Let them strategy and the circle of control.

The Power of the “Let Them” Strategy: from Mel Robbins
When it comes to planning and productivity, I love the “Let Them” approach. This strategy involves recognizing that there are certain things beyond your control and learning to let go of them. By focusing your energy and attention on the things you can control, you can effectively manage your time and resources. The “Let Them” strategy allows you to redirect your efforts towards actionable tasks and avoid getting overwhelmed by external factors. It empowers you to prioritize your energy on tasks that you can influence and make a difference in, ultimately leading to increased productivity and a sense of accomplishment.

The Circle of Control:
The concept of the Circle of Control is a valuable framework for teenagers with ADHD to understand and apply in their planning endeavors. The Circle of Control represents the idea that there are things within your control (such as your actions, thoughts, and reactions) and things outside of your control (such as other people’s behavior or unexpected events). By focusing your attention and efforts on the things within your circle of control, you can optimize your planning and productivity. Recognizing and accepting what is outside of your control helps you avoid wasting valuable time and energy on things you cannot change.

Shift your focus to the elements within your control, to make proactive choices and effectively plan your tasks and responsibilities.

A template for monthly or quarterly personal reviews.

Engaging in regular personal reviews and reflections, whether on a monthly or quarterly basis, offers several notable benefits.

• Firstly, it provides an opportunity for self-awareness and introspection, allowing individuals to assess their progress, achievements, and areas for improvement. By reflecting on past experiences, one can gain valuable insights, identify patterns, and make more informed decisions going forward.
• Secondly, personal reviews foster a sense of accountability and goal alignment. They enable individuals to evaluate their objectives, determine if they are on track, and make necessary adjustments to ensure they stay focused and motivated.
• Additionally, regular reflections enhance personal growth and development by encouraging individuals to recognize their strengths, acknowledge weaknesses, and take proactive steps towards self-improvement. Overall, these reviews serve as a powerful tool for continuous learning, self-discovery, and achieving personal and professional success.

The following is a template that can be used to reflect on your past month or quarter and decide what you want to take into the next month or quarter. Being intentional with how you are going to plan your future time to make the most of the things that have been working for you and what you want to run experiments on.

3 strategies when your overwhelmed.

Based on Mel Robbins Podcast teachings.

Self Mastery – Influence

Continuing on from creating connection in self mastery. We are now moving onto influence. As mentioned on Franklin Coveys website “Focus your energy and attention where it counts, on the things over which you have influence. As you focus on things within your Circle of Influence, it will expand. “

The first activity we did was to identify our influencing style. The link to the quiz is here. 

Then to map out our circle of concern and circle of influence. 

Then a reflection activity to reflect on how much you focus on things out of your control and influence and how you might let them go.

Before tying it back to our stakeholders and their concerns and influence and how we can help with that. This allows us to gain clarity and awareness around their concerns and also to build connection. 

By bringing awareness, creating visibility, creating connection.   It works with the work in teams and it works with ourselves.  Become aware, pick something small to work on, make some changes, see what happened and start again. 

Scrum Master Tips: – coaching plan for a new PO

Coaching Plan for a New Product Owner (PO) with No Prior Experience:

Action Steps:

1. Establish a Strong Foundation: a. Introduction to Agile and Scrum: Provide a comprehensive overview of Agile principles and Scrum framework, explaining their relevance and benefits to the PO role. b. Role Definition: Clearly define the responsibilities and expectations of the PO role within the Scrum team, emphasizing the need for collaboration and continuous communication with the team. c. Backlog Management Training: Conduct a training session on backlog management, covering the concepts of user stories, acceptance criteria, prioritization techniques, and effective backlog grooming.
2. Collaborative Backlog Refinement: a. Shadowing: Encourage the PO to shadow experienced product owners during backlog refinement sessions to observe and learn best practices in action. b. Practical Exercises: Provide hands-on exercises to help the PO practice creating and refining user stories, estimating effort, and prioritizing backlog items. c. Feedback and Coaching: Regularly review the PO’s backlog refinement work and provide constructive feedback, focusing on areas for improvement and highlighting strengths.
3. Effective Stakeholder Engagement: a. Stakeholder Analysis: Guide the PO in identifying key stakeholders and understanding their needs, expectations, and influence on the product. b. Communication Strategies: Help the PO develop effective communication strategies to engage stakeholders, gather feedback, and align product vision. c. Prioritization Techniques: Introduce various prioritization techniques, such as MoSCoW, Kano model, or value-based prioritization, and coach the PO in applying them to manage stakeholder expectations.
4. Continuous Improvement: a. Retrospectives: Facilitate regular retrospectives to encourage the PO to reflect on their own performance, identify areas for improvement, and find solutions to challenges encountered. b. Community of Practice: Encourage the PO to join relevant communities of practice or professional networks to learn from experienced POs and share experiences. c. Ongoing Support: Provide ongoing support and coaching to the PO, offering guidance and addressing any questions or concerns that arise during their journey.

