๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐ - If you aren't sure, or it's been a few weeks, it's been too long.
The first principle of the agile manifesto focuses on customer centricity, yet how many metrics track this beyond eNPS?
It's all velocity, cycle time, utilisation percentages but not enough focus on those who matter most. Our customers.
If we're honest with ourselves, are we engaging with them often enough?
๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐๐
- Consider metrics such as '๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐' instead of focusing on velocity.
Days since last customer engagement keeps teams anchored to where the value lies. It continually reinforces the need to engage with customers frequently, and often to ensure we're on the right trajectory. Keep this number of days as low as is feasible for your given situation.
- ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ง๐จ - You are not the user. There is no substitute for real customer interaction
It's easy to make assumptions about what you think the customer wants and even harder to have that assertion challenged when you realise customers didn't want that feature at all. Don't just put yourself in the shoes of the customer, ask them what they want.
- Experiment with ๐ฐ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ - Customers you can embed into your teams to shorten customer feedback loops
Depending on your situation & your access to customers, having a citizen developer involved in your iterations can be helpful. They can attend your team ceremonies and help shape the product. Ensure to rotate the citizen developers every few sprints to keep the perceptions fresh/
- Allow those who develop the product to demonstrate to their customers. Let them hear the feedback first hand
We've all heard of Chinese whispers and understand how messages can become skewed when relayed through various different layers. Allow those who produce the product to demonstrate to the customers. Receiving feedback first hand is a sure fire way to ensure it's better understood.
- Try using ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐ / ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฎ walks to observe how customers are using your products
Gemba walks aim to get you close to where the value lies. Doing so, you 'walk the floor' to an extent and observe how customers are using your product in real time. Virtually doing so can present more of a challenge but there is no substitute for actually seeing how a product is being used vs how a customer says they are using it.
How do you keep close to your customers?