Development teams often fail to recognize the complex group interactions and multi-person relationships that are critical to build and maintain a highly productive team. Instead, they adopt follow-the-crowd practices such as stand up meetings or Kanban boards without understanding the underlying fundamentals. Michael Wolf introduces group interaction patterns of highly productive development teams to provide a framework for understanding group interactions and a vocabulary for discussing ways to improve. Michael will facilitate a highly-experiential introduction to techniques from 4 group work practices: * Liberating Structures * The Core Protocols * Group Works Card Deck (& Group Works Pattern Language) * Personal Kanban

1. Group Interaction
Patterns The Keys for Highly Productive Teams
Liberating Structures
Presented by
Michael R. Wolf
MichaelRWolf@att.net
@LearningWolf
206-679-7941
-- All Mammals Learn by Playing

2. Better Software Conference East
 Conference
 My session
- Wednesday, November 7, 2012 3:45

3. Why should you care about techniques for Group Work?
 Lead a more fulfilled life.
 Honestly!!! I’ll personally attest to it.
 You don’t have to tell “The Boss” why you’re doing it….
… but it’s an open secret. It’s all inter-related.

4. Why should I listen to you?
 You shouldn’t. Defer judgment. Try it. Listen to yourself.
 I’ve learned a lot while teaching programmers
- Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, yada yada…
- Departmental Meyers-Briggs at AT&T Intra-peneur in ’92
- Almost 20 10+ years on the road, on-site, in the trenches as programmer trainer
- Consulting at many, many companies
 I’ve done a lot of extra-curricular training at home. (Thanks, Wendy!)
 Wiked Question (from LS)
- If I really do believe that you are already very smart and capable,
how can I possibly help you?

5. Presentation Overview
 “Guide on the Side” (my preferred style)
- “Technique Slam”
- GW - Group Work Pattern Language
- LS - Liberating Structures
- CP - Core Protocols
- PK - Personal Kanban
- Experience the techniques
- Leave you wanting more….
- Flight of beer – sample now for later enjoyment
- Speed dating – overview now for later deepening
 “Sage on the Stage” (only when “necessary”)
 Closing

6.  “Including and unleashing everyone”
LS - Liberating
Structures  33 liberating structures, each includes
- What is made possible?
- Micro structures & Design Elements => Min Specs
- A structuring invitation
- How the space is arranged and what materials are needed
- How participation is distributed
- How groups are configures
- A sequence of steps and time allocation
 Keith McCandless & Henri Lipmanowicz
 Immersion Workshop
- Wed, Oct 17 -- #1 (Redux)
- Thu, Oct 18 -- #2
- IncludeAndUnleash.eventbrite.com

7.  Make an Invitation
1-2-4-All - What practical/theoretical topics could Beyond Agile
(from LS) present that would help you create better products?
 Distribute Participation
- I will be timekeeper, facilitator
- You will think, write, listen, share and refine
 Configure Groups
- Group of 1 – think & write
- Group of 2 – listen & share
- Group of 4 – listen & refine
- All - facilitated – collect & display
 Arrange Space
- Face-to-face. Knee-to-knee. Groups of 4.
- Disregard “Space Police”
 Sequence & Allocate Time
- Listen for sound and directions

8.  Authors: Jim Benson & Tonianne DeMaria Barry
PK –  Two simple, main points (printed on alternate pages)
Personal Kanban - Visualize your work
- Limit your Work In Progress
 Jim co-founded Seattle Lean Coffee 2-3 years ago
 Kaizen Camp also founded by Jim and Tonianne
- “Discussing the Future of Work”
- Seattle in 2011 & 2012
- Coming to NYC, SoCal, Boulder, DC, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston
- Plans for on Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, and Australia

9. Very Simple
Every meeting a  Every meeting starts with a purpose
Kanban (from PK)  No meeting starts with an agenda
 Everyone creates agenda items
•Pinnacle of procrastination delay - Written on stickies
management - Placed in “Backlog”
•Values all participants insights  Every item is briefly introduced
•Engages all participants  Everyone distributes 2-4 votes across all items
 Voila! A prioritized backlog. Timely. Relevant.
 Work commences as item moves from “Backlog” to “WIP”
 Limit WIP (Work in Progress)
 Move item to “Done” when finished
- … or time box is exceeded
- … with consensus on extensions
- Happy Dance! Celebrate!

