Geoff and Paul open by celebrating Paul’s birthday and discussing mixed feelings about ageing and birthdays, then pivot to a coaching technique: a “future perspective” or “retrospective from the future.” Geoff explains imagining a future time (e.g., 6-12 months or five years) where things are going well, describing what’s true, then looking back to identify the decisions and actions that made it happen; he notes it can be analytical or visualisation-based and more strategic than typical retrospectives. They discuss using it individually (including a “Nirvana letter”) or with teams to counter present-focused negativity and create motivating goals. Paul practices the exercise, describing a future with balanced variety and stability, meaningful work, family time, and deeper rugby club involvement that expands into consultancy, plus leading indicators to track progress. They close by asking listeners to leave a review and download companion content to try the technique.

00:00 Birthday Banter

01:53 Ageing And Milestones

02:33 Future Retrospective Idea

03:11 How The Exercise Works

05:42 Team And Solo Variations

06:59 Paul Visualises Five Years

09:11 Make It Specific

11:09 Turn Vision Into Actions

15:09 Leading Indicators And Signals

16:41 Mindset And Team Longevity

19:06 Birthday Gift And Wrap Up

In this Agile Skills Library episode, Geoff and Paul introduce a workshop technique called “Commit and Expect,” used to clarify responsibilities and improve relationships within agile teams. They describe how a product owner and a development team (and optionally a scrum master) each create two lists: what they will commit to and what they expect from the other party, then compare lists to identify agreements and disagreements and turn shared items into working agreements. The discussion emphasises starting with areas of alignment, using facilitation to handle delicate mismatches, and treating commitments as relationship-building that can grow over time with evidence in retrospectives. They address objections that it resembles a RACI or feels transactional, arguing it prompts nuanced conversations beyond job descriptions. They also mention downloadable templates and briefly demonstrate the technique by negotiating episode editing and content hosting.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:45 Why Commit Expect

01:36 Origins and Rediscovery

02:59 How the Exercise Works

04:10 Agreements and Working Rules

06:15 Variants and Team Charter

08:35 Conflict Case Study

10:42 Go Slow Build Trust

12:33 RACI and Transactional Concerns

16:44 Facilitation Tips and Templates

18:03 Live Commit Expect Demo

18:45 Wrap Up and Goodbye

In this episode of the Agile Skills Library, hosts Geoff Watts and Paul Goddard discuss the DECIDE technique, a structured approach to collaborative decision making. They explain the importance of inclusive decision making in agile environments and introduce a deck of seven cards, each representing different stances like deny, inquire, concede, iterate, defend, and endorse. They highlight how this technique can help teams make more democratic and effective decisions, and share their experiences and insights on its application. Listeners are also invited to share their stories and feedback on using this technique.

Downloadable content:

www.inspectandadapt.com/podcasts/ep17-decide-a-technique-for-collaborative-decision-making

00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:11 Today's Topic: The Decide Technique

00:47 Importance of Collaborative Decision Making

03:30 Introducing the Decide Cards

06:36 The Six Stances of Decide

09:42 Practical Applications and Customisations

16:08 Conclusion and Free Resources