High Importance Focus Areas:

1. Vision and Prioritization: Emphasize the importance of a clear product vision and help the PO develop skills to effectively prioritize backlog items based on value, stakeholder needs, and market trends.
2. Collaboration and Communication: Stress the significance of collaboration with the development team and stakeholders, fostering effective communication to align expectations, gather feedback, and ensure a shared understanding of the product vision.
3. Continuous Learning: Encourage the PO to adopt a growth mindset, promoting continuous learning and improvement through feedback, experimentation, and embracing new techniques or tools to enhance their backlog management skills.

Remember, adapt the coaching plan based on the PO’s learning style, pace, and specific needs and setup regular check-ins and feedback sessions to monitor progress and provide timely guidance.

Measuring the progress of the coaching plan:

1. Knowledge and Skill Acquisition:

• Assessments: Conduct periodic assessments to evaluate the PO’s understanding of Agile principles, Scrum framework, backlog management concepts, and prioritization techniques.
• Practical Assignments: Assign real or simulated backlog management tasks to gauge the PO’s ability to create user stories, prioritize backlog items, and refine requirements effectively.
• Observations: Observe the PO during backlog refinement sessions to assess their level of engagement, contribution, and application of learned skills.

1. Backlog Quality and Management:

• Backlog Reviews: Evaluate the quality of the PO’s backlog items, including clarity of user stories, well-defined acceptance criteria, and proper prioritization. this can be done using dashboards to report on items not meeting set criteria.
• Delivery and Velocity: Monitor the team’s delivery performance and velocity to determine if the PO’s backlog management practices are leading to improved productivity and efficiency.

1. Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Team Feedback: Collect feedback from the development team on the PO’s ability to communicate requirements, address questions, and provide clarifications during sprint planning and daily interactions.
• Stakeholder Satisfaction: Seek feedback from key stakeholders to assess their level of engagement, satisfaction with the PO’s communication, and alignment of product vision and priorities.

1. Retrospectives and Continuous Improvement:

• Retrospective Outcomes: Evaluate the outcomes of retrospectives to measure the PO’s active participation, identification of improvement areas, and implementation of action items.
• Self-Assessment: Encourage the PO to reflect on their own progress periodically and self-assess their growth in backlog management skills, stakeholder engagement, and collaboration.

1. Overall Team Performance and Product Success:

• Sprint Reviews: Assess the quality of the product increment delivered during sprint reviews, considering the PO’s influence on backlog refinement and alignment with stakeholder expectations.
• Team Feedback: Seek feedback from the development team and stakeholders on the PO’s overall performance, collaboration, and ability to support the team effectively.

Remember to set a timeframe for each of the progress point experiments and agree this with your PO ahead of time.

Attached is a PO 1:1 sheet for use.

Experiment canvas option.

Self Mastery – Non violent communication.

Continuing on from motivations and culture in self mastery. Lets dive into how we can create better connection. 

Marshall Rosenberg is credited with the creation of non violent communication method. You can see his videos here. As well as his book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships (Nonviolent Communication Guides). 

Non Violent communication is a way of communicating that creates connection and a win win outcome for all parties to get their needs met. 

Our first steps were to select the feeling words that resonated with each of us. 

and do the same for the needs words from the universal needs list. 

