Agile Alliance’s Post

Transcript

Because we're doing a series of interviews to kind of let you know what's going to happen this summer in Dallas so that you feel compelled to come and join us in the Biodome in Grapevine, TX for the April conference. And with me this morning is Stuart Young Stewart saying hi to everybody. Hi to everybody. Stuart is a member of this community very well known for the kind of things that are stuck on the wall behind him. When you meet people for the first time, how do you explain to them what you do? I think the best way to describe it is. Visual storytelling. So among many other things, when it's in the context of the conferences, the idea is to visualise the thoughts, the ideas, the key outcomes and insights from the awesome talks and workshops on offer. OK, so, and if they're doing that, they're either like marking it with how they're drawing it or what they're seeing. There's some sort of connection there that makes it easier to like track back to that moment, right? Absolutely. Totally. I mean the A term that I came across. Which I really quite like his visual literacy. And that is that we, we navigate children's books using visual literacy before we learn to read and write. So this isn't just for people that, you know, like to draw. It's about how you obtain and express yourself. And it's just one form of communication. OK, So when, if, if you come to the conference, you'll see Stuart in the hall and you're going to want to go up and talk to him. But if you do, you're gonna totally mess him up because he's deep in thought, figuring out how to, like, make all these things fit. Into the gigantic space. So when you're, when you're doing that, when you're creating those giant graphics. How do you figure out how to put it all in there? Because that's gotta be one of the hardest parts. So it's a it's a good point. So it's all down to structure and it's all down to kind of trying to capture the key essence so that you you can't capture every single thing that's said. So all you gotta do is think about what are those salient points and then sort of kind of structure it around that and think about what kind of narrative and what kind of flow would make sense if someone was to come and come and have a look. That's the idea and my understanding from some of the the. The program team is that you're gonna be offering like a special challenge to people when they come to this this summer. Well, this is it. I, I don't want it to look like an inclusive art. It's for everybody. You kind of anyone has the opportunity to, to do this. And So what we're gonna be doing this year, which is really exciting, is I'll be running a visual thinking session at the beginning to, to sort of give people the confidence to realize that they can draw to generate ideas and solve problems and collaborate and share their, and share information and sort of offering the opportunity for people to, to think visually. And then we're gonna have a space and a a graphic wall of where all different visuals can be added. So we can kind of have a look at those those sort of different ways and those different interpretations of how because, you know, you and me, Dave, we may go to a talk and get completely. It's, it's, it's a three-step process of active listening, synthesising and then drawing. So to reduce any bias, it makes much more sense if there's more than just me holding a pen. OK, so ohh. So collectively we'll have a more comprehensive understanding of what's going on. I was originally thinking it would be like there's this giant wall and here's the people that can draw and then we have shame town over here for people like me. But but my understanding from, I mean from knowing you and talking to you, is that the fact that you have more. You have put in a lot more hours in developing the ability to draw the things that you draw than than I have. I've put like no time into it. So I feel like I'm not good at it, but it's I haven't put in the time so. Either way, our brains capture different things and the collective. Organization of all these things will help us understand a better view of what happened. We all the different perspectives. No, totally. I think one of the key things I say to everybody that wants to think and draw visually is to keep it simple. You really don't need to have a degree in art or be be sort of wandering around the streets with a sketchbook in your hand every day to be able to explore learning and and in in a visual way. I think it really is for everybody and keeping it simple is the key thing. And of course practice makes better, not perfect. So of course it helps. But there are a few tricks in a few hacks that I'll be sharing with people at the beginning of the of the conference. But a few hacks to share with people now is if if you kind of struggle to Draw Something or think about how to Draw Something, go to Google, add the word icon, and then find something simple as a way of kind of identifying that thing. And if you Draw Something again and again and again, it becomes part of your muscle memory. So a few different tricks and tips. Along the way. So things like the shapes behind you like the diamond or different squares or pieces of paper with a shadow or whatever, they could start practicing some of that now. Absolutely, absolutely. It's it's there are, there is some kind of simple shapes that you can use and you can reapply and, and sort of trying to and have a bit of a dance, have a bit of fun with, with exploring how you can use those things. The other thing that that I think people forget is that you don't think you're thinking visually or applying things in a visual way. But