6 Common Problems in Agile Showcases

We spoke about some of the common patterns in “successful” showcases earlier. In this article, we will see a few patterns which seem to lead to “unsuccessful” showcases.

Problem: Importance of a showcase is not realized /not having showcases

Cause: This issue usually arises when working with a team that is not used to agile. Occasionally, it could be due to the ineffectiveness of previous showcases.

Solution: In most cases, speaking to the people will solve this issue. A session on the lines of an Agile 101 helps quite a bit. The effectiveness of the session improves if you have influential people in the session. Your executive sponsor can be your ally in making people understand the importance of showcases until they actually see the value for themselves.

Problem: Disagreements during a showcase

Cause: Disagreements usually occur in an environment which is high stress (tough deadlines/ambiguity etc.) or in a politically charged environment where stakeholders might use the showcase as a means to show their power.

Solution: This is a difficult situation to deal with, especially if the onus is on you to steer the project to a successful delivery. Some solutions that have worked in the past include getting everyone for an offsite, trying to set boundaries, having one on ones with stakeholders, bringing in the executive sponsor or a client representative to smooth waters for the team. This one time, I got a particularly fractious stakeholder on board by asking them to spend time with the team and showing them that we were actually listening to feedback. In extreme cases, this might mean having to replace them.

Problem: Having a showcase when there is nothing showcase-able

Cause: This occurs when the showcase is mechanical without a thought on if there is something demonstrable. This could be due to many tactical reasons — for example, a new feature might have started or there could be a UAT or release that is happening.

Solution: Don’t do a showcase if there is nothing to show. If you need to show metrics or give status updates, do it in a separate conversation with people interested in those topics.

Problem: Mixing up the software demo with metrics/ Not tailoring the showcase to the audience

Cause: There are both project managers as well as product team members in the showcase.

Solution: There is no one size fits all solution here. Depending on the context, you can either focus exclusively on the software part on one extreme to focusing on metrics and state of the project on the other with varying degrees of a mix in between. One suggestion is to try and decouple these two parts as they require deep focus from two different skill sets. In fact, in a couple of client projects, our showcases were exclusively about the software. We sent out metrics etc. in an email and had a separate conversation about the project later. Regardless, remember you need to tailor your “language” to that of the people in the room i.e. functionality, technical details etc.

Problem: Poor preparation

Cause: High-stress project with short deadlines

Solution: Identify an owner to drive the showcase. If the preparation is going to affect delivery, then depending on the relative importance of the deadline versus the showcase, consider postponing or cutting short the showcase.

Problem: Not following-up on feedback in a showcase

Cause: lack of attention

Solution: Have a scribe to take down feedback. Discuss & prioritize immediately so that the context is not lost. This conversation could happen in the same session or the next IPM (sprint planning meeting) or in a separate meeting altogether.