3. Embed useful artefacts
Part of our methodology series
We believe that the right artefacts make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing. That’s why we’ve spent as much time thinking about our artefacts as our method.
OUTCOME > OUTPUT
We didn’t want to overwhelm the teams with forms to fill out and templates to adhere to, so for the most part, as long as they’re working in small batches and well thought out Sprints they can document the output of that work however they like.
Where we did want to be really clear and consistent was on outcome.
With that in mind we focussed our effort on creating a useful Sprint Report. Some of the ambitions we factored into its design are noted below the pic.
EMBODY LEARNING
The emphasis for this programme is on learning, so our reporting methodology really needed to embody that. You’ll see that for each Sprint of work there will be a number of things we set out to learn, followed by ‘how are we going to do that?’ and a ‘measure of success’. That is all part of the first section of the report or ‘Sprint Plan’.
Once a Sprint is complete we ask four questions:
- What was supposed to happen?
- What did happen?
- Why was there a difference?
- How will this inform the next Sprint?
The assumption is that we’ll have learned something worth investing in the next batch of work.
This format makes space for our teams to use their insight and think about how they should course-correct. Finally (and most important of all), we’ll ask how the hypothesis has evolved. All of this is designed to send a very clear message to the teams that we want them to adapt as they go and give them the confidence do that, even though it might feel counterintuitive.
SHAPE THEIR THINKING
This structure is designed to useful in shaping a logic flow. It creates an imperative to think critically about what comes next and why and puts insight on an appropriate stage.
BOTTOM LINING*
We kept the report short and simple to encourage teams to get to the point or bottom line of what has been achieved in the previous Sprint of work.
Too often weighty reports create the illusion of a lot of work, but those words are simply camouflage for the fact that there is no insight or meaningful progress. Our report was designed to leave nowhere to hide so it’s simple, clear and directly to the point.
*Bottom Lining is a term from the world of coaching that refers to the skill of brevity and succinctness. Bottom-lining is about getting to the essence of one’s communication rather than engaging in long descriptive stories