to all the, the, the speakers and workshop facilitators that are going to be at the conference, no doubt they'll be exploring different templates. Be the business model Canvas or a SWAT analysis or any other template that might be available. That's also encouraging people to kind of converge and to kind of be on the same page without actually drawing anything live. So there are, I think it's misleading that that you have to be drawing to think visually. And there's lots of ways in which you can explore things using a post fit, moving things around, looking at structure, finding how things cluster. Lots of things. So I, I am somebody who's super nervous about drawing, but I'm gonna join you and what I will do, I'm gonna be doing interviews all throughout the conference, podcast interviews while we're there. I'm gonna draw a picture for every interview I do. And see what happens with that. And it, it might be a little rough, but I will do that as I can. So that's my challenge. Everybody else, try to get yourself to do it. And even if, like me, I, when Stuart and I started talking about this stuff, I would have said that I'm not a visual thinker. But then I realized that everything I was explaining to him was coming in visual terms of visual explanation. So when you say visual literacy, it's not just your ability to draw, it's how you process as well, right? Yeah, and and we, we've had had a few opportunities to chat in the past and you come across different terms where there is such a thing called aphantasia where you don't actually have the ability to think visually. But still in it's it's known that a few animators and Pixar and and so forth and Disney are known to have this condition, but it doesn't mean that they yeah, they they doesn't mean that they can't. It's, I highly recommend looking at Creativity Inc. Is it really inspiring book? But there's proof that that there's that. A lot of these amazing animators are known to have this condition where they can't see visually or think visually, but once they start to explore and see things and draw things and see patterns, then things start to emerge. So wow, I think I think the beauty of all of this and is diversity of thought, how we think, how we connect with things. So there's no rights, there's no wrongs. All I can say and promise to all of you is that my challenge won't be to try to be Daves and do podcasts, but you can do the challenge of join. Who would challenge everybody to do podcasts while they're just little audio recordings of what they learned? That would be really cool. So you've been to this conference before? This is a question I'm asking everybody I do the interview with. It's a really hard week. I always tell people it takes me like at least a month to recover when I get home. What advice do you have for people who are either newcomers who don't know what to expect or have been once or twice and know Oh my God this week is gonna destroy me? Like how can they survive the week intact? Well, I, I like to call myself an anxious extrovert. So if you do see me, you'll, you'll see that I'm just this big, this big bubble of just energy, but I also need times to kind of decompress and just chill. So I think for everybody, I think I get a, I get really excited about, about being back in person. And I think I'm sure that to all the new, that the people that are coming for the first time, you're being incredibly excited like a child in a toy shop at all the people you can talk to and the talks. An offer, but it's very overwhelming and there's so much to choose from. But first of all, it's sort of there's a feel of FOMO because you can't see everything, which is why you know it. I hope that what what Dave and myself will be doing visually in and through his podcast will will help you to think that you can reflect on things afterwards. But what I would say is just take what you can, but make time for you. So whether that be going for a very early run or going she'll be doing which I may be doing or what. Or stupidly doing will be doing that. Plus what I'm gonna say is having a late night drink. I'll, I'll fall asleep when I get home, but I'll join you for that. Yeah, but find time for the corridor conversations. I would say that the the corridor conversations speak as as exciting as the talks go and speak to the speakers afterwards, trying to make a connection with them because speakers will love, love that you are passionate about what they what they've come up with. Because it's a it's a real journey for the speakers as well to be accepted. And share their thoughts, their passions, their experiences. So connect with them, sit down and have a cup of tea or a beer and talk to them. So make time for yourself, make time for some rich conversations, one to one and enjoy, Have fun and draw. And if you do go running. In Dallas in July, you want to go very early in the morning because it's going to be hot. Maybe have a beer then go for the rugby evening. Yeah, alright man. So if people want to get in touch with you before they get there, what's the best way to do it? I'm, I'm sort of usually on LinkedIn throwing or posting something about product or visual storytelling or human skills. So feel free to connect with me. Stuart Young and I'm I'm, I'm the one holding a pen in the picture. Probably. Feel free to reach out and connect on Twitter. Stuart Livar Instagram. I'm not cool enough to do anything. I'm I'm getting old. Me and, and if you've got any questions, please do reach out and I'd be delighted to to respond and look forward to hanging with you. Ohh, yeah, me too, man. Yeah. So thank you very much. And everybody else hope to see you in Dallas.