Have you ever been told, “I can’t tell you what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it”?

Did you regret not running away?

Well, I certainly have, and not just once.

Ms. Brown’s references to the string of consequences resulting from blindly pushing to increase velocity ultimately leading to burnout at the end of each sprint, evoke memories of how one manager I worked with embraced Agile development practices because he thought it freed him from the responsibility of defining deliverables from the development team and from following a solid project-management methodology.  Stakeholders have a responsibility to their developers to clearly state (which implies they understand) the business problem to be solved, and any expectations they already have of the solution they are requesting.  And, developers have the right to demand that stakeholders live up to their responsibilities.

You wouldn’t go to Google Maps and request that it route you without providing start and end points, would you?  The same applies to solving a business problem.  Where are we? This can be expressed in any number of ways, but basically it defines the starting point.  Where are we going? This can be expressed in any number of ways as well, but basically it defines the ending point, thus identifying the gap that needs to be solved. There can be any number of constraints along the way, such as the fastest route, no tolls or the scenic route (time, budget, scope—one must be identified as the priority, and they all must be managed along the way). There can also be constraints placed on solving the problem, and knowing these ahead of time will increase velocity and help minimize poor quality, unstable code and not meeting the stakeholder’s expectations.

Developers should not allow stakeholders to abdicate their responsibilities in the partnership you enter into with them, which is the role of professional project managers.  Poor definition of business problems by the stakeholder and lack of professional project management lead to delivering wrong features faster, and ultimately resulting in products that do not meet the stakeholder’s needs. Yes, make sure that you understand the business problems and business value of the solution as well as they do.  And, don’t hesitate to call stakeholders into accountability when they themselves have not done their due diligence.