This is the big question, when does the pilot end? Is it going on forever (i.e., the Beta program that lasts 2 years)? Does it end after 3 months? When does it become the “now normal” and not the hanger-on of ideas? What defines its success? What metrics matter? If you’re asking these questions while you are in the pilot, while you are doing the work, while it is happening, you are asking them at…
The point of standups is to hear what others are doing. It’s a cue for what they are doing, for others to listen and jump in on. If you’re not listening, you’re not participating, you’re not there. It’s the listeners that make standups succeed, not the talkers. Listen.
You don’t need to defend your effort to anyone else. The results might not always be there, but those are your results. No one else’s. Your effort is your own. You’ll know when it’s not enough and you’ll get to be the judge when it isn’t. Everyone else is just noise.
Video games are known for having their secret paths, hidden levels, and easter eggs – all the things that no one can see at first glance and you find simply by roaming around. But the roaming around takes time. You don’t find these paths after 10 minutes of roaming, you find it after an hour, you find it in the least likely of places. And then when you find one, you apply the same trick…
How you deliver? The path you took to get there? That matters. But more importantly, what you deliver – is it workable, does it scale, is it easily understood, can someone jump onto it next, is there a standard to it, how can it be used in the future – will always matter more. You can deliver great, quality, scalable, reusable work – in any situation you are in. Focus on what you Deliver.