Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture

"This is an important book. I am glad that Jeffrey and Squirrel have written it, and I look forward to having a stack to 'lend' (read: give) out." --Alistair Cockburn, coauthor of the Agile Manifesto Today, software organizations are transforming the way work gets done through practices like Agile, Lean, and DevOps. But as commonly implemented as these methods are, many transformations still fail, largely because the organization misses a critical step: culture and how people communicate. Agile Conversations brings an updated, practical, step-by-step guide to using the power of conversation to build effective, high-performing teams to achieve truly Agile results. To advance your organization's transformation, learn how to have productive conversations that overcome cognitive bias and fear. Consultants Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick show readers how to utilize the Five Conversations to help teams build trust, alleviate fear, answer the "whys," define commitments, and hold everyone accountable. These five conversations give teams everything they need to reach peak performance, and they are exactly what's missing from too many teams today. Stop focusing just on processes and practices that leave your organization stuck with culture-less rituals. Instead, unleash the unique human power of conversation. "Learn to ask the hard questions, leave your bias at the door, and improve your own communication with this practical guide." --Patrick Debois, coauthor of The DevOps Handbook