James Shore

in 99 words

Produce working software every week, and demonstrate to stakeholders that you have done so.

Invite anyone who's interested to the demo. It should take about ten minutes. The product manager often conducts the session. Briefly describe the features scheduled, their value, and any unexpected changes. Build trust by being honest, not defensive, about changes.

At the end of each demo, ask your executive sponsor two questions: "Is our work to date satisfactory?" and "May we continue?"

Conduct demos at the same place and time each week. When schedule problems occur, a regular demo makes it easier to face reality.

Commentary

It's a Trap!

Inside the Book

• Iteration Demo
• How to Conduct an Iteration Demo
• Two Key Questions
• Weekly Deployment is Essential
• Questions
  • What do we do if stakeholders keep interrupting and asking questions during the demo?
  • What do we do if stakeholders keep nitpicking our choices?
  • The stakeholders are excited by what they see and want to add a bunch of features. They're good ideas, but we don't have time for them--we need to move on to another part of the product. What should we do?
  • We completely blew this iteration and don't have anything to show. What do we do?
• Results
• Contraindications
• Alternatives