There were a number of ideas that I gained from Jurgen Appelo’s keynote at Agile2016. I want to spend a little time on particular idea that I will try soon: personal maps.
The general idea is:
- Each person creates their own personal map of information that highlights who they are
- They put themselves center and then can use whatever format they prefer and list however much information they want to share
- They provide it to others for questions
What I liked most:
- Jurgen showed a number of sample personal maps and instantly you had a sense of who the person was. My would be all OCD straight lines and bullets. Whereas, someone else would have lots of flow and colors. The visual knowledge alone is beneficial
- It’s not a presentation of this information. The map is a tool to engage in discussion. Why does this mean? Why did you put this picture on your map? As much as we want to be interested, being talked at by 6 people on a team in a row is hard to keep focused. Engaging in 6 discussions, well that’s easy!
- The person has a choice of what to share. Despite being extremely extraverted, I find that I sometimes have anxiety when I have to answer a set of specific questions. They might not be the information that I’m comfortable to share. This gives each person the autonomy to decide!
Since I don’t have a team right now that I’m leading, I am considering flipping this exercise. What would others put on my map? Would people know what I’m passionate about? What do they think is most important to me? Would it align? Interesting experiment that I just might have to try.
Have you leveraged a personal map?
