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When Candid Communication Isn't Enough

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Just about every problem I work through in my role boils down to needing to communicate more and more often. Early on, as an engineering leader, I had to tackle a strange communication problem. I led a small team of 3-4 engineers who supported our production development teams. This team had fully embraced a Scrum mindset, and due to rapid prototyping requirements, the team worked in one-week sprints. This means we had planning, standups, retro, and demos every five days. Between standups and other ceremonies, they collaborated daily, looking for peer reviews and technical support. They were proud of their ability to be direct with each other, not needing to "sugarcoat" the message. Yet there was still a problem. The team was always working in drastically different directions and at various technical levels, constantly bickering about what needed to be done. One-on-ones with me were full of complaints about other team members and were always heated. How could there be such...