Want to ditch your Retrospective?
Are Product Demos painful and shallow on the feedback?
This is what we hear from our Scrum teams over and over. The Scrum framework is simple and elegant, but implementation can be complex.
Communication and learning are highly intertwined and as Scrum believers, we are compelled to do both at a high level. We need to shape questions to drive the learning and to forge a path for the product development. How can we ever gain robust, vital feedback without engagement of our audience?
- Don’t abandon the Scrum ceremonies, re-frame them with robust and relevant questions that drive the learning.
- Build better products by building better teams with awareness of communication patterns.
- Navigate the pitfalls of stuck perspective by shifting team thinking.
- Tell stories to illustrate a point or perspective.
Asking questions is risky business. We have no control over the answer and we may not like the answer. But as ScrumMasters, Product Owners, and developers, we must be fearless in our quest to drive greatness for our end users. Here are some question examples to bring life to your next Scrum ceremony. 
Daily Scrum
- What is frustrating you?
- What new information has surfaced?
- What skills do we need to finish the story?
- What’s your gut reaction to _______?
Product Demo
- What are your biggest dreams for this product?
- What are the pros and cons to this product release?
- We have run into a challenge and are seeking your input to solve it.
- If we could take one risk with this product it would be_____. What do you think?
These are solutions that will propel Scrum meeting into a higher level of engagement. Break the habit of the same old, same old Scrum meetings. Learn to ask significant questions. See where the questions will take you.