From here we completed the pause and listen activity durning the day. 

By bringing awareness, creating visibility, creating connection.   It works with the work in teams and it works with ourselves.  Become aware, pick something small to work on, make some changes, see what happened and start again. 

Scrum Master Tips: A metric defining retrospective.

Retrospectives are valuable meetings for teams to reflect on their processes, identify areas for improvement, and make decisions about tracking relevant metrics. Here’s an agenda for a retrospective focused on identifying and agreeing on the most relevant metrics for tracking delivery and improvement:

Retrospective Agenda: Identifying and Agreeing on Relevant Metrics

1. Welcome and Set the Stage (5 minutes)

• Welcome all participants and set a positive and inclusive tone with the prime directive.
• Remind everyone of the retrospective’s purpose: to identify and agree on relevant metrics for tracking delivery and improvement. – with a power start.
• Review the agenda and timebox for each activity.

1. Reflection on the Sprint (15 minutes)

• Ask each team member to share their individual reflections on the recently completed sprint.
• Encourage participants to discuss what went well, what challenges were faced, and any notable observations.
• Capture these reflections on a shared board

1. Brainstorming Relevant Metrics (15 minutes)

• Explain the importance of capturing metrics to track delivery and improvement. Tie it in to the metrics that the organisation and management require of the team.
• Facilitate a brainstorming session to generate a list of potential metrics. (pre include any that management dictate)
• Encourage participants to think about metrics related to productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, team collaboration, or any other aspect they deem important.
• Record all suggested metrics on board

1. Group and Discuss Metrics (20 minutes)

• Group similar metrics together to identify common themes or categories.
• Facilitate a discussion on each grouped metric to understand its significance and potential impact on the team’s delivery and improvement. (lean coffee style)
• Encourage participants to provide insights, share experiences, and express their opinions on the relevance and feasibility of each metric.

1. Prioritization and Selection (20 minutes)

• Conduct a dot-voting activity to identify the most important and relevant metrics from the list.
• Provide participants with 3-5 votes to distribute among the metrics based on their importance.
• Discuss the top-voted metrics, focusing on why they are considered significant and how they align with the team’s goals and objectives. (this step can be missed if short of time as discussed previously)
• Aim to reach a consensus on the final set of metrics to be tracked.

1. Action Planning (10 minutes)

• Discuss how the agreed-upon metrics will be tracked, recorded, and shared.
• Assign responsibilities for collecting and maintaining the metric data.
• Determine the frequency of reviewing and discussing the metrics in future retrospectives or team meetings.
• Document the action plan with specific tasks, timelines, and responsible team members – share on team site.

1. Wrap-up and Close (5 minutes)

• Summarize the key decisions made regarding the metrics to be tracked.
• Express appreciation for the team’s participation and contributions.
• Remind everyone of the next steps and any follow-up actions.

This retrospective will provide a structured and collaborative environment for the team to identify and agree on the most relevant metrics for tracking delivery and improvement.

Self mastery – Motivation and culture

Continuing on from being alignment to values in self mastery. Lets explore our motivations and the culture we want out of a workplace. Dan Pink Talks in his book Drive about the 3 factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction as being Purpose, Mastery and Autonomy. Management 3.0 has an activity called moving motivators which expands this out a bit more. 

Our first steps were to complete the moving motivators activity. this highlighted the top 3 motivators for each person. We mapped these to see any commonality across the team and then asked everyone to think about what they would change about their environment to support their motivations. What could happen that might make these motivators change position in their list? 

Motivation is the driving force of your actions, whatever you value the most in life will be what determines the decisions you make. If you are not sure what you value the most you may be making decisions that don’t serve you or the organisation. 

Next we added to this by completing the emotional culture deck activity. 

Highlighting where can each be more aware of ourselves and each other in how we like to be treated and experience work. I believe the importance of this activity is in understanding what will trigger you and what could trigger others and having empathy for yourself and other in those situations and seeking connection instead of blame and shame.

By bringing awareness, creating visibility, creating connection.   It works with the work in teams and it works with ourselves.  Become aware, pick something small to work on, make some changes, see what happened and start again.