Transparent

Everyone can see and understand what is happening, why it is happening, and how it is happening.  

• In Agile: Transparent means:

  • Everyone can see and understand the project status, progress, and challenges

  • Everyone can see and understand the project vision, goals, and priorities

  • Everyone can see and understand the project decisions, actions, and outcomes

• No secrets or hidden agendas:

  • Everyone is honest and open about their work, opinions, and feedback

  • Everyone respects and values the work, opinions, and feedback of others

  • Everyone shares information and knowledge freely and timely

• Build trust and alignment:

  • Everyone trusts that others are doing their best and have the best intentions

  • Everyone aligns their work and expectations with the project vision, goals, and priorities

  • Everyone supports and collaborates with each other to achieve the project goals and deliver value to the customers

As an Example:

 A team is working on a web application product using the Scrum framework. They have a product owner, a Scrum master, and five developers.

How can a team practice transparency?

• • Daily stand-up meetings where they share what they did yesterday, what they plan to do today, and any issues or blockers they face

  • Using a Kanban board where they visualize their work items and track their status and flow

  • Regular sprint reviews where they demonstrate their work to the product owner and other stakeholders and get feedback

  • Regular sprint retrospectives where they reflect on their work process and identify what went well and what can be improved

  • Shared product backlog where they prioritize and refine their work items based on the customer needs and feedback

  • Shared product vision where they define the purpose, scope, and value proposition of the product

How it helps the team?

• • Increasing their trust and collaboration among themselves and with the product owner and other stakeholders

  • Improving their communication and coordination of their work

  • Enhancing the quality and productivity of their work

  • Adapting to changes and customer feedback quickly and effectively

  • Delivering value to the customers frequently and consistently

Effective

The Agile Manifesto authors in 2001 preferred face-to-face conversations over phone calls because they conveyed more non-verbal cues. Back then, video conferencing tools were not available, so face-to-face meant being physically together. If they wrote the Manifesto today, would they still make this distinction?

 In-person communication may have some advantages over online communication, such as speed, trust, and relationship building. However, online communication can also be effective if done well. In the 21st century, many organizations have remote or hybrid work models, so we need to adapt to this reality.

 Sometimes, it may be worth gathering people in person for important meetings, but it is not always necessary or feasible.

• In Agile: Effective Communication means:

  • Clear: Everyone can understand the message and its meaning without ambiguity or doubt

  • Concise: Everyone can get the message and its meaning quickly and easily without unnecessary or redundant information

  • Relevant: Everyone can see how the message and its meaning relate to their work, needs, and interests

• Avoids confusion, misunderstanding, and waste of time:

  • Accurate: Everyone can trust that the message and its meaning are correct and valid

  • Consistent: Everyone can expect that the message and its meaning are the same across different sources and channels

  • Timely: Everyone can receive and respond to the message and its meaning at the right time and frequency

• Uses the best tools and methods for the situation and audience:

  • Appropriate: Everyone can use and access the message and its meaning in a suitable way for their context and preferences

  • Engaging: Everyone can feel interested and involved in the message and its meaning

  • Respectful: Everyone can feel valued and appreciated in the message and its meaning

• Helps achieve the product goals and deliver value to the customers:

  • Aligned: Everyone can work towards the same product vision, goals, and priorities

  • Collaborative: Everyone can work together to solve problems, share ideas, and learn from each other

  • Feedback-driven: Everyone can give and receive feedback to improve the product quality and customer satisfaction

As an Example:

• A team is working on a mobile application product using Kanban, an agile method. They have a product owner, a Kanban master, and four developers.

How can a team can practice effective communication?

• • Daily stand-up meetings where they share their work status, progress, and blockers using the Kanban board

  • Using a shared online platform where they document their product requirements, design, and testing

  • Regular demos where they show their work to the product owner and other stakeholders and get feedback

  • Regular retrospectives where they discuss their work process and identify what went well and what can be improved

  • Shared product roadmap where they plan and prioritize their work items based on customer needs and feedback

  • Shared product vision where they define the purpose, scope, and value proposition of the product

How it helps the team?

• Reducing confusion, misunderstanding, and waste of time among themselves and with the product owner and other stakeholders

• Improving their communication and coordination of their work

• Enhancing their quality and productivity of their work

• Adapting to changes and customer feedback quickly and effectively

• Delivering value to the customers frequently and consistently

Feedback

Feedback is how we connect and learn from each other. We share a message (through words or actions), we ask for clarification to understand each other better, and we exchange different views to find the best way forward. But feedback can be hard if we don’t feel safe to speak up. We might agree to avoid conflict or lose interest to protect ourselves. To create a safe space for feedback, we need to show openness, respect, and courage.

 Openness as a Product Owner in Agile means admitting that we don’t have all the answers. We need help from others who see things differently. By asking for specific feedback, we can get what we need and encourage a feedback culture in our team. Being open, respectful, and courageous as a Product Owner helps us build better relationships, share richer perspectives, and deliver more value to our customers. So next time you say “I’ll put it on the backlog”, make sure you do it with these values in mind

• Feedback in agile means:

  • Not one-way, but two-way: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can send and receive messages and meanings

  • Listening: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can pay attention and understand what others are saying and meaning about the product and the process

  • Asking questions: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can clarify and explore what others are saying and meaning about the product and the process

  • Giving and receiving feedback: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can share and accept opinions and suggestions on what others are saying and meaning about the product and the process

  • Adapting to changes: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can change their actions and expectations based on what others are saying and meaning about the product and the process

• Helps improve the quality of the work and the satisfaction of the customers:

  • Identify and solve problems: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can find out what is wrong and how to fix it with the product and the process

  • Generate and test ideas: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can come up with new and better ways of doing things with the product and the process

  • Measure and improve performance: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can know how well they are doing and how to do better with the product and the process

  • Meet and exceed customer needs: Everyone in the agile team and the stakeholders can know what the customers want and how to make them happy with the product

As an Example:

• A team is working on a software product using Extreme Programming (XP), an agile method. They have a customer representative, a coach, and six programmers.

How can a team practice feedback? 

• • Frequent pair programming sessions where they share their code and ideas with each other and get feedback

  • Using test-driven development where they write tests before code and get feedback on their code quality and functionality

  • Regular customer reviews where they show their work to the customer representative and get feedback on their product features and value

  • Regular retrospectives where they discuss their work process and get feedback on their team performance and improvement

  • Shared product backlog where they prioritize and refine their work items based on the customer feedback and needs

  • Shared product vision where they define the purpose, scope, and value proposition of the product based on the customer feedback and needs

How it helps the team?

• • Identifying and solving problems with their code and product

  • Generating and testing ideas for their code and product

  • Measuring and improving their performance as a team

  • Meeting and exceeding their customer needs with their product