Steve Neiderhauser

Scrum Best Practices

In a series of video interviews, Jeff Sutherland shares his secrets of Scrum.

In one interview he talks about the definition of ready. "Ready" means the team can immediately act on the user stories in the sprint. The team is not discussing requirements or trying to figure out the architecture, instead they instantly start to implement the story.

Mr. Sutherland estimates that only one percent of Scrum teams have a definition of ready. And being in the ready state, increases velocity by 50%.

A couple years ago I coached a team that started sprints and completed few stories. They often called meetings and discussed requirements, thus they completed only a fraction of the stories. How did we smash this roadblock? 

We created a definition of ready. The team pulled stories into a sprint only when stories satisfied our definition of ready. The result? We increased velocity by 56%. 

An Opening is an Opportunity for Greatness

What kind of opening am I talking about? One where you allow your artistic skills to take flight.

The first ten pages of a novel, the first ten minutes of a movie, or the first couple slides of a presentation.

Because we're in a new age of media consumption, it's imperative to grab the audience's attention in your opening gambit. You may have purchased a streaming media service like Netflix. For eight bucks a month your eyeballs are free to swim in an endless supply of images.

When I choose a movie and the opening scenes fails to entice me, I simply sample another movie. Screenwriters have know about the importance of openings for ages. So when business people ask me how to improve a presentation, I suggest they take a trip outside the boundaries of business and see how the pros do it.

Check out Erik Bork's guidance for The first 10 pages of a script.

Want to sharpen your opening skills while watching a movie. Pay attention to the opening and final images. What changed?

In Save the Cat, Blake Snyder writes that good screenwriters check their movie math by comparing the opening and final images. Do the images show a change in the character? After all, stories are about change. Stories are about transformation.

Consider Miss Congeniality, starring Sandra Bullock.

Opening Image: Sandra is dressed in sweats, working out with male FBI agents.

Final Image: Sandra is dressed in a dazzling gown, surrounded by women and awarded the Miss Congeniality prize.

The movie math checks out.

High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service

When you sell a product you’re also selling a customer experience. Some people believe the experience is so important that it’s been given a name — The Experience Economy.

 

In a social media crazed world where people tweet and blog about anything, how do you create remarkable customer experiences? Micah Solomon gives you the keys to delight customers in his book, High-tech, High-touch Customer Service.

 

The author identifies six crucial trends related to the individual consumer.  While there may be overarching business trends, learning to treat customers as individuals is key to business success. Let’s look at two trends.

 

Customers expect anticipatory technology behavior — Instantly 

 

The art of anticipation helps create customer loyalty. Micah applauds Netflix and Apple for their ability to anticipate customer needs. Netflix, for example, provides viewers with a list of movies they may want to watch next.  And Apple stores are set up to anticipate customer needs.

 

The Apple Store app allows customers to schedule an appointment so staff receive you properly upon arrival. Instead of upselling, Apple employees are trained to listen and suggest products that satisfy your needs.  

 

The Desire for Self Service

 

Customers have become accustomed to a self-service option from other retailers. Updating account info, checking status of a purchase...

 

If your company has no self-service option, customers are going to wonder, “What gives?” Micah teaches the principles of winning self service.  Customers need a choice of channels. Kiosk, website, phone...

 

Customers should have freedom to choose. If they call, your response shouldn’t be, "Hey, that is handled on our website, brilliantcompany.com.  Dude, please surf to it."

 

Self service needs an escape hatch. Have you ever received an email that came with the warning, “Do not reply.” There should be a way for the customer to contact you. There should be a way for the customer to reciprocate. Correspondence sent via US Postal service provide a way to reply, even if it is as simple as "Return to Sender."

 

Also, avoid making customers a slave to your organization structure. Hold the business buzz words. Speak in plain English — the native language of customers.

 

Micah Solomon’s book holds a wealth of wisdom that will help you win loyal customers. He organizes the info so it’s easy for you to touch. The salient points of each chapter are highlighted in a section called, “and your point is?” Cliff notes for the modern marketing man.

 

Micah also provides his take on social media. So if your company has a Facebook page and it’s not all fun and games, you may want to pick up a copy of his book and learn how to respond to people who are bashing your products in 140 character rhymes.

 

Like a movie where the hero encounters a set back, you too can turn it around.

Career Advice from Seth

Seth Godin serves up three points for scoring a job at a small company. Small companies are the hiring engine for our economy.

What's my favorite tip?

"Learn to write…  There's more writing in business today than ever before, and if you can become a persuasive copywriter, you're practically a salesperson, and even better, your work scales."

Becoming a better writer and developing copywriting skills gives you an advantage over other candidates, or employees after you're hired. Consider the fellow who composes a two-page email reply while you accomplish more with two thoughtful sentences.

Stephen King tells us -- "Writing is refined thinking."

So whose emails, and ideas, will be read in the future?

Copywriting teaches us how to think about persuasion and suggests that we write like we talk.  Learning to write in a conversational style will help your writing in all areas -- memos, presentations, web copy.

Adaptive Enterprise

Creating a company that's flexible and has the ability to adapt will help you get inside your competitor's business cycle. These companies sense needs of customers and respond to changes. I've create a diagram that shows some of the areas where flexibility is key.

If your company creates products, building options into products from the ground up enhances your ability to delight customers.  In fact, options in flexibility can be used in almost any product, from making malteds to making movies.

How do movie moguls use options?  Producers may have two different endings for a movie.  Instead of making an early decision and selecting one ending and playing it in theaters across America, they play the two movies in only two theaters, a different ending in each.  After the movie they interview patrons and discover what movie customers like best.

Producers learn from feedback.  Perhaps they adjust the ending or go with the one customers love.

Change your Meetings

Nancy Duarte decided that the meetings at her company could be a tad better so she brought in Sunni Brown for a Gamestorming workshop.  A downpour of creativity and innovation followed.

On Nancy's blog you'll notice pictures of sticky notes and other lego-like artifacts that are easy to pick up and move around.  I think it would be eye opening to attend the Graphic Jam session and learn sketching techniques to help visually commicate ideas to your coworkers.

It's the shift to a visual framework that raises your ability to deliver at new levels.

How to make Small Bets to Win Big

If the only sure thing in business is uncertainty, do large upfront investments and 18-month plans make any sense?  Not if you want to be in business 18 months later.

There’s a better way.  A way that takes advantage of uncertainty and change.  In fact, the concepts Peter Sims brings to life in his book Little Bets will illuminate a new approach to creating ideas and products.  With an artists touch Peter weaves entertaining stories that show how comedians, architects and entrepreneurs use little bets to win big.  Profiles include Frank Gehry, Chris Rock, and Steve Jobs.

Let’s review the sparks of wisdom in Peter’s scintillating book.  What are little bets?  Little bets are a way to invest a small amount of time and money to learn about a product or idea.  For example, you could create a software prototype and show it to customers for feedback.  Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos uses the analogy of planting seeds and uncovering opportunities.  Amazon embraces experimental innovation; employees are encouraged to try things and develop new ideas.

Mr. Sims identifies six fundamental concepts that power the little bets approach.  Here’s three.

Experiment:  Learn by doing.  Create experiments and prototypes to learn from you audience, these acts help you build up to creative ideas and insights.  When Chris Rock works on a new show, he starts at small comedy clubs where he experiments with rough forms of his jokes.  Chris notes the audiences reactions and builds on it.  Some jokes are flat-out failures.  For those flops, he fails quickly so he can learn fast.

Reorient:  Be flexible in terms of larger goals.  Use small wins to make necessary pivots.  In the world of Agile software development, new requirements are welcomed.

Iterate:  Repeat, refine, and test frequently.  As you receive better insights, information, and feedback from your acts, adjust accordingly and perfect your art.

How do you learn to be flexible?  Some entrepreneurs credit Montessori preschool for increasing their ability to question, explore and discover... helping them conduct experiments and learn from customers.

In software development, business executives are jumping on Agile software like a cat pouncing on a mouse.   Peter explains that Agile is an example of little bets.  Agile encourages teams to be self-directed, work in two-week sprints, and embrace change.  Instead of directing or managing teams, Agile coaches ask questions to guide the team.  So for many software people they’re returning to school – the Montessori school of Agile.

Agile teams select features from a product backlog and create working software in a sprint.  The team demos the software to senior management and customers.  After the software review, management can decide to fail fast and cancel the project, start another iteration, or launch the product, obtaining additional market insights.

Scrum, an Agile framework, tells us the language of Scrum is business.  Instead of speaking geek, talk to CEOs and customers in business terms.

So for everyone who creates new products and wants to play the game of product development − Grab a copy of “Little Bets”, read it cover to cover, and practice the principles.  When you read Peter’s book, you will start to become the innovator you always wanted to be.

Product Vision Board

Roman Pichler provides an example of a product vision board, answering six product questions.

It's powerful to have the business model, top three features and target customers on a cork board you can touch and move around with your hands.

 

Age of the Artist is Now

Seth Godin explains why getting back to basics and working harder no longer guarantee a steady career and paycheck.

It's the age of the artist.

Engage through Storytelling

Nancy Duarte shows how to Engage through Storytelling. Layer stories into your presentation so your audience leans forward and wonders what will happen next.

She notes − In Hollywood, a scene in a movie will last no more than three minutes.

 

Use these techniques to make coworkers talk about your ideas and spread the revolution.