Shared Mental Model

Great companies build and share their mental model internally in ways that enable managers and employees to independently make critical decisions day in and day out that are aligned with the strategy.

Once development, support and marketing branched into separate departments, the peoples’ ideas about the software and our mission began to diverge. I took a step back and envisioned way could communicate throughout the development cycle. I gathered ideas one-on-one with stakeholders, using this Lo-Fi diagram as an inclusive model. The development cycle became more engaging and steady as we improved.

The following practices served to keep everyone synced up.

Requirements Gathering

Sitting in on conference calls and deal-making meetings provided direct insight into client needs. From there, we used the bare minimum of Lo-Fi artifacts to communicate what would be built, and garnered feedback. This often surfaced clarifying points before development of code.

Stand-up Meetings

Quick daily stand-up meetings with engineering and quality assurance helped reveal assumptions and keep the current sprint on track

Fix-It Meetings

All stakeholders had an opportunity to attend a weekly “Fix-It” meeting, and make their case for desired small enhancements and quick bug fixes. This focused hour clarified many tradeoffs, promoted consensus, and reduced priority interrupts.

Sprint Demo

The day before a sprint deployed, the development team would demonstrate any customer-visible features. This left time for small adjustments guided by group consensus. The developer responsible for a feature would often demonstrate their work. Stakeholders could update parteners and key clients, keeping to the principle of “no surprises.” Over time, this tradition built trust among departments.