The Product pillar focuses on the team proficiency of embedding core business values into daily decision making, maximizing delivery impact.  Teams successful in this area execute with a balance across the multiple dimensions of product value: brand, market impact, security, infrastructure, innovation and sustainability.  They understand that code alone does not make the product.

 

Can you feed an AI Driven PRODUCT?

Sarah's story now turns to meeting goals and the value stream needed for AI success...

Sarah is now confident she has found all the “landmines” that will derail her implementation of AI, however her observations left only questions regarding the overall goals and expectations of the key sponsors. Somewhere in all the details of the team’s work, Sarah could not get a sense of the “big picture” and how the work delivers on that vision. The team is mired in work details, but what is the priority? Are they working the most important thing today? She’s off to meet with a few of these sponsors to get clarity.

First on her list is James, the business point of contact for everyday questions. He sometimes likes to jump into the daily standup meeting but mostly asks his questions via email to Brenda. Sarah’s meeting with James got rescheduled twice, but finally she got an hour of his time. Sarah had a list of questions for James but after the first two, James began talking and talking and talking until her hour was up. From this discussion she now understood how James views his role to the team, calling him the “The Key Master” because it was clear he wants nothing done without his okay. He went on and on about how knowledgeable he is in screen design and his expertise in Excel “programs” gives him an understanding of the team’s needs. When asked how he is able to stay engaged with the team with his busy schedule, he explained that Brenda knows what he wants and “hunts him down” when she needs him.

The next interview was with Steve, James’ boss. Her meeting with him did not take the entire hour. Steve is a business person and is upfront about his lack of understanding technology builds. What he does know is the ever-increasing cost of the team and the seemingly less and less output. He leaves all of that to James. Sarah asked specifically about his expectations of her project and he said “Well, AI is going to fix everything. We’ll achieve our goals with less costs, no overruns and more accuracy. Isn’t that right?” he asked. Sarah realized the goals of her project had not been made clear, nor did she have consensus on expectations. Uncomfortable but educated, Sarah left the interview with some ToDos of her own.

In compiling her notes, Sarah summarized her interview observations…

• James is too busy with his own work and wants to give direction in small snippets without context.
• Steve is the “wallet…what am I getting for my money” person yet has delegated the oversight of the goals.
• Brenda runs around collecting answers all day without understanding cost control and the value of options.
• None of the key sponsors have a dedicated engagement with the team to influence decision making.

These external value streams need to align to the speed of an Agile team, not to mention an AI Agile team. Detailed instruction will waste the power of AI. It will be imperative for Sarah to move the teams out of the detail and into the feature set/goal perspective. AI does not need to know the type of yarn to knit a sweater, it just needs to know you want a sweater.