Good Communication Leads to Good Products

Nothing derails an Agile project faster than gaps in communication. And after many years of analyzing where communication went wrong, I found a common culprit at the heart of most communication disasters: assumptions. Oh, the little beasts – they creep in where you least expect them, and they color our interpretation of just about everything. Human brains are assumption machines. It is what we do; it is at the heart of how our brains function efficiently. The more you know, the more assumptions you make. Your subconscious starts to take over, and you jump to conclusions based on previous knowledge before you even realize you've done it. Proactively identifying and managing assumptions, and communication more generally, across a complex software project