One of my favorite follow-up questions is to ask about the customer problem they’re solving. Often we get into a good conversation about the customer, but sometimes I get a shrug of indifference and an answer along the lines of “I’m not sure, it’s what the PM told me to do.” That’s when I can see teams may have taken Agile’s division of labor too far, and I know a follow-up conversation with the team might be a good idea—both for the leaders, who could be getting more out of their team, but also for the developers who are content with not knowing. I believe that’s ultimately career limiting.
...more
