With the emphasis on in-depth customer interaction during development, team members are being asked to take an active role in working with customers. This evolving role poses a big challenge for many who, in the past, rarely met “real” customers. Linda Rising presents patterns she has used successfully to help software professionals in their direct, face-to-face interactions with customers. These patterns describe solutions to common problems that occur again and again dealing with customers and users.
The patterns Linda discusses have memorable names such as It’s A Relationship – Not A Sale, Be Responsive, Show Personal Integrity, Build Trust, and Take Your Licks. Pattern names build a vocabulary that allows you and your development team to have meaningful conversations about-and to ultimately improve-customer relationships and the software you deliver.
You’ve tried and tried to convince people of your position. You’ve laid out your logical arguments on impressive PowerPoint slides-but you are still not able to sway them. Cognitive scientists understand that the approach you are taking is rarely successful. Often you must speak to others’ subconscious motivators rather than their rational, analytic side. Linda Rising shares influence strategies that you can use to more effectively convince others to see things your way. These strategies take advantage of a number of hardwired traits: “liking” – we like people who are like us; “reciprocity” – we repay in kind; “social proof” – we follow the lead of others similar to us; “consistency” – we align ourselves with our previous commitments; “authority” – we defer to authority figures; and “scarcity” – we want more of something when there is less to be had. Learn how to build on these traits as a way of bringing others to your side. Use this valuable toolkit in addition to the logical left-brain techniques on which we depend.
With a Ph.D. from Arizona State University in the field of object-based design metrics, Linda Rising’s background includes university teaching and industry work in telecommunications, avionics, and tactical weapons systems. An internationally known presenter on topics related to patterns, retrospectives, agile development, and the change process, Linda is the author of numerous articles and four books – Design Patterns in Communications, The Pattern Almanac 2000, A Patterns Handbook, and Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas, written with Mary Lynn Manns. Find more information about Linda at www.lindarising.org.