In speaking about better ways of thinking and problem-solving, Linda has introduced Jonathan Haidt's model for the brain. He proposes that the rational, conscious mind is like the rider of an elephant (the emotional, unconscious mind) who directs the animal to follow a path. In Fearless Change, the pattern Easier Path recommends making life easier to encourage reluctant individuals to adopt a new idea. Linda suggests that in conversations with others who see the world differently, we "talk to the elephant" instead of the "rider." That is, don't use logic or facts, but appeal to the emotional brain of the listener as well as making the path more attractive. There is always the question: What's the best way to talk to the elephant? This presentation will provide some answers. Linda will present the best elephant-speak and outline suggestions for providing an Easier Path.

Cognitive scientists tell us that we are more productive and happier when our behavior matches our brain’s hardwiring—when what we do and why we do it matches the way we have evolved to survive over tens of thousands of years. One problematic behavior humans have is that we are hardwired to instantly decide who we trust. We generally aren't aware of these decisions—it just happens. Linda explains that this hardwired “trust evaluation” can get in the way of working well with others. Pairing, the daily stand-up, and close communication with the customer and others outside the team go a long way to overcome our instant evaluation of others. As Linda helps you gain a better understanding of this mechanism in your behavior and what agile processes can do to help, you are more likely to build better interpersonal relationships and create successful products.

Cognitive scientists tell us that we are more productive and happier when our behavior matches our brain’s hardwiring—when what we do and why we do it matches the way we have evolved to survive over tens of thousands of years. One problematic behavior humans have is that we are hardwired to instantly decide who we trust. We generally aren't aware of these decisions—it just happens. Linda explains that this hardwired “trust evaluation” can get in the way of working well with others. Pairing, the daily stand-up, and close communication with the customer and others outside the team go a long way to overcome our instant evaluation of others. As Linda helps you gain a better understanding of this mechanism in your behavior and what agile processes can do to help, you are more likely to build better interpersonal relationships and create successful products.

Cognitive scientists tell us that we are more productive and happier when our behavior matches our brain’s hardwiring—when what we do and why we do it matches the way we have evolved to survive over tens of thousands of years. One problematic behavior humans have is that we are hardwired to instantly decide who we trust. We generally aren't aware of these decisions—it just happens. Linda explains that this hardwired “trust evaluation” can get in the way of working well with others. Pairing, the daily stand-up, and close communication with the customer and others outside the team go a long way to overcome our instant evaluation of others. As Linda helps you gain a better understanding of this mechanism in your behavior and what agile processes can do to help, you are more likely to build better interpersonal relationships and create successful products.

Cognitive scientists tell us that we are more productive and happier when our behavior matches our brain’s hardwiring—when what we do and why we do it matches the way we have evolved to survive over tens of thousands of years. One problematic behavior humans have is that we are hardwired to instantly decide who we trust. We generally aren't aware of these decisions—it just happens. Linda explains that this hardwired “trust evaluation” can get in the way of working well with others. Pairing, the daily stand-up, and close communication with the customer and others outside the team go a long way to overcome our instant evaluation of others. As Linda helps you gain a better understanding of this mechanism in your behavior and what agile processes can do to help, you are more likely to build better interpersonal relationships and create successful products.

It’s surprising how little of the research around incentives has made it into practice. There’s widespread belief that the debate is about carrots vs. sticks or if it’s carrots or sticks, what kind of carrots or sticks. It’s also surprising how the understanding of this fundamental topic eludes many well-respected, experienced practitioners and coaches. There’s considerable research that suggests what incentives work (and don't work) for individuals and teams. Linda will bring in the latest from cognitive neuroscience and help those of us who care about development teams to learn what works best.

You have great ideas. You're smart. The people in your organization are smart. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc -- the rest is easy -- simply make a transition plan and transparently explain the benefits. These and other organizational change myths will be tackled by Linda's talk about patterns for introducing new ideas. She will provide some useful tips for helping you start on Monday morning to grow, step by step, any innovation.

You’ve tried and tried to convince people of your position. You’ve laid out your logical arguments on impressive PowerPoint slides—but you are still not able to sway them. Cognitive scientists understand that the approach you are taking is rarely successful. Often you must speak to others’ subconscious motivators rather than their rational, analytic side. Linda Rising shares influence strategies that you can use to more effectively convince others to see things your way. These strategies take advantage of hardwired traits: “liking”—we like people who are like us; “reciprocity”—we repay in kind; “social proof”—we follow the lead of others similar to us; “consistency”—we align ourselves with our previous commitments; “authority”—we defer to authority figures; and “scarcity”—we want more of something when there is less to be had. Learn how to build on these traits as a way of bringing others to your side. Use this valuable toolkit in addition to the logical left-brain techniques on which we depend.

I have given several presentations about the use of stories instead of science in our industry, so I thought I should try to be more helpful and give a session on experiments. No, this is not too rigorous! I am not going to talk about statistics! I am going to talk about cheap, easy experiments, what to do, what to be aware of, including our cognitive biases. I share some of my experiences with teams who are really doing it. My goal is to encourage everyone to be a bit more methodical in decision-making and to replace "that won't work" with "how can we test it." I hope that participants will walk out the door with a plan in hand for one or more experiments to run in their workplace. I also hope to improve the scientific vocabulary a bit and describe some cognitive biases that get in the way of decision-making.

Project Retrospectives are an important part of any software development process. The Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto state that, "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly." How can this be done? By taking the time to reflect and learn and proactively determine what should be done differently in the next iteration, release, or project. Linda's presentation will introduce techniques for project retrospectives, whether they are agile or not. The techniques help teams discover what they’re doing well so that successful practices can continue and identify what should be done differently to improve performance. Retrospectives are not finger pointing or blaming sessions, but rather a highly effective process in which teams reflect on the past to become more productive in the future. Linda will share her experiences with leading retrospectives of several kinds for dozens of projects—successful and unsuccessful, small and large, in academia and industry. Her lessons learned can be applied to any project to enable teams and organizations to become learning organizations.

Smart people are logical and objective. They (we) look at the evidence to help make the best possible decisions. We are not influenced by hype or emotion and as a result our behavior reflects the best the world has to offer. Cognitive science now tells us that these beliefs about ourselves and others (especially scientists) are wrong. All of us tend to make decisions based on intuition or emotion and then justify those decisions later with logic, a process called rationalization. The most influential element in our environment is not scientific evidence but stories. We love stories. Research shows that we are more likely to buy a product or embrace a process because of a friend, colleague, or relative and ignore evidence that might go against that decision. Are these bad things? Is there anything we can do about it? We have a long history of being influenced by stories and it has helped us survive. Linda suggests that the real answer is we need both approaches -- stories and emotion + evidence and logic. Both approaches have flaws and benefits. Linda will share examples and tell her own stories to try to convince you and try to help us do a better job of making decisions.