalf of the AYE Hosts,

Esther Derby
derby@estherderby.com
www.ayeconference.com
P.S. I’m the host in charge of distributing news of AYE, and you’ve indicated you wish to be on our mailing list. If you’d rather not receive more news items about our AYE.

The Conference that Never Ends by Don Gray

I really enjoy the AYE community, and not just for one week a year. While working with geographically dispersed clients, I’ve visited AYE participants from West Chester, PA, to Seattle, WA. The conference never ends.

Meet Your Conference Hosts - May 22, 2008

Hi everyone,

I’m Johanna Rothman, your guest AYE email newsletter author today. As the project manager, I have the fun of introducing all the hosts.

Esther Derby:
I met Esther Derby in 1999, through my husband. We exchanged a few emails, reviewed a few of each other’s articles, and met in her home town of Minneapolis while I was there for a conference. We hit it off, and decided to develop management workshops and a book (Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management.) We’ve continued to work together with clients.

Esther has an understated, quiet sense of humor. She brings that sense of humor, tremendous creativity, and authenticity to her work. Watching Esther work with a team is watching a master at work. She helps make the situation transparent, and helps the people see many alternatives, so they can forge a new way of working. These days, she’s working most with Agile teams, helping them develop the collaboration skills that unleash productivity.

Don Gray:
I’ve been working with Don Gray since 1998, when I met him at a workshop. Don’s from the South (I’m from Massachusetts, and I have it on good authority that the South is capitalized), and you can tell when you meet him. Don holds the door for other people, calls me “ma’am” and in general, is a Southern gentleman.

Don’s relaxed manner almost hides his systems approach to the world. But Don sees the patterns and systems in his clients’ work. Don has an extensive background in process control, so it’s not surprising to me that he sees systems! Don’s great at creating diagrams of effects– pictures of those systems. Don’s worked with teams working on a wide variety of types of applications. Recently he’s been working with Agile teams coaching them on how to become more effective.

Steve Smith:
I’ve worked with Steve Smith since 1998, when I also met him at a workshop. Steve hails from Seattle, where he assures me it doesn’t rain as much as I think it does. I don’t buy it.

Steve’s talents are in the way he connects to people. He’s helped senior managers communicate better, he’s worked with teams trying to articulate their requirements, and he’s great at helping people clean up and finish their meetings. If you’ve ever seen Steve guide a group with his gentle but firm touch, you’ve seen a master at work. These days, Steve’s coauthoring a book with Brian Seitz about how managers couple measurement skill with people skill to produce better results for their organization, their employees, and themselves.

Jerry Weinberg:
Jerry was my mentor, starting back in 1976, when I read Psychology of Computer Programming, and decided I would use my CS degree to be a developer, not be a disc jockey. Jerry is also a systems thinker, and can readily apply his advice to projects, teams, organizations, and personal work.

Jerry is concentrating on his writing these days. If you haven’t yet read The Aremac Project, you should. It’s a blast-great characterization and a fun, fast-moving plot. He’s still learning about people and applying what he knows to his local Albuquerque clients and to his writing.

Johanna Rothman:
I’m the big mouth albeit the short-statured one of the group. I’ve been working with teams, leaders, and managers to help them see what’s really going on in their projects and management and which other options they might consider. I’ve just started a new writing project: a book about project portfolio management.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our little introduction to our hosts. To see our more formal bios, go to http://www.ayeconference.com/hosts/.

To register for one of the last 12 spaces for the conference, go to our on-line registration page http://www.ayeconference.com/register/ or call our registrar, Susie Brame, at (503)799-5132. You can also contact Susie by email at susie.brame@ayeconference.com.

I’ll turn the reins back over to Esther for the next newsletter. If you’d like to be added to our list, or have questions about the conference, do email me, jr@jrothman.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Writing on behalf of the AYE hosts,

Johanna Rothman
jr@jrothman.com

http://www.ayeconference.com

P.S. We’ve been told you might be interested in hearing news about the conference. If you’d rather not receive more news items about our AYE Conference, reply to this email or drop me a line and I’ll take you off our list.

My Most Embarrassing Moment at AYE by Johanna Rothman

When Naomi and I led a workshop on public speaking, we were stumped about potential speaking topics. Jokingly, I offered “Why Speaking is Better Than Sex!” Naomi called my bluff, and that became my speaking topic. Somehow, I made it through the talk, blushing all the way.