socal lean meetup talk
DESCRIPTION
How storytelling can helpTRANSCRIPT
How storytelling can help us tackle (and
solve) complex problems
SoCal Kanban/Lean Software meetup
July 12, 2011Venkatesh Rao
04/12/2023 Venkatesh G. Rao 2
Complex Problems are Mysteries
“Eh bien. …je me pose des questions,…You too, doubtless?”
Lord Edgeware Dies, Agatha Christie
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Hastings“Certainly…Who killed Lord Edgeware?”
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Poirot“No no. Not at all. Is it a question, that?”…Why did Lord Edgeware change his mind about the divorce?
What happened to the letter?
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Hastings vs. Poirot
• Formulaic questions• Obvious logical closure• Problem and formula• Solution seeking• Means-ends reasoning• Planning• Calculative rationality• Jomini
• Situation-specific questions• Non-obvious narrative
closure• Mystery and clue• Resolution seeking• Insight-seeking• Storytelling• Narrative rationality• Clausewitz and Sun Tzu
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On Planning and Plans
• “The process of planning is very valuable, for forcing you to think hard about what you are doing, but the actual plan that results from it is probably useless.” – Marc Andreessen
• “Plans are nothing, planning is everything” – Dwight Eisenhower
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Who Read Napoleon Right?
Carl von Clausewitz(1780-1831)
• More like Andreessen, Eisenhower
• Better known today
Antoine-Henri Jomini
(1779-1869)• More like
mainstream MBA thinking
• Less-known, more actual influence
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The Journey Metaphor
“Jomini tells you to first establish your base of operations, then determine an “objective point,” and then choose lines of operations from the base to that point to move your army along. That makes three basic steps: first you figure out where are (Point A), then you decide where you want to be (Point B), and then you make a plan to get from Point A to Point B.”
-- William Duggan, Strategic Intuition
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Or…
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Works sometimes
Known map, pre-defined objective: compute the fastest or cheapest path
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…but groping creates…
“Simultaneous Localization and Mapping” (SLAM) – sketch of typical situation
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...exploration-exploitation tradeoffs
Unknown/partially known map, unclear objective: exploration-exploitation tradeoff
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Three Trade-off Strategies
• Grand Vision: Build the whole map just for one journey
• Tunnel Vision: Never backtrack, hope to get lucky
• Cheap Trick: Build enough of a map to find some high-leverage opportunity– Aside: Central idea in lean startup “pivot”
concept
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• Grand vision: ambitious, brute force
• Cheap trick: high-leverage insight
1+2+3+4+…+17=?
1,17,),(1
pnipnSn
i
p
Hey, notice something? 1+2+3+…+16+17=17+16+15…+2+1
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Cheap Trick = coup d'oeil
• Clausewitz, “strike of the eye,”– Mathematical Aha!– Significant clue in mystery– Enlightenment event at a Zen retreat– Elegant design insight, military attack insight
• What does it feel like?– Resolves a building tension – Complexity and chaos dissolves– Deep emotional relief when you get the insight– Unleashes creative energy
• Sound familiar?
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Joseph Campbell (1949)
“Tchh, tchh…Joseph my friend, everything should be made as simple as possible but no simpler!”
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Gustav Freytag (1863)
Exposition
Climax
Risi
ng A
ctio
nFalling Action
Resolution
“Tchh, tchh…Gustav my friend, everything should be made as simple as possible but no simpler!”
Freytag Triangle
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Double Freytag! (Rao, 2011)
Liminal Passage
Liminal PassageValley
Cheap Trick
Expl
orat
ion
Hea
vy L
iftSense-Making
RetrospectiveSeparation Event
Evolved doctrine“Moral of the story”
Incr
easi
ng E
ntr
opy
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The Matrix
Neo-and-boss scene
Neo Flies into SkyInside the Matrix
Red-Pill/Blue-Pill
Neo
in R
eal W
orld
Neo
vs.
Sm
ith
Bat
tle
Training Montage
Neo ResurrectionNeo W
in, EMP B
urst
Boss to Neo: “You think that you are somehow special and that the rules do not apply to you.”
“Neo is The ONE!”
