Questionable Questions
Questions are powerful.
Presidential historians believe that the questions presidents ask and the way they ask those questions have huge ramifications. Questions asked and not asked influence policy initiatives, invasions, and trips to the moon.
Likewise, success or failure hangs on the questions managers and technical people ask when planning releases, making decisions, considering strategy alternatives or looking for improvements. Yet we don’t often stop to consider the questions we ask. Every question contains assumptions and while the question opens one avenue of inquiry, it closes others. In this session, we’ll consider the questions we do ask, the questions we don’t ask, the questions we could ask. We’ll look at what the questions people ask us reveal assumptions, who gets to ask questions, questions that mislead, and when its best not to ask questions, but rather to go and see.
In this session, we’ll consider the questions we do ask, the questions we don’t ask, the questions we could ask. We’ll look at what the questions people ask us reveal assumptions, who gets to ask questions, questions that mislead, and when its best not to ask questions, but rather to go and see.
About Esther Derby
Esther works with individuals, teams, and managers to improve their ability to deliver valuable software. Esther is recognized as a leader in the human-side of software development, including management, systems-thinking, organizational change, collaboration, team building, facilitation and retrospectives.
She’s been a programmer, system manager, manager and internal consultant. Since 1997, she’s run her own consulting firm, esther derby associates, inc., in Minneapolis, MN. Her clients include small niche firms, mid-size companies and Fortune 500 companies. She’s worked in financial services, insurance, health care and manufacturing as well as in product and software-as-a-service companies.
Esther is the author of over 100 articles, and co-author of Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great and Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management. She’s written widely on the topic of management, leadership, collaboration and change as they relate to companies adopting (or considering) Agile Methods, including Three Pillars of Executive Support for Agile Adoption (Agile Journal), Achieving Agility: Means to an End or End in Itself? (insights), and What’s a Manager to Do? (Better Software Magazine).
Esther is a sought after teacher and speaker. She’s given talks and workshops in the US, Europe, China, India, and New Zealand.
She’s a founder of the AYE Conference, and is serving her second term as a member of the Board of Directors for the Agile Alliance. She also was one of the three original founders of the Scrum Alliance.
Esther has an MA in Organizational Leadership and a certificate in Human System Dynamics.
Esther can be reached at (612) 724-8114, or by email.
Take a look at www.estherderby.com for more of Esther’s writing, or follow her on Twitter @estherderby
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