This week is about a misleading agile principle in 2023, meetings with 10+ participants, and sharing learnings.

Let's go!

– Arthur

Three Workshop Tips

Workshops with 10 or more participants can be challenging. There are too many lines of communication to have rich conversations.

Here are 3 ways creative breakout techniques to groups to keep groups engaged and get the best outcomes:👇

​1: Skill-based Grouping

Group participants based on their skills or expertise, so each group has a balance of abilities and knowledge levels, promoting mutual learning and collaboration.

Pro tip: Let groups self-organise, by giving them clear instructions, opening the breakout rooms and setting a 3-minute timer.

Variations:

• Cross-functional Groups: Limit one role per group, so that you have a mix of skills (e.g. developer, designer, product manager).
• Experience Level Groups: Instruct people to find others from the same experience level (or vice versa).

​2: Hybrid Breakouts

In a hybrid setting (some people in-person and others online), ensure that each breakout group has a mix of remote and on-site participants to balance perspectives and input.

Pro tip: Successful hybrid workshops have one "multiplayer tool" where everyone can participate at the same time. My tool of choice is Miro (but alternatives like Figjam, Mural, or even Google Docs can work as well).

​3: Leadership Rotation

Rotate the leadership of each breakout group to give everyone a chance to lead and foster diverse discussions and approaches to problem-solving.

These three breakout techniques encourage dynamic discussions, foster collaboration, and generate various perspectives and ideas during your workshops.

Two Async Examples

A misleading agile principle in 2023:

"The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation."

The agile manifesto was published in 2001. Async communication has evolved in those 20+ years.

Remember sending files back and forth like "Copy_of_copyFINALfilenameACTUALFINAL.doc"?

Back then, face-to-face was faster because we lacked proper collaboration tools. But tools like Miro, Notion, Twist, and Google Docs enabled teams to work async-first.

Working async-first boosts productivity and improves communication because it makes work transparent.

Transparency is a key pillar of successfully working agile.

Here are two ways to increase transparency and work async-first with your team:

1: Have an up-to-date Team Knowledge Base

Your Team Knowledge Base is your single-source-of-truth which enables your team to work async-first.

With a Team Knowledge Base you can:

✅ Store all team knowledge.
✅ Capture best practices.
✅ Increase team productivity.
✅ On-board new team members faster.

2: Only do work from your Team Task List

Your Team Task List is your single-source-of-truth that connects your daily work with your teams' goals and vision.

With a Team Task List you:

✅ See all work in progress.
✅ Always know what's next.
✅ Proactively solve bottlenecks.
✅ Understand past decisions made.

One Question For Your Team

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed today's issue, please reply (it helps with deliverability). If you didn't, you can unsubscribe via the link👇.

See you next Wednesday — Arthur​