10. Every meeting is a Kanban.
 I mean it!!!
 Business
- 1-on-1 meetings with Supervisor
- Status meetings (until replaced by task board)
- Working meetings
 Civic
- Ballard Greenways
- St Luke’s Urban Garden (TheSLUG)
- Ballard Urban Gardeners (BUG)
 Personal
- “Wolf meetings”
- Special projects (i.e. IRS audit, yearly taxes, weekend getaway)

11. Kanban board during Seattle Lean Coffee

12. Kanban for Weekly “Wolf Meetings” & Special Tax Project

13. Kanban board for Michael - Old

14. Kanban board for Michael - New

15. Coming from Wolf Enterprises Kanban R&D…
• Tablet form-factor UI
• Easy upload/download
• Light weight
• Portable
• Front & back lit
• Solar, AC, DC, Candle, &c
• 0% opacity
• Landscape & Portrait
• Doubles as book holder and
paper weight

16. …trend setting
• Double sided
• Ambidextrous

17. … multiple after-market styli
• Color
• Width
• Line pattern
• Shapes
• Very extensible

18. … object manipulation
• Tactile
• Digital
• Intuitive
• Extensible

19. Kanban board in ScrumMaster class

20. Event Planning Board at Kaizen Camp

21.  Make an Invitation
TRIZ - What can we do to reliably get the worst result
(from LS) imaginable?
- How does this compare with current procedures?
- What can we stop doing?
 Distribute Participation
- <As in 1-2-4-All>
 Configure Groups
- <As in 1-2-4-All>
 Arrange Space
- <As in 1-2-4-All>
 Sequence & Allocate Time
- <As in 1-2-4-All>

22.  “A pattern language for bringing life to meetings and other gatherings”
GW - Group Works  3 years of design, writing, and layout from “core team”
 Each of 91 Cards in 9 Categories has:
Pattern Card Deck - Title
- Image
- Heart
- Related cards
- Category glyph
 First printing 4Q2011
 “Steward Circle” is getting wisdom out to users, and also listening to
how they’re being used
 Common uses
- Pre-event planning & Post-event evaluation
- Individual & Team skill development
- Breaking out of a fixed mindset
 Core team: Tree Bressen, Dave Pollard, Sue Woehrlin
 Needs “stewards” and early adopters. (Contact me!)

23. Group Works Card Deck Categories
 Intent - Serving and attending to the larger purpose for the gathering and how it is manifested, including addressing its longer term
meaning and consequence. Why are we here, what’s our shared passion, and what are we aiming to accomplish.
 Context - Understanding and working with the broader context and circumstances both in place and in culture.
 Relationship - Creating and maintaining quality connection with each other, honouring our full selves, and recognizing power
relations. Includes being authentic and sometimes foregrounding emotional needs in the moment rather than task.
 Flow - Covers rhythm, energy, and pacing. When we do what and for how long. Things to pay attention to both in anticipating the event
and in responding to circumstances in the moment, to support movement along the intended trajectory toward the desired outcome.
 Creativity - Using multiple intelligences and a variety of modes to open up creative possibilities.
 Perspective - Noticing and helping the group more openly and thoughtfully explore different ways of seeing an issue. Watching,
understanding, and appreciating divergent viewpoints, ideas, values and opinions. The key is in how you look at something.
 Modeling - The essential skills and responsibilities for both facilitator and participants, to demonstrate good group practice and ensure
the process goes well. Includes monitoring, nurturing and mentoring the group, enabling their effective personal and collective self-
management.
 Inquiry & Synthesis - Discovering coherence and moving toward convergence. From gathering information to exploring knowledge
to arriving at understanding, shared meaning, consensus, or clear outcomes.
 Faith - Trusting and accepting what happens in a spirit of letting go and letting come. The mystery, synergy, and ineffable, complex magic
of emergence. You can invite it, but you can’t control it. Felt as a deep sense of connection not only to those assembled and to the work’s
purpose but to the larger universe as well.

