Workshops that I co-facilitated at XP2005

On Tuesday I co-facilitated two workshops, exploring Informative workspaces with Rachel Davies in the morning, and Teamwork and team working with Dave Hoover in the afternoon.
The morning session was well attended and generated a number of anecdotes about the elements of an informative workspace, from which some themes emerged (see photo on left). Sadly, the subgroups that explored a few of these themes expressed concern about how others in the organisation might misinterpret or misrepresent an informative workspace. Perhaps this is a recognition that, as Kent Beck said, if your organization punishes honest communications and you start to communicate honestly, you'll be destroyed. (The workshop also uncovered other - more uplifting! - aspects of informative workspaces that I hope will be summarised more formally in the future.) Thank you Rachel for inviting me to join your session - it was great to be a part of it.
The afternoon session was less well attended, which surprised me as "people and teams" seemed to be a fairly popular topic of conversation in the bar. (Note to self: more flagrant self-promotion next time!) The workshop content and approach altered a fair amount between the time of the submission process and my arrival in Sheffield, reflecting my own recent professional wanderings via AYE, much introspection and some meditation, a very challenging coaching engagement, and an exploration of the social constructionism themes underlying both narrative therapy and appreciative inquiry. The end result was a workshop focussed mainly on the ways that team dynamics can be understood through the thought processes of the team members themselves. (If you're interested then the handouts from the workshop are available online.) Thanks to those who expressed some interest in what was discussed after the workshop, and I hope that attending helps you in your work teams.
All in all it was a busy day, and I was glad that I had prepared for it by making the time for a refreshing early morning run along the nearby gritstone edge at Burbage. If you attended either of the sessions and have some feedback on your experience, then I'd love to hear it.