SPaMCAST 663 - Prioritizing Badly, Freestyling User Stories, Essays and Conversations

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week we explore the impact of process (it really isn’t a bad word) problems in prioritization. Prioritization requires a steady hand and consistency. The process for prioritization should have more in common with a well-oiled basketball or futbol team than five-year-olds playing soccer in the schoolyard. How the moving parts work together is a process</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We also have a visit from Tony Timbol discussing freestyling user story formats in his To Tell A Story column.</span></p> <p><strong>Re-Read Saturday News </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week we focus on Chapter 6 of </span> <a href="https://amzn.to/3vEjr55"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Monotasking by Staffan Nöteber</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">g.  This chapter is titled “Simplify Cooperation.” Cooperation requires communication. Messing communication up is a problem, a problem that is the responsibility of every person involved in trying to communicate. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last week’s experiment focused on evaluating each task as I put it on my short list for operacy.  One of the outcomes was that I broke work into smaller chunks which were simpler and more practical. I also found parts of the work that I did not have to do in order to satisfy the goal of the task (the agile definition of simplicity).  I am contemplating how to build the idea of operacy into how I approach and talk about user stories. This week, I am going to focus on using more deliberative communication as a way to help guide conversations.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This Week</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Week 8 -</span> <a href= "https://bit.ly/3yAVQne"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Simplify Cooperation</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">-</span> <a href="https://bit.ly/3yAVQne"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">https://bit.ly/3yAVQne</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;"> </span></p> <p><span st