Curiosity over Judgment

Curiosity over Judgement.  It’s the first thing I draw and discuss when introducing agile to a new team or team member.  I picked this up from the very personable  Tim Ottinger at Agile Iowa 2018 (click here to find his presentation) and it really resonates with people.

In agile, we ask our teams to think differently, act differently, and interact differently.  We are setting ourselves up to be judgmental as we navigate a totally new work context.  So why not be curious on why we feel judgmental, why someone is acting a certain way, why the team is doing something in a certain way.  For me personally, I’ve learned that I get judgmental when I’m frustrated when someone doesn’t behave or achieve as I expect they should.  Being curious forces me to take some time and space to reflect.  When I do that (surprise!) I typically find that the situation is different than I knew in the moment of my frustration.  Curiosity allows me to investigate before sharing my often incorrect insights. 

Curiosity over judgement sounds so basic, like something we should have learned in grade school.  And maybe it is, it’s been a long time since grade school for me.  Yet I see people drawing this figure on their notepads in meetings, or putting it on a whiteboard before a difficult discussion. 

Thanks, Agile Otter, for helping me and my teams to be agile.