A Perspective on Perspective…
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saw the best thing at a daily stand-up this week. A squad member was asking about a story on the backlog that had NOTHING to do with their subject matter expertise or experience. Do you want to know WHY that was such a great moment for me? The person assigned to the ticket answered the question and then said the words, “now that I say that, I wonder if we could…”
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Our squads, teams and crews are all designed to help us focus on creating value for our users and customers. One of the many benefits of cross-functional teams is that we all have built-in, unique perspectives at our disposal. Often, by having a person who is less familiar with the specific system or process ask their questions or make their observations, it can help a team break through a log jam, think about solutions differently, or even come up with some innovative ideas they hadn’t considered before. Our teams, squads, crews and chapters have access to unique perspectives because they are all made up of unique individuals who have different experiences and expertise to draw upon. Talk about a competitive advantage!
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Something to consider…
As you are talking about problems or opportunities (refining stories, brainstorming solutions, developing roadmaps, etc..) why not take advantage of the unique perspectives built into your team?
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Encourage everyone to contribute to team discussions. Make room for questions, ideas, observations and commentary. It’s easy to “get on a roll” and forget to make room for everyone to share their perspective.
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Challenge the “that’s not my lane” thinking. Our squads, teams and crews are specifically designed to put unique talents, skills and experiences together to serve customers and users and to solve problems together. If you catch yourself thinking “that’s not my job,” when your team is talking about a problem or an opportunity to create value, it’s time to challenge yourself to ask questions and learn more about how your team serves your users.
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Include everyone on the squad, regardless of role or expertise, when sizing when refining stories and tasks in your backlog… Something like sizing poker flushes out opportunities to challenge assumptions, clarify questions or think about solutions differently. If you don’t know about sizing poker, ask your coach or reach out to the Coaching Chapter’s shared mailbox, and we’ll tell you all about it.
Remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question, because it’s helping YOU better learn how to help your squad help your users! Ask the question. Make the observation. Share the comment… you never know what great thing you’ll unlock with a single sentence!
We all win together!
Coach Dan
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