Princeton's word dictionary defines a magic spell as being:

"S: (n) spell, magic spell, magical spell, charm (a verbal formula believed to have magical force)" [1]

In many movies and fairy tales these spells have been a central piece of getting things done or moving bad fortune into good fortune, wouldn't it be great if we had those spells to move bad projects into good ones?

Yesterday I attended a talk hosted by Agical [2] a company specializing in helping teams and companies becoming more Agile. They have invited two of the most prominent speakers on Agile retrospectives, Diana Larsen and Esther Derby, to give an hour long talk on their views of the technique.

Listening to the two lady's, reflecting over the many hours of talk with Dan North [3] about teams, and the basic rules of improvisation theater (which I've started to learn recently); I realized what extreme power simple words really can hold. Using the right set of words in the right order will get things done, change the scene and even change the outcome of a discussion.

Consider the difference between saying "you broke the build! why?" and "what was the circumstances around the build breaking?".

The first one will immediately alienate the recipient of the accusation and question, possibly putting the person in defense mode and will be very hard to collaborate with to find a solution. While the second will open for a dialog and are much more friendly.

All this because change of wording, basically the same question but a different outcome.

So to be an effective team member I think we need to learn the modern day spells, we need to invest more time in learning our language and what power a certain word really holds, especially in conjunction with other words. Much like the old ages magical spells.

Putting the words together in the wrong order, the prince will become a frog, but putting them in the right order the kingdom will be filled of wealth and prosperity.

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References:
[1] http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=magic%20spell
[2] http://www.agical.com
[3] http://dannorth.net/

More about retrospectives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrospective
http://www.agilejournal.com/articles/articles/iteration-and-release-retrospectives:-the-natural-rhythm-for-agile-measurement.html

Esther and Diana's book:
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/dlret