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Thursday, January 23, 2014

How to Radiate Information

Agilists talk about "Information Radiators."  An information radiator is a place (usually a wall) where team members and guests can inform themselves about project / release /iteration details without asking anyone a question.  The most common information radiator is a team Kanban board with cards or sticky notes identifying current backlog items with their status.

Information Radiator:  GOOD!

This is not the eye candy found in most offices!

Eye Candy - Fun, but not as helpful
If you are seeing the Kramer poster (or your organization's equivalent) and no meaningful information radiators - your agile score is not very high.  On the positive side, adding a meaningful information radiator for your project / release / iteration is a great step on the path to becoming agile.

It's an Information Radiator if
  • Regularly Updated by your Team
  • Team Members and Visitors Read and Understand the Information Presented
  • No one Worries about Fonts and Formats
  • Everyone Thinks about Content and Process
Where I grew up, we had iron radiators that heated the house in winter.  Here's hoping that your project is heated with radiators.

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