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.
But is it your job to know how it works? If the answer is no, then why are people asking you how it works? If the answer is yes, and you are responsible for it than how does this problem get resolved? You can’t hide in a sea of unknowns if you are supposed to know how it works – no amount of diagrams or technical jargon will keep the problem hidden.
“This connects to that and then I think it does something over here, or something else does something, but then there is another system that works here…” If that’s the introduction to what you’re working on, get ready for two things to happen; Pad your estimates into next week because you will spend more time working with people to figure out what is going on rather than actually working on the problem. Change what you…
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.