Less than a month to go! Agile2016 is on July 25-29 in Atlanta, GA, USA.
Widely regarded as the premier Agile conference in the world, Agile2016 offers an unprecedented opportunity to learn from world-class experts and thought leaders while networking and collaborating with up to 2,500 Agile professionals from over 40 countries.
Join active and influential Agile Developers, Executives, Managers, Teams, Coaches, and Consultants. Take away the actionable knowledge, valuable contacts, and inspiration to achieve your objectives and make your Agile initiative a success.
(Last year sold out, so if you are planning to come along you might want get your tickets now.)
How to Train your HiPPO
I’m going to be talking on Monday afternoon about How to Train your HiPPO. This has been one of the most popular topics on this site, and was also a featured article on the LeanKit blog late last year. This talk expands on the topic and delves into 5 ways we can train the HiPPO in order to reduce the damage it can do…
Abstract:
Have you noticed the impact on decision-making when someone more senior in your organisation shares their opinion? Meet the HiPPO: the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. Sometimes it’s subtle and unintended. Other times it’s more direct and intentional. Either way, the HiPPO is a dangerous animal in software development.
When the HiPPO is allowed to drive decision-making this has a number of negative side-effects. Options are prematurely closed down. Critical assumptions get hidden. Information about value and urgency are buried. Dates are often promised (prematurely). Overall, the chances of delivering value is reduced and the risk of failure increases.
An untrained HiPPO is one of the most dangerous animals to let loose around Product Development. Whilst the HiPPO may like to be in charge, they don’t really want to be responsible for developing products that nobody wants. So, how can we help the HiPPO to help themselves?
Come and hear more about why HiPPO driven decision-making is so dangerous and learn some simple techniques you can use to train your HiPPO.
…I’m also really keen to learn from you as well, hearing your stories of HiPPOs and give you a chance to share what you’ve tried as a way to minimise the damage. In the wings of the conference we could also talk about #NoProjects, Cost of Delay and other ideas the people are experimenting with.
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