Incr
easi
ng D
isso
nance
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Typical Software Product
Project Kick-Off
Bugs level offClassic Scrum Phase
Design Aha!
Thro
waw
ay p
roto
type
Laun
ch H
eavy
-Lift
Waterfall
Backlog
LAUNCH!
Pay off tech debt
“We really have to get in on this gamified social commerce mobile check-in trend!”
Incr
easi
ng D
isso
nance
Feature freeze
Learned hacks to lean/agile, like marginnotes in Half-Blood Prince
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Marketing Narrative
Project Kick-Off
MaintenanceAdvertising
Establish category voice
Positioning Aha!
Mes
sagi
ng T
rial
s
PR D
oubl
e D
own
Develop B
rand
Narrative
Product/Market Fit
Incr
easi
ng D
isso
nance
Brand doctrine
Clarify, focus position
Aside: NOT the same as the Blank/Ries model; that is more sales-driven
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Tempo in the Double Freytag
Stillness
StillnessSteady, slowing momentum
Crescendo
Vola
tile
, dis
sipa
tive
All-
nigh
ters
Relief
Decrescendo,
Joy+sorrow
Crescendo
Incr
easi
ng A
nxie
ty
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Tempo Shift Example: PMF
• “You can always feel when product/market fit isn't happening. The customers aren't quite getting value out of the product, word of mouth isn't spreading, usage isn't growing that fast, press reviews are kind of "blah", the sales cycle takes too long, and lots of deals never close.
• And you can always feel product/market fit when it's happening. The customers are buying the product just as fast as you can make it -- or usage is growing just as fast as you can add more servers. Money from customers is piling up in your company checking account.”
Marc Andreessen in The Only Thing That Matters
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Let’s Try It
• Pick a finished project in your past…• A phase with a consistent TEMPO is
an epoch– Tempo: rhythms, emotions, energy
• A SHIFT in tempo: an epoch boundary
• Let’s map them!
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What about character?So much for plot
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Hastings vs. Poirot
• Energetic• Reactive• Impulsive• Buys others’ stories• Social “old boy” morality• Jumps to conclusions
but…• …is also indecisive
• Reflective• Deliberative• Sense of timing• Makes up own stories• Absolute morality• Defers judgment but…• …moves decisively
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Hastings is a Toad
DOCTRINE: Next Shiny New Thing (NSNT)
• Motto: I have to have that!• Momentum axiom: what are we waiting for?• Characteristic emotion: excitement alternating with
boredom• Characteristic energy pattern: impulsive spikes• Characteristic rhythm: excited alternating with lethargic• Characteristic belief: variety is the spice of life• Archetype: Toad in The Wind in the Willows, who gets
all the other characters into one adventure after another
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Archetypes and Doctrines
• An archetype is the “imprint of a pattern of human behavior” (Jennifer von Bergen, Archetypes for Authors)
• A doctrine is a set of beliefs about TEMPO management
• Archetype+doctrine+narrative context=enactment style
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Hastings as Hero
Venkatesh G. Rao
Restless
Denial
Wild Goose Chase
Jump to conclusion
Run
arou
nd li
ke c
razy
Bru
te for
ce e
ffor
t
Grand Vision
Rationalization
Heroic struggle and failure
Incr
easi
ng e
ntr
opy
Reinforced deluded beliefs
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Poirot as Hero
Venkatesh G. Rao
Calm
CalmTests, Red herrings, Loose ends
Right Questions
“Arr
angi
ng fac
ts”
Push
for
res
olut
ion
Hypotheses
Murderer validates
Final test
Incr
easi
ng e
ntr
opy
Improved detection doctrine
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Let’s Try It!
• List the dramatis personae in some completed collaborative project
• For EACH character, pick a favorite FICTIONAL character that he/she reminds you of the most
• For EACH, write down a motto that you think describes their doctrine
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Challenges
• From use cases to archetype-driven design
• From gamified products to storified products
• Learn from screenwriters and script doctors
• From Waterfall/Agile dichotomy to synthesis using narrative arcs
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The Book
http://tempobook.com
More on the stuff in this talk:Chapters 3 and 4 of book
Sorry, no Kindle yet (due Fall)