Rosenverse
Jazz Improvisation as a Model for Team Collaboration

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Jazz Improvisation as a Model for Team Collaboration

Gold
Tuesday, June 4, 2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Share the love for this talk
Jazz Improvisation as a Model for Team Collaboration
Speakers: Jim Kalbach
Link:

Summary

Great collaboration is the secret sauce of successful development teams. At its core, collaboration comes from the culture of your company and the dynamics of your team. This entertaining session will demonstrate how the dynamics of jazz improvisation serve as a model for better teamwork with live music on stage. The lessons from jazz are particularly important for design, much of which involves collaborating with others: gathering requirements from stakeholders, ideating in project teams, and iterating with developers. Great design requires practitioners to be not only skilled craftsmen equipped with the right tools, but also expert collaborators and facilitators. Jazz gives us a model to help us move in that direction in a modern, agile way. Jim Kalbach will be joined by three special guests.

Key Insights

  • Miles Davis’s 'Kind of Blue' album was mostly recorded in one take without rehearsals, demonstrating the power of spontaneous collaboration within a structured framework.

  • Jazz improvisation is governed by an underlying invisible structure, such as a fixed melody (head), harmonies, and form, which enables creative freedom without chaos.

  • Jazz musicians follow established rules of engagement, like alternating solos and returning to the head, which parallels agile methodologies in software development.

  • Improvisation in teamwork works best when the team agrees on clear frameworks or rituals, such as design sprints or regular critiques.

  • Planning for uncertainty is essential in improvisation; teams prepare themselves to respond spontaneously within known boundaries.

  • Breakdowns of complex work into smaller cycles (like jazz measures or agile sprints) allow teams to build, measure, and learn iteratively.

  • Collaboration and respectful interaction are fundamental principles supporting successful improvisation and team creativity.

  • Design systems require substantive collaboration and dialogue to function effectively, just as jazz requires listening and interaction.

  • Team rituals and patterned engagement reduce the cognitive load on how to work together, allowing more energy for innovation.

  • Jazz improvisation’s universal conventions enable musicians worldwide to play together from minimal cues, illustrating the power of shared frameworks.

Notable Quotes

"Within improv, it’s a combination of listening and not trying to be funny."

"Miles gave them the music as they entered the studio; they didn’t know what they were going to be playing."

"Each first take was the only take, which got pressed on the album."

"We’re focused on the outcome; as soon as we count off the song, it’s going."

"Jazz has those rules of engagement."

"The head means the melody of a song."

"Instead of playing the melody Miles Davis wrote, the soloist creates a melody spontaneously."

"That unit there is kind of like a sprint."

"Design sprints are popular because they give us a format; we don’t have to improvise how we’re collaborating."

"Collaboration is your secret sauce in the end."

Ask the Rosenbot
Lija Hogan
Doing more with more: Lessons from the Front Lines of Democratization
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Jon Fukuda
All the Ops: Successful cross-functional collaboration
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Alla Weinberg
Workers Are Sick of Change: The Cure is Psychological Safety
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Redefining the research toolkit: Expanding methodologies for a changing world
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Ariba Jahan
Team Resiliency Through a Pandemic
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Candace Myers
Standardizing Design at Scale
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Kritika Yadav
Optimizing AI Conversations: A Case Study on Personalized Shopping Assistance Frameworks
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Bria Alexander
Reflect and Chart Forward
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
The power to heal and harm
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Chloe Amos-Edkins
A Cultural Approach: Research in the Context of Glocalisation
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Rikki Teeters
Concept to code: Transforming ideas into functional products with Kiro
2026 • Designing with AI 2026
Conference
Deanna Washington
Scaling Success: Paving the Path from DesignOps to VP
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Uday Gajendar
From AI to Zeitgeist: Theory as the design antidote to AI hype
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Kristin Skinner
8 Types of Measures in Design Operations
2020 • DesignOps Community

More Videos

Peter Levin

"Most user researchers do not get tapped to solve grand challenges or outdated business models."

Peter Levin

Solve a Problem Here, Transform a Strategy There: Research as an Occasion for Expanding Organizational Possibility

March 25, 2024

Megan Blocker

"When the ground shifts beneath us, we get to decide, do we scramble to regain our footing exactly where we stood before? Or do we take a step in a new direction, explore new terrain, and expand the boundaries of what’s possible?"

Megan Blocker

Theme 2 Intro

March 12, 2025

Jay Bustamante

"Rushing to market with AI solutions can irreparably damage not only your product but your entire brand."

Jay Bustamante

Navigating the Ethical Frontier: DesignOps Strategies for Responsible AI Innovation

October 2, 2023

Frances Yllana

"Centering connection and relationships rather than transactions is the true happy path in design."

Frances Yllana Ann Buechner Jess Jones Betsy Ramaccia

D.E.A.R.R. Diaries (Discipline, Experience, Architecture, Reflection + Revolution)

November 16, 2022

Scott Jensen

"Rapport building is slow and steady synthesis that leads to really big ideas."

Scott Jensen Sarah Delaney Carmen Liu

Short Take #2: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers

December 6, 2022

Nathan Shedroff

"What if everyone was accepted? We could rise almost anyone to proficiency if the curriculum and pedagogy are strong enough."

Nathan Shedroff Hugh Dubberly Thomas J. McLeish

How Will Design be Taught When the Schools Shut Down?

May 8, 2026

Frances Yllana

"We need more storytelling and positive use cases to help people see how AI affects their specific roles."

Frances Yllana Jorge Arango Maria Taylor Briana Thomas

The Big Question about Impact: A Panel Discussion

September 24, 2024

Melissa Eggleston

"In procurement, throwing things over the fence just doesn’t work; collaboration builds trust."

Melissa Eggleston Maya Israni Florence Kasule Owen Seely Andrea Schneider

Practical People Skills for Building Trust on Teams and with Partners

December 9, 2021

Onur Kocan

"Urban design competitions are declared public, but only expert architects or designers can participate."

Onur Kocan Ayhan Ensici

Understanding the Strategy for Civic Design in a Complex City: Istanbul

November 16, 2022