Collaborating with Stakeholders

Collaboratingwith

Stakeholders

Tuesday, November 1, 11

• Stuart Turner

• Originally from England

• Lives in Singapore

• Works for Odd-e

• Agile coach, SW developer

• Experience with startups and Financial Institutions

• Java, Low-latency Trading Systems, Operational Risk


Why not just consider the Customer?


What is a stakeholder?

A person, group, organization or system which affects or can be affected by an

organization's actions


Why do we need Collaboration?


• Most modern software is complex

• Numerous and varied skill sets are required

• A team is the basic unit necessary


But we’re agile!

• Yes, it helps to remove BDUF

• Yes, it brings people to work as teams

• Focuses on building things better, not necessarily building the right things


“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which

should not be done at all.”Peter Drucker


64%of software

features are rarely or never used!


Why do we build things we don’t really need?


Confirmation Bias


• PO, customer, users just want what someone else has

• Ticks more boxes

• Might be a language, framework, library or design patterns

• New buzz words

• The latest ‘cool’ technology

• Your manager’s pet project


Implementation team(s) are too far removed

• Large organization

• Departmentalized specialization

• Local optimization

• ‘Broken telephone’

• Jerry Maguire


Language

• Ambiguous

• Insufficient or incapable

• Lengthy

• Unsuitable


User Stories

• User story for a user

• User story for a product owner

• User story for a developer

• No business value or benefit to the customer

• No acceptance criteria

Krystian Kaczor


We introduce complications

• We want to use a tool

• We are able to work remotely

• Just because we can doesn’t mean we should


It’s not technology...

• Software is complex but not complicated

• The technical problems have almost certainly been solved before


• Most problems are caused by...


Miscommunication


The unknown is unknown

• Each individual has their own view

• We don’t know if our views are the same

• If often appears our views are the same

• Customers sometimes don’t know what they want

• They often don’t know what’s possible


Solutions are often conceived before we’ve

understood the problem!


Established Application

• Developed over the past ten years by an average of 100 developers

• How do you tell if features are no longer useful?

• Should you REMOVE some or all of those features?


Collaboration helps to expand our knowledge and

understanding


How do we collaborate more effectively?


• Go and see

• More direct feedback

• Simple interaction

• Knowing what your work means to the customer


It’s complex


CollaborationTuesday, November 1, 11

Collaboration

• Bring together all stakeholders

• Share the vision and goal


Shared Mental Models


Establish a shared understanding of the

problem


The problem isn’t the problem!


Overcoming the problem is the

problem!


With direct feedback from all stakeholders you realize you’re not delivering a product or

a service


You’re providing an Experience


Experiences

• Usage of delivered software

• Engagement and interaction

• Empathy and understanding

• Enthusiasm


“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief

requirements of life.All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

Albert Einstein


You’re able to delight your stakeholders


How do we achieve this?


Large brained animals perform better when

they’re enjoying themselvesNancy Frishberg


Bring people together


Overcoming the problem

• Games and role playing really help

• Use physical and interactive media

• Act out different scenarios

• Prototype solutions

• Gauge stakeholder feedback


Capture the important details

• Use drawings and physical models

• Stakeholder value and acceptance criteria

• Automated acceptance tests


I’m always doing things I can’t do.

That’s how I get to do them.

Pablo Picasso


Future Experiences

• How are you going to delight your stakeholders?

• How are you going to improve your own working experience?

• One small thing...


Collaborating with Stakeholders

Education

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