PitchingAgile
From SPA Wiki
Session outline from SPA programme here: http://www.spaconference.org/spa2009/sessions/session205.html
We changed the process slightly - given a small room and the number who attended, we kept the team of Truly Difficult Bastards to the four we'd asked, with 4 teams of 4 and 5 individuals pitching to the board. And to bring some structure to the close of the session we asked the teams to document their learning in points on posters to share with the rest of the participants and beyond. Nevertheless, with three rounds of preparing and pitching, plus intro, reprise of the winning pitch and discussion/wrap, the session was just as noisy, stressful and entertaining as we'd hoped.
The four team summaries:
Contents |
Team A
- Be explicit about the changes you're selling
- Understand the context better
- Identify the priorities of your [senior execs] dragons
Team B
- A roll-out plan is key
- How do you deal with distributed/offshore teams
- Address scale
- Timescales
- Waterfall/Agile [David's not sure what this one means in context...]
- Fit with company strategy
- Need to communicate "Agile"
Team C
- Understand the business problem you're trying to solve
- Sample business case
- "Prove it!"
- Rehearse your pitch, then rehearse it again!
- Get feedback and improve your pitch accordingly
Team D
- Be prepared to answer concrete questions from management
- Speak business language, not technical jargon
- Be persuasive, prepare evidence
The major observation from the Dragons was that it wasn't at all clear _what_ was being proposed, so it was impossible for them to understand _why_ in terms that they could relate to the business, its strategy and its stakeholders. It's all to easy to be arm-waving about the values and benefits of agile, but a concrete idea - what you're going to do first, what next - is a great foundation.
Thanks to all who participated from David and Peter! Special thanks to JohnDaniels, JohnNolan, DaveCleal and RobertJames, who were perfect Bastards!
Some pictures:
Four Truly Difficult Bastards proving a point
Trying to convince a sceptical CEO
One of four simultaneous pitches - chaos!
