The Agile Organization – Applying Visioning and Learning Models
Jean Tabaka, Rally Software
Exercise – ORID
(Background: ORID is an approach defined in the book “The Art of Focused Conversation”, by R.
Brian Stanfield. It was formulated by the Institute for Cultural Affairs in Canada as a means to
better guide conversations that can lead to well-informed decisions.
I have found the approach immeasurably helpful in “peeling back the onion” of what lies
beneath our reactions that then lead to our actions. Stanfield provides great detail about the
fundamentals of ORID. And, he then gives us the gift of a number of templates for conducting
ORID conversations in a variety of contexts. Each template is a list of questions that can
specifically help a group address a particular theme or situation.
Here is an email I wrote this past year for a group of Scrum Trainers. It is about how I use ORIDs
in a variety of contexts. I will give you some background on ORID in general as well before
running the exercise.)
-------------------Hi all,
I'll try to do your requests justice. And Richard (or others) if you think I am misinterpreting the
usefulness of ORID please jump in and give us guidance around that. So let me reiterate: the
book is phenomenal. Buy it.
In teaching about facilitation and collaboration to ScrumMasters and others in my facilitation
class (and in my CSM class but not in as much detail), I introduce ORID as a tool for several
situations. One is as a debrief approach. I tell the class that I apply ORID as we run the various
facilitation simulations and exercises. This speaks to Brent's thoughts about being sure to debrief
an exercise well.
I also talk about ORID in a way that, I think, echoes Richard's point about how ORID is a great
way to prevent people from jumping to decisions. So, in general, it is a great framework for
conducting sprint retrospectives or even longer term team retrospectives.
Here is another use of ORID that is different than a debrief approach, or a project retrospective
approach and yet similar. At our company, every department conducts its own quarterly ORID to
bring out useful information from that quarter. Each department lead then brings this
information into the corporate quarterly planning meeting. They (e.g. Finance, Accounting,
Marketing, etc.) each present these results to the entire group at the beginning of our day-long
meeting in order to guide decisions about what our primary organizational roadmap will be for
the quarter. This prevents the group from coming together and jumping to decisions too quickly
or with too little information. At first, people were kind of weirded out by this whole companywide process. But our executive team believed in the power of ORID (of which I am so so glad)
and stuck to it. Now, ORIDs are just a part of our culture. It's just how we do business. So we use
the tool for that level of decision guidance.
Exercise: ORID
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The Agile Organization – Applying Visioning and Learning Models
Jean Tabaka, Rally Software
Another way I apply ORIDs. I invite ScrumMasters and others to use ORIDs in conflict resolution.
Again, to Richard's point, the ORID process prevents people from jumping to decisions or
conclusions ill-informed. I describe this ORID sort of conflict resolution as "peeling back the
onion". We get into the layers of what is really going on in the conflict. In that way, I suppose
you could compare it loosely to the 5 Whys. It helps get to the heart of what is involved in the
conflict. When I teach ORID to ScrumMasters in this context, I talk about the fact that very often
when people come to you in conflict, they are typically working too much from emotion (anger
or resentment or whatever). ORID helps you as a ScrumMaster engage people in a way that
separates emotion from the facts. I've heard Esther Derby describe ORID this way that helps
remind me of how valuable it is:
Objective -- these questions help us zero in on the “WHAT”
Reflective – these questions now guide us to describe our reactions or emotions about that, the
“GUT”
Interpretive – once we have information and reflections, we can begin to assemble what this
might mean to us in our context, the “SO WHAT”
Decisional – and with all these insights, we are prepared to figure how to move forward, or the
“NOW WHAT”
(I have a lengthy explanation and guidance in my class around how I do this, but it is too complex
for this already lengthy email.)
And finally, I encourage ScrumMasters to think about this as a way to help with one-on-one
conversations when a team member comes to them about a problem or a situation that he or
she is struggling with. (I also run a reflective listening exercise for this but I won't go into that
now :-)
Here is a rundown of how I teach ORID in the class setting. I ask people to just tell me facts
about the class, anything at all but it must be just factual information. "There are windows on
the west side." "We have 20 participants in the class." "We've done 10 exercises so far." "We
had pastries and fruit for breakfast." And so on.
