Agile and Beyond 2016

Developing and using effective feedback systems is vital to the success of agile initiatives. In my agile training and coaching experience with 70 clients over six years at VersionOne and New Synergy Group, I have seen several agile teams suffer from dysfunctional agile feedback systems: no or delayed feedback, or ineffective learning from feedback. I will explain three agile feedback systems (Daily feedback, Sprint feedback and Release feedback) so you can clearly see how feedback loops may run dysfunctional, and how they can be repaired.

I will explain how to improve the Daily feedback system so it’s beneficial to each team member, how to improve the Sprint (Iteration) feedback system so it’s beneficial for each team, and how to improve the Release feedback system so it’s beneficial for each program or the whole organization. The key to improving these feedback systems is to understand and use visual boards and templates that capture and visualize if the double feedback loops (the basic feedback loop as well as the derivative feedback loop) are working properly, and to leverage connections among these agile feedback systems. These visual boards and templates have been refined with extensive use with my clients over the last six years. The derivative feedback loops (feedback on feedback) enable a learning and continuously improving organization.