2022 Re-read Saturday Recap

Over t he years we have explored a wide range of books on Saturdays. Sometimes our re-reads reflect the real world outside software development. For example, in 2018 we re-read Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, the story of Theranos and Elizabeth Anne Holmes. This year Ms. Holmes went to prison. While I don’t expect prison sentences for the subjects in the books we read in 2022, I expect the knowledge in the books we tackled to have a broader impact on the world. In the past year, we have re-read 3.4 books – 40% is the progress on the current book according to Kindle.

This year’s roster of books began with Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick. The book reinforces that people are the core of knowledge work. Knowing how to have the right conversations is more than just a good idea, it is a path to delivering value.

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction –

Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory –

Week 3: Improving Your Conversations –

Week 4: The Trust Conversation –

Week 5 The Fear Conversation (Part 1) –

Week 6 The Fear Conversation (Part 2) –

Week 7 The Why Conversation (Part 1) –

Week 8 The Why Conversation (Part 2) –

Week 9 The Commitment Conversation –

Week 10 The Accountability Conversation –

Week 11 Conclusion and More –

The second book of 2022 that we re-read was one of my all-time favorites, Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work by Jim Benson. Over my career in helping, teams and organizations change it has become clear to me that the control of work entry is a huge determinant of whether anything other than change at a glacial to takes root (note, change at a glacial pace works well in geology but rarely is effective in the workplace). Work entry and WIP are intertwined. I am on a crusade to fix work entry; Why Limit WIP provides ammunition for that battle.

The entries in the re-read are:

Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics –

Week 2: Processing and Memory –

Week 3: Completion –

Week 4: Multitasking –

Week 5: Context Switching –

Week 6: Creating An Economy –

Week 7: Healthy Constraints –

Week 8: Focus –

Week 9: Awareness –

Week 10: Communication –

Week 11: Learning –

Week 12: Epilogue and Final Notes –

The third book began our coaching arc with the classic Coaching Agile Teams. The book is a tale of two themes. The first is a book of philosophy and the second is a how-to book full of techniques. The full value of this book requires two readings. The first time I read the book, I took the how-to path. This time the philosophies of agile coaching were more important to me than any individual technique. If you are or are ever going to be a coach this should be the first book you read.

The entries in the re-read are:

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction –

Week 2: Will I Be A Good Coach –

Week 3: Expect High Performance –

Week 4: Master Yourself –

Week 5: Let Your Style Change –

Week 6: Coach as Coach-Mentor –

Week 7: Coach as Facilitator –

Week 8: Coach As Teacher –

Week 9: Coach As Problem Solver –

Week 10: Coach As Conflict Navigator –

Week 11: Coach As Collaboration Conductor –

Week 12: Agile Coach Failure, Recovery, and Success Modes –

Week 13: When Will I Get There? and It’s Your Journey –

Week 14: Final Thoughts –

We close 2022 in the middle of re-reading Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching: The Journey from Beginner to Mastery and Beyond (Amazon Associate Link – buy a copy or two and give them to friends). Bob Galen and his co-authors have crafted a book that is destined to be a classic in the agile coaching profession. The book establishes a model defining not only what an agile coach is but a path for growth.