AGILE CONVERSATIONS

I think of this highly practical and immediately applicable book as the lost instruction manual to the most powerful and effective Agile tool we don't even realize we have: Conversations. If you want to be successful with Agile, RTFM: Read This Fabulous Manual. -- Alberto Savoia, Google First Director of Engineering and Author of The Right It

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 and Creator of the Heart of Agile

Agile Conversations provides much needed guidance on how to have the key discussions that form the foundation for strong and resilient working relationships, as well as a toolbox full of techniques for troubleshooting when conversations go awry. Full of practical, real-world examples, this book is a must read for anyone who has ever been frustrated or puzzled by interactions at work. -- Elizabeth Hendrickson, Technology Executive and Author of Explore It!

The number of conversations at a party doesn't make it a better party; the quality of the conversations does. Many books have been written about improving process and product in companies. I'm so glad this book finally addresses the people aspect: Learn to ask the hard questions, leave your bias at the door, and improve your own communication with this practical guide. If it's hard, do it more often! -- Patrick Debois, Founder of DevOpsDays

This book provides an engineer's approach to monitoring, troubleshooting and debugging conversations. Squirrel and Jeffrey always come across as incredibly mindful listeners and thoughtful discussion partners, and now I know why. Heuristics such as the Question Fraction are amazing―at the same time simple and memorable and incredibly insightful. Read this book to turn your communication skills into superpowers. -- Gojko Adzic, Partner at Neuri Consulting

If you're looking for a practical framework and techniques that will help fix broken team communication and dysfunctional culture, then you should read Agile Conversations. Going beyond simple diagnosis, this handbook walks you through the Five Conversations you need to embrace in order to transform a broken culture into one that's healthy and high-performing. -- Paul Joyce, Founder and CEO, Geckoboard

Squirrel and Jeffrey's keen writing and battle-tested techniques make this book a must-read for modern engineering leaders looking to thrive amid the explosion of complexity that we all face. -- Chris Clearfield, Co-Author of Meltdown

This is a very wise and yet readable book. The authors have hit the nail on the head by focusing on better conversations as the way to translate theory into organizational improvement. Their conversational examples really bring their prescriptions to life. They are clearly practitioners, but with a thorough grounding in theory as well. -- Rich Koppel, Co-Founder and CEO of TIM Group

It's one of the industry's dirty little secrets that most of our ‘technology' problems are actually people problems. In Agile Conversations, Jeffrey and Squirrel assert that solving these problems is made possible by having better conversations, presenting their advice in a manner which fellow technologists will find reassuringly structured and categorized. -- Jon Topper, Founder & CEO, The Scale Factory

In Agile Conversations, Jeffrey and Squirrel pinpoint one of the key tenets of the Agile mindset, which is that constructive, structured, and in-depth communication is the key to creating a productive, happy work environment. Not only do they help expose this truth, they also hand you a suite of tools and processes to tangibly improve the conversations you have. Vital reading for anyone in a leadership role or interested in improving their work culture in general. -- Andy Skipper, Chief Coach at CTO Craft