24. Group Works Card Deck
 The Group Works card deck is designed to support your process
as a group convenor, planner, facilitator, or participant. The people
who developed this deck spent several years pooling our
knowledge of the best group events we had ever witnessed. We
looked at meetings, conferences, retreats, town halls, and other
sessions that give organizations life, solve a longstanding dilemma,
get stuck relationships flowing, result in clear decisions with wide
support, and make a lasting difference. We also looked at routine,
well-run meetings that simply bring people together and get lots of
stuff done.
 The deck consists of 91 full-colour 3.5" x 5.5" cards (plus a few
blanks to add your own patterns), a five-panel explanatory insert,
and an accompanying booklet explaining the purpose and history of
the project and suggesting uses for the cards in group process
work.

25. What you get…
 91 Full color cards
 … a few blank cards
 A 5-panel “key” to categories
 A history and

26. The whole deck

27.  Situation
Case Study - Regular meeting felt like it was getting in a rut. Power
(from GW) dynamics of de-facto leader seemed to be excluding
perspectives. I saw opportunity for group as training lab to
gain experience at facilitating, not merely content.
 Experiments
- Facilitate input from quieter participants
- Balance the interruption dynamic
- One-on-one

28. Group Work Cards (examples for case study)

29.  Jim & Michelle McCarthy
CP –  Refined knowledge through 10+ years in XXX lab
 11 Commitments
Core Protocols 1. I commit to engage when present.
2. I will seek to perceive more than I seek to be perceived.
3. I will use teams, especially when undertaking difficult tasks.
…
11. I will never do anything dumb on purpose.
 11 Core Protocols (Structured Conversations)
1 & 2. Pass (Unpass)
3. Check In
4. Check Out
5. Ask For Help
6. Protocol Check
7. Intention Check
8. Decider
9. Resolution
10. Personal Alignment
11. Investigate
 Jim & Michelle McCarthy

30.  Perfectee:
Perfection Game - Presents an object for perfection
 Perfector:
(from CP) - “On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this object X based on how much value I can
add.”
- “What I liked about the performance of object X was…”
•Integrates best ideas
- “To make it a 10, you would have to do yada, yada, yada”.
•Improves some object

31. Get Involved…
 Liberating Structures
- Immersion Workshop Series in Seattle
- #1 (Everyday Solutions) – (Redux) October 17
- #2 (Big Projects) – October 18
- #3 (Strategy & Design) & #4 (Transforming Movements) -- TBD
 Group Works
 Personal Kanban
- Periodic seminars around Seattle, U.S., and Mundo
 The Core Protocols
- Online discussion group via FaceBook
 NCDD (National Council for Dialogue & Deliberation)
- National gathering – Seattle – Oct 12-14
- Pre event – Mapping Methods with the Group Works Cards

32. Caveat
 “Talking abut Music is like dancing about Architecture.”
-- Elvis Costello
 That is, the “knowing” is in the “doing”.
 Learn by doing…
- … playing
- … because “All mammals learn by playing!”

33. Closing
 1-2-4-All
- What is your biggest take away?
- What is left unanswered?
- Go learn. Go play!

34. About…
LS - Liberating Structures
LiberatingStructures.com
Oct 17,18 – Immersion Workshop
Series in Seattle
GW - Group Works Card Deck
GroupWorksDeck.org
Michael R. Wolf
MichaelRWolf@att.net
206-679-7941
@LearningWolf PK - Personal Kanban
-- All Mammals Learn by Playing PersonalKanban.com

35. LOL Cats!
We don’t need no stinkin’ LOL cats. Here’s a cutie Wolf!