Cognitive Biases - Friends or Foes? - Radek Orszewski

About the talk:
I’m sure everyone in the world of agile or kanban coaching has heard about so-called cognitive biases. There are many paths our brains trick us into doing things we shouldn’t or not doing things we should. We tend to think about these biases as some kind of embedded weaknesses, enemies, especially as we know that being aware of them doesn’t prevent us from falling into their traps. Anyone who ever tried to explain one of these concepts to a team or a manager knows that it rarely solves the problem. Are we doomed, then?

Are the cognitive biases our enemies, or is there any chance to use them to influence and change behavior of our teams, organizations, management, or ourselves - Kanban Coaches?

In my talk, I will list and map some of the known cognitive biases to the Kanban Method or general agile practices. We are going to talk about patterns of behavior we see while working with the teams and organizations. We will talk about examples, but in order to make them actionable, we will also look for ways to use some of the cognitive biases as leverage for change. At the same time, it’s good to be aware that as change agents we also fall into some of these traps. I am to give some tips how to change the awareness into self-reflection and improve our skillset.

About the speaker:
Kanban, Lean and Agile practitioner with over 15 years of international experience. Held project & people leadership positions, optimizing business flow by including technical, non-technical stakeholders and C-level management. Radoslaw has a passion for transforming complex organizations toward business agility. He teaches Agile Process Management at Berlin’s CODE University. He established Lean Coffee communities in Berlin and Wroclaw. He hosts the only Polish language podcast related to "Kanban przy kawie". After 9 years of working in Berlin, he’s now based in Wroclaw, Poland and works as a solopreneurship brand Lean Agile Ninja.