Tips for getting things done

2 tips from cognitive psychology for getting things done in agile teams

Everyone wants their teams to be successful and accomplish their goals.  Small ‘a’ agile approaches to work seem to be everywhere now, but have you ever wondered how the various agile/Scrum/Kanban concepts can be supported by cognitive psychology and an understanding of how our brains work?  With a background in cognitive psychology, I do think about that and I have two quick tips.

Tip 1 – Write down goals.  Or more specifically, have every member of your team write their own story cards

The Scrum values include commitment and focus.  Writing down goals can be one element in ensuring both of those values exist within a team.

Assuming that your team uses user stories (and if not, why not?), you can increase their personal sense of commitment by having each person write their own story cards. Dr. Gail Matthews, from the Dominican University in California, found people who wrote down their goals were 42% more likely to be successful in achieving their goals, based on a study of 267 people.

The human brain likes completing tasks and the act of writing down those tasks helps commit the brain to that goal.  Although it may make your card wall look a bit messy, it seems worthwhile to have members of a team write their own cards if this subconsciously increases commitment, right?

Tip 2 – Celebrate successes and elicit positive emotions

Positive emotions change the way the human brain works.  People experiencing positive emotions are, and I hate this phrase, better at “big picture thinking.” This means that you can help your team notice small details and be able to connect seemingly disparate information to come up with better solutions simply by eliciting positive emotions.  This sounds like a good thing.

The big question is how can we elicit positive emotions from our teams.  Funny videos, cat pictures, and acts of kindness as small as having someone make a cup of tea for you are likely to elicit positive emotions.  Smiling and pretending that everything is perfect is positive thinking, not positive emotions, so be sure to make these emotions authentic. Celebrating successes and acknowledging contributions from team members are less superficial ways to produce positive emotions in people.

There is one caveat to this point though: healthy conflict is necessary for creativity, so environments that only allow positive emotions are inauthentic and likely to be damaging to trust within the team in the long run.

Darci Dutcher is a guest author on Scrum and Kanban

Photo credit: Miranda Knox