lgulliver
commented
3 years ago @just-the-benno thanks for this! This is valuable feedback. You'll hopefully be pleased to know that we're looking to build some companion video content that'll cover some of the basics, as well as go into more of a deeper dive into some of the topics and theory. It's our intention that this content cover a more educational aspect as well as facilitate some conversation with our listeners after we've shipped our episodes. We feel this would be an easier format to do that kind of thing in because we record our episodes a few months in advance. We're also looking to fund the equipment to do that via our Patreon.
We've been talking about some ways to expand our offering as a show and a group of people via entertainment too and we're currently developing an idea that we hope to be able to share with our audience soon.
We're constantly looking at ways to improve the show and increase interaction with our audience, so once again, thank you for this.
just-the-benno
As I said in my previous post: Thank you so much for doing such fantastic work.
I hope that I don't annoy you with my issues.
I thought about how your show could become even better and created some suggestions that I want to share with you. For all of these suggestions, imagine there is a tiny sub-clause at the beginning: "As a particular listener, I assume that other listeners would enjoy..."
more educational content
In each of your episodes, it is up to the recipient to draw a conclusion about the topic by themself. You enable this introspection by illuminating the subject from different angles. Your agreement or disagreement is like the inner voice, the internal discussion we sometimes have. I enjoy it - not only because of your team dynamic, which is very entertaining, but it also respects me as a listener. You don't even try to persuade me that you are right. You appreciate that I can think for myself.
However, this model has limitations based on its underlying constraints and assumptions. As a listener, I need to have a certain level of awareness and knowledge to actively follow your discussion. Often you don't offer a path to get this knowledge. As an example, I want to refer to episode 9. Without prior knowledge, it was, for me, not easy to follow 100 percent. You started to get into the interpretation of this theory before setting the base level of understanding the idea.
I see two ways to "improve this issue" (if it is an issue after all). You could tighten the format. Talk about the theory. Be a teacher. In the next stage, transform to be a coach, asking questions to challenge the model to understand the underlying concepts. The last step - and it should be a very, very brief one - is to offer a path to wisdom, even beyond your own capabilities. So, basically, the Shu Ha Ri concept of mastery. This approach is not necessary for every episode, but when you are talking about ideas and theories, not knowing the basics excludes a listener from participating.
The second way would be to create a special episode focusing purely on the knowledge side to prepare for an upcoming discussion.
more entertainment
I'm amazed by your group dynamic. It feels very natural and reminds me sometimes of scripted relationships from sitcoms like "Friends" or "How I met your mother" (without necessarily associated anyone with any character). I think you could leverage it to produce episodes full of joy and entertainment without losing the focus on educating about Agile. I imagine things like games. Maybe Agile Taboo?. Explaining a theory or practice without naming it, and everyone has to guess what is meant. I believe you can come up with a lot of better ideas.
more engagement and interaction
As a team, you bring expertise from many different perspectives, life models, and technical backgrounds with you: A very precious and valuable resource that you already use in your discussion to enlighten us, your listeners. Why not use it to create a more engaging experience? I think you remember a period in your young life where you had many "delicate" questions concerning things that suddenly became more interesting. Sometimes some friends could help or parents, or you read some questions from others answered by experts publishing in magazines. I think you could play this role well.
Questions like: "I struggle to implement TDD in my workplace because some developers refuse even to consider it. I don't want to talk to my manager before trying to convince them to test it. Have you experienced the same? What could be the next step?". I believe you can offer a lot of insights without prescribing a solution. That is helping the questioner to figure out the next step for themselves.
I hope this feedback helps.