Then I ask them to tell me how they react to these facts upon reflections. "I really like the
windows being on the west side because the view of the mountains is so great." "I don't like the
windows being on the west because the afternoon sun creates a bad glare and also makes the
room too hot for me." "I'd prefer to have a smaller group of people." "I didn't like the exercise
when we had to stand on our heads for half an hour." (Okay, I don't have that as an exercise;
just felt like throwing that in as an example :-) "I love those pastries!" "I'm on the South Beach
diet and I can't eat pastries or fruit so the breakfast really sucked."
Next, I ask how we might interpret our reactions/reflections; how could these reactions inform
us about what we might do going forward. "What if we just close the blinds in the afternoon?"
"Maybe people could just change places if they don't like looking out the windows." "What if we
Exercise: ORID
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The Agile Organization – Applying Visioning and Learning Models
Jean Tabaka, Rally Software
orient the room 90 degrees so that the windows are behind us and people can still turn and see
the view whenever they want?" "Could we bring in some cheese and meats for breakfast
tomorrow?" "What if we could get coupons for the cafeteria so that each of us could just buy
whatever works for us?" "Could we split the class into smaller groups?" "Maybe we could just
create smaller groups for the longer exercises." "Could we just get rid of any other exercises that
require us to stand on our heads?"
Then finally, I ask them to come to consensus on what our decisions and/or action plans will be
based on the facts, their various reflections or reactions, and the possible ways we could address
or interpret these reactions. "Okay, can we live with just closing the blinds in the afternoon but
having them open in the morning?" "Yes, we can all live with that and support it." Great!
Exercise done.
Oh, another great exercise I use in my facilitation class (currently not in the CSM but I am
thinking I should just start making time for it) has each small group conduct an ORID that is
meant to guide a discussion about a movie. This is straight out of the Art of Focused
Conversation, page 112 :-) I recommend using "The Wizard of Oz" as the movie because most
people have seen it (though not all which I handle in another way that I won't go into here). And,
for the debrief of the exercise, we are all talking about the various results and it is about the
same movie. So for instance, one of the Decisional questions is, "What would be your title for
this movie?" Here are some responses that have come from various small groups in the debrief:
"A Dog in a Basket", "Hanging Munchkin", "A Girl and Her Dog", "Selfish Girl from Kansas", and
"The Dead Witch Project" :-)
Hope this is the sort of elaboration you were looking for. And apologies for the length or any
confusion I've introduced.
Exercise: ORID
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The Agile Organization – Applying Visioning and Learning Models
Jean Tabaka, Rally Software
Exercise—ORID on your past quarter
Choose a group of 3 – 6 in which to hold your conversation. In this ORID, you will be using the
template provided from “The Art of Focused Conversation” regarding an organization’s
reflections on a past time. In this exercise, you’ll be using your past quarter as the past time,
discovering what occurred in the quarter, how that impacted you, how that might inform you,
and what this could mean about how you move forward.
Make sure everyone in the group has a chance to contribute in each of the areas. There are NO
WRONG ANSWERS. If you don’t come up with answers to the “Decisional” questions for your
organization today, consider bringing these back to your organization as an exercise that can
lead to actions going forward.
You will have 15 minutes for your group discussion and then we will debrief.
(Alternative to the exercise: your group may decide to use the “Wizard of Oz” movie ORID
instead :- )
Exercise: ORID
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The Agile Organization – Applying Visioning and Learning Models
Jean Tabaka, Rally Software
SOURCE: “The Art of Focused Conversation”, R Brian Stanfield
Exercise: ORID
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The Agile Organization – Applying Visioning and Learning Models
Jean Tabaka, Rally Software
SOURCE: “The Art of Focused Conversation”, R Brian Stanfield
Exercise: ORID
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