Listen,
every company has challenges.
Last week a client phoned me.
‘Cordny, I want to make some changes in my software development lifecycle, but I do not get the people aligned.’
‘Why not?’ I ask him.
‘Busy, busy and they hate long meetings.’
‘Oh, I recognize that. Invite the people you want for an afternoonmeeting, 1 hour tops, and say it is important for the fututure of the company. I will join too.’
The meeting was scheduled.
The meeting started and I enter the room. People look at me.
‘Who is this bloke?’
My client starts to tell his story, but does not mention me. He wants to modernize the software development, but thinks there is no unity.
Immediately a developer reacts: ‘We need state of the art tooling.’
A scrum master reacts: ‘No, we need to look at the process.’
A discussion erupts, people are talking all at once. It is a mess.
I stand up and walk to the whiteboard and write on it:
LISTEN!!!
Everybody stops talking.
I introduce myself, Cordny from TestingSaaS, and explain my client’s issue.
Then I ask everybody to tell their story in 5 minutes max. The rest should listen and keep their mouth shut. During the storytelling I write down some keywords I hear.
After 30 minutes everybody had their talk. I return to the whiteboard and write the keywords on it.
Everyone pays attention. Not only to me and the whiteboard. No, also to each other.
The next step is connecting the keywords. Promptly action points are discussed in a proper manner without anyone interfering or raising their voice.
Now they listen to each other.
My client is happy. I am happy.