3. Effectiveness in Agile Teams

Now that we've explored systems thinking and how to apply it in day-to-day operations, let's shift our focus to the concept of effectiveness. Understanding effectiveness is crucial in agile environments, as it guides how we prioritize, deliver value, and make decisions.

What is Effectiveness?

Effectiveness is about focusing on results and objectives. It involves making decisions that prioritize customer needs and ensuring that the outcomes align with business goals. In agile teams, effectiveness means looking at the problem before jumping to solutions, which drives better prioritization.

For instance, if you're facing a conversion issue in a digital product, thinking effectively means focusing on optimizing that conversion. It’s not just about delivering more features or work but ensuring that the work directly solves a problem and brings meaningful results.

Since capacity is always limited, teams must prioritize effectively. Agile is not just about moving fast—it's about focusing on the right things.

Bringing Effectiveness to Agile Teams

One practical way to embed effectiveness into agile teams is by focusing on customer-centricity. Here’s a simple framework based on four core questions:

  1. Who is the customer? Do you truly know who your team is building for?
  2. What are their needs? Can you identify the core problems or desires of your customers?
  3. What are their dissatisfactions? Are there pain points that need to be addressed?
  4. What do they expect from the product or service? Knowing customer expectations helps tailor solutions effectively.

By answering these questions, you ensure that the work is aligned with customer needs, which is the essence of effectiveness.

Case Study: Security Team at Nubank

At Nubank, the Information Security team—while technically focused—conducted a survey to understand the needs of internal employees. They asked if employees had ever requested services from the security team, the purpose of their requests, and how well the team met their expectations.

The survey results revealed three main needs: risk mapping, support for security controls, and detection of security incidents. With this knowledge, the team was able to eliminate irrelevant products and focus on services that directly addressed these core needs. This led to streamlining the product portfolio, automating security intelligence, and improving response times.

Even though this example is from a non-digital product team, the principle remains the same: identify who your customer is and focus on solving their real problems.

Defining a Clear Direction with OKRs

Another key to effectiveness is having a clear direction. This is where OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) come in. OKRs provide a "north star" for the team by setting measurable goals.

When setting OKRs, make sure they are connected to your business metrics. For example:

By monitoring these domains, you can ensure that your team's objectives align with business goals, improving overall effectiveness.

Case Study: Setting Objectives for a Residential Insurance Product

At a residential insurance company, the team used metrics to assess product performance, including customer demographics, revenue, and conversion rates. They marked high-performing areas in green and underperforming areas in red. Based on this analysis, the team established clear objectives and key results for the upcoming quarter, targeting both areas of strength and weakness.

This approach helped the team prioritize efforts and set meaningful goals. The lesson here is that you need metrics to understand where you stand before you can set realistic objectives.

Aligning Work with Objectives

Effectiveness also involves connecting the work your team does with larger business goals. Here's an example of an "ideal card" for a sales solution project:

This card not only outlines what the team needs to do but also shows how the work contributes to broader business outcomes. This alignment ensures that the team is working effectively, focusing on results rather than just outputs.

Love the Problem, Not the Solution

Another crucial aspect of effectiveness is defining the problem before jumping to solutions. One way to do this is by asking the right questions.

For example, when working with an insurance company, customers complained about the bureaucratic process of filing claims. The initial solution proposed was to build a mobile app. But by digging deeper, we realized the real problem was not the lack of an app but the overall complexity of the process. This led us to rethink the solution, avoiding unnecessary work on an app that wouldn't truly solve the customers’ pain points.

Identifying the Right Problems

To effectively solve problems, you must first ensure you are solving the right ones. Use these four sources to validate your problems:

  1. Business metrics: Quantify whether an issue is affecting performance.
  2. Market research: Ensure that the problem isn’t just an internal perception but also affects the broader market.
  3. Assumptions: Use hypotheses to frame the problem and validate them through experiments.
  4. User research: Gather real data from users to understand their needs and challenges.

By systematically addressing these factors, you avoid building unnecessary solutions and instead focus on what truly matters.

Prioritization with Business Value Points (BVP)

Effective teams know how to prioritize work. One method I recommend is Business Value Points (BVP), which evaluates tasks based on criteria like:

Each criterion is weighted, and the work is scored based on how well it meets each criterion. This gives you a clear picture of what to prioritize, ensuring that you focus on what brings the most value.

Conclusion

Effectiveness in agile environments means focusing on what truly matters—customer needs, business goals, and clear objectives. By understanding who your customer is, setting meaningful OKRs, aligning work with larger goals, and prioritizing through frameworks like BVP, you ensure that your team delivers impactful results.

Ultimately, effectiveness is about making the right choices, so you can drive meaningful outcomes while optimizing the use of your team's limited capacity.