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9 Questions to Create Alignment with your Customers and Stakeholders

When was the last time you really spoke to a customer or stakeholder about their needs? Sure, everybody talks about getting out of the office, but how do you actually do it? Here's an interview template to make customer conversations much easier.

My ultimate goal is to have an impact. I have found the best way to do that is to create alignment between myself and my stakeholders or customers.

I use this canvas to guide my conversations with my stakeholders. It has been a game changer for me! So much, that it is now a part of Personal Agility.

The goal is to understand your stakeholder, build a rapport, and get actionable information to guide the next steps. This might be about our collaboration or a product I want to create for them.
Getting Ready I generally plan 60 minutes for the interview, but it can be done in as little as 30 minutes if you and the other person are focused. Whether speed or depth is more important to you, depends on the context and what you are trying to achi…
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What is the Product Backlog in Scrum?

According to the Scrum Guide, the Product Backlog is “an ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product and is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product.”

Each entry in the list is called a Product Backlog Item (“PBI”). Since User Stories are such a common practice, Backlog Items are often just called “Stories” even though User Stories are not part of Scrum and backlog items are not necessarily in User Story format. (I use story and backlog item interchangeably).

A list is just a list, so there is nothing binding about the Product Backlog. It is a list of ideas – things that you think belong in the product, but this list is subject to change at any time.
Each backlog item has the following attributes:


Description – a statement of the goal or purpose of the story.Sequence number – its place in the queue – determined by the Product OwnerValue -  a statement of the business value of the story – determined by the Product OwnerEstimate – th…
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Personal Agility Impact Canvas: How to understand what really matters to your stakeholders

Are you trying to figure out what really matters to your stakeholders? The Personal Agility Impact Canvas leads you through a 30 to 60 minute interview so you find out what is really important to your stakeholders, building their trust while you do.

You've probably heard about the Lean Canvas or the Business Model Canvas. These help you think about and understand your customers and your business. But how do you know what really matters to them? You have to talk to them to validate your assumptions. This is key to achieving better Impact (as I explain in my PAS Workshop)

Inspired by Iman Aghay's approach to problem validation, I created a canvas to lead you through the discussion with your stakeholder's, centered around Who, Why, and the Outcomes you want. Each question is a Powerful Question, to help you understand what is on your stakeholder's mind:

Who?

Stakeholder - Note and if necessary confirm the person's Name, Function, Contact DetailsGoals or Objectives - W…
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Announcing the PAS Workshop: Double Your Professional Impact in 8 Weeks

I have created a video about my new workshop on the Personal Agility System: Double your professional impact in 8 weeks.

The online workshop starts next week. You can learn all about it here, and you'll find a special 2 for 1 offer towards the end...


You can sign up and get full information at https://saat-network.ch/pas!
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How does backlog refinement work?

Last month, at the Scrum Breakfast Club, we looked at backlog refinement, so I had an opportunity to explain the product backlog iceberg, a popular metaphor for explaining the process. All about stories and features, TFB  and NFC, and everything else you need to know on a stories voyage from epic to grain of sand.
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Who wants to try a Personal Daily Scrum?

Thanks to My Priorities Map, I know what I want to accomplish every week, but it's still a challenge to focus each day. My inbox, twitter, linked in, facebook, reddit, google news and clowns and criminals in high office all offer huge potential distraction, enticing me to waste the day away. Not to mention there are things I like to do, and things I don't.

Yesterday I tried something new. I changed how I do my "daily scrum". In my calendar, I have an appointment with myself, every day except Sunday. Here's the agenda:

What did you accomplish yesterday? (Give yourself a high-five!)Of all the things you want to you get this week, what is the most important thing to accomplish today?Are you having difficulties doing this? If so, who can help? Yesterday, it really helped! So I have set up my calendar to send me an email with these three questions every morning at 8:30 for the next week. A friendly reminder to celebrate and focus. I am going to try it for a week and I…
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A conversation about My Personal Agility

Next week, I will be giving a webinar on My Personal Agility for the Discussing Agile group in India. Yesterday I spoke with host Piyali about the essentials of My Personal Agility. What started out as a way to get more get stuff done has become a way to do more that matters and recognize who you are and who you are becoming.

We talked about how it works and what it can do for you:




Next week in the webinar we'll talk about how you can get started! Have post-its and some wall space ready, because we are going to get practical! You find out about the Personal Agility Webinar Workshop on Discuss Agile web site page. See you there!




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