IT Revolution Announces New Book, 'Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture'
Get your digital transformation on track and turn communication skills into superpowers by learning how to have the Five Key Conversations--building trust, mitigating fear, building a compelling "why," making commitments, and being accountable
PORTLAND, Ore., May 12, 2020 /CNW/ -- IT Revolution, the industry leader for advancing DevOps, today announced the availability of its newest book, Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture. Authored by two internationally recognized software development leaders, Agile Conversations unveils a step-by-step guide for having crucial discussions about the five key characteristics that all high-performing teams share—not just software teams but all human teams.
Paperback, eBook and Audio editions of Agile Conversations are now available for purchase at (https://itrevolution.com/agile-conversations).
In the book's two parts, readers first see how people-centred software methods have evolved and learn techniques to improve their conversations, and then go in-depth with step-by-step techniques for having constructive conversations on five vital topics: Trust, Fear, Why, Commitment, and Accountability. By learning how to unleash the unique human power of conversation, organizations adopting practices like Agile, Lean, and DevOps can build effective, high-performing teams and not only diagnose cultural problems but also cure them.
"Many books can help the reader identify cultural problems associated with how work gets done in a digital transformation journey, but Agile Conversations goes beyond to actually help you address these challenges," said Gene Kim, founder of IT Revolution, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Unicorn Project, and co-author of The Phoenix Project, The DevOps Handbook and Accelerate. "Transforming organizational culture by focusing on the way people communicate and enabling an environment for those conversations to occur provides the needed structure for relationships and workflow to happen dynamically."
"A conversation is more than just talking; it is a skilled activity," said Douglas Squirrel, co-author of Agile Conversations. "With our step-by-step guide, executives and other leaders can begin a conversational transformation and build the foundation for true changes."
"Nothing is more frustrating to an engineer, product owner, Scrum Master, sysadmin, tester, or any other "doer" than to buy into a transformation journey, to get excited about real change, only to have it end as a new set of buzzwords but the same old dynamics," said Jeffrey Fredrick, co-author of Agile Conversations. "The good news is that teams can create real change by having the right conversations. It is a more demanding road, but it something anyone can learn if they put in the effort—we've seen it happen and you can too."
To download a book excerpt, listen to an audiobook excerpt or to download the audiobook companion of Agile Conversations, visit: (https://itrevolution.com/agile-conversations).
About the Authors
Douglas Squirrel has been coding for 40 years and has led software teams for 20. He uses the power of conversations to create dramatic productivity gains in technology organizations of all sizes. Squirrel's experience includes growing software teams as a CTO in startups from fintech to e-commerce; consulting on product improvement at over 60 organizations in the UK, US, and Europe; and coaching a wide variety of leaders in improving their conversations, aligning to business goals, and creating productive conflict. He lives in Frogholt, England, in a timber-framed cottage built in the year 1450.
Jeffrey Fredrick is an internationally recognized expert in software development with over 25 years' experience covering both sides of the business/technology divide. His experience includes roles as Vice President of Product Management, Vice President of Engineering, and Chief Evangelist. He has also worked as an independent consultant on topics including corporate strategy, product management, marketing, and interaction design. Jeffrey is based in London and is currently Managing Director of TIM, an Acuris Company. He also runs the London Organisational Learning Meetup and is a CTO mentor through CTO Craft.
Additional Book Resources at (https://itrevolution.com/agile-conversations):
- Author headshots
- Book cover art
- "Conversational Transformations" eBook and video presentation
- Praise quotes from Alberto Savoia, Google's First Director of Engineering and Author of The Right It; Elisabeth Hendrickson, Technology Executive and Author of Explore It!; Patrick Debois, Founder of DevOpsDays; and Gojko Adzic, Partner at Neuri Consulting.
About IT Revolution
IT Revolution (https://itrevolution.com/) helps technology leaders achieve their goals through publishing, events, and research. Our goal is to elevate the state of technology work, quantify the economic and human costs associated with suboptimal IT performance, and to improve the lives of technology professionals.
Contact:
Jeremy Douglas
Catapult PR-IR
303-581-7760, ext. 16
[email protected]
SOURCE IT Revolution
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