4 Q's - Continuous Feedback

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Quintessential Thought

Effective team communication and collaboration is crucial. Sprint Reviews should be interactive sessions with stakeholders, not just status updates. Product Owners should view these sessions as opportunities to gain external perspectives. A successful Sprint Review increases transparency and guides the future direction of a product based on feedback. A healthy agenda could include:

1. Product Vision & Strategy: Understand the bigger picture.

2. Sprint Goal: Discuss the main objective of the Sprint.

3. State of Product: Delve into the specifics of the product.

4. Product Backlog & Goal: Discuss the immediate next steps.

5. Business Conditions: Identify external factors impacting the product.

The most effective Sprint Reviews include demonstrations, facilitating richer feedback than mere discussions. Using tools like facilitation techniques from Liberating Structures can optimize these sessions. The ultimate aim is to make these sessions interactive and derive feedback to continuously improve the Product.

Quotes

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”

– Elon Musk

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”

– Winston Churchill

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

– Elbert Hubbard

Quick Step

Stop talking outputs! (Count of items, planned vs actual, etc.) Start talking about value to your customers. Shift the narrative towards where you are going.

Question

What are some ways you might get continuous feedback in your reviews?

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