New Agile Coaches 'fail' this interview question ...

[OveHolmberg]

Being a big fan of your videos Jem, i am happy to finally disagree as we experienced coaches do for a living;). The BEST way is to let a small part (MVP) of the "thing" hit the customers and see if it indicates either/or business/customer value. You can adress this is in the Defintion Of Ready as the V in INVEST. Then pivot/persevere. It is a diffrence between doing the right thing (value) and doing the things right (process/DoD). To complicate even more there is doing the thing right (acceptance criteria = OK). Short feedback loops is process and must be defined by the team. While talking still 70% av the things we do is crap ;)

[RealIsrael]

I don't totally agree with you on the response on how to know you are building the right thing, but I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU THAT AGILE COACHES SHOULD BE SCRUM MASTERS FIRST BEFORE BECOMING COACHES.

[abzgh]

Jemifiah it might be how you've worded the question but my answer to 'what is the best way to find out we're building the right thing' would instinctively be feedback from customers/metrics on are we moving the needle closer to the outcome we're trying to achieve. I get your point though, the intent behind your question is more around how soon should we be getting feedback (in your example, from a PO) in the development lifecycle and of course agreed, the answer is generally as soon as you can! Hope I would pass your interview 😆

[rajadas]

Isn't business closely working with team on daily basis? If they are there and able to use/share feedback on the developed & tested solution ASAP that would be preferred way to know whether it's done or need polishing.

[philnesmith]

Spot on, and points to a broader topic. The issue is about experience as you point out. A cert does not make a coach, just as a cert does not make a Scrum Master. I am finding the same observation that you have made with those who are newly papered SMs. I am so much more accepting of this with the new a new coach should be aware of being so formulaic. To their defense, maybe the question is looked upon as an actual test question in which they only are given three options and they must pick one....the book one over real life....then it is about picking the one likely to be the "book answer"....and it would seem that the "Done" option may be viewed as the safest possibly. Again, points to experience and courage level.

[bradschak]

This is why acceptance criteria is so important. It should describe the expected result when completed. In regards to building the right thing, that may change over time. This is why we need constant feedback and pivot if needed.

[NicoDex]

Interesting points, and you make a strong case… I’m in the LPM space and in defo agree… But when I’m preaching to leaderships we need to ‘stop starting & start finishing’ and minimise WIP… seems a counter perception… I’d imagine they’d also go for the later… great way to illustrate the importance of feedback loops, early & often!

[madzero]

Validating if you are building the right thing with your PO is nice but the only real way of knowing the team is building the right thing is getting feedback from the end users. You can do that by using a paper prototype if you have direct access to the end users, or do some A/B testing if you’re building something like a web shop, or have an end user try the software during development. The state of the user story on the board is totally irrelevant, it’s about the end user’s feedback.

[RealIsrael]

I don't agree with this. The PO doesn't just get to see the done stories at the review/demo. An effective way to ensure fast feedback during the development timebox would be iterative acceptance of the work by the PO ahead of the demo (which will include external stakeholders). That way, the dev team get the iterative feedback on wether they are building the right thing or not.

[gregmester]

I like the question have you considered the priority of the items on the list? Maybe the top item is still in to do, 2nd item is done and 3rd item is in Doing? So are we building the right thing right now. Lots of question could be generated from this simple visual. Thanks for triggering the idea.

[SuperKillaki]

Good video. I would say it the best teams have a really fluid ability to cycle through discovery and delivery in sync (great content by Marty Cagan on this). Ideally you should have some level of validation of what / why before for every item in the to-do list which then de-risks the build. I’ve found the best product teams involve engineers from Day 1 of the discovery phase which tends to lead to a better to-do list in any case.

[TheNUIHEO]

I’ve beed asked what superpower do I want.

[MrSibate]

Love this video. Agree with the points re great Agile Coaches need the "real life team exp"

[rtperson]

I see what you're getting at, but the phrasing of this question is beyond weird. You presume that the PO knows if the team is building the right thing, which is rarely the case. Honestly, very few Product Managers know if they're building the right thing, and precious few leaders and executives as well. The test for "are we building the right thing?" can only be answered by the customer, and their feedback should not happen early in the sprint. This is why you want working software in the customers' hands as soon as possible. You need their reaction to know whether to persevere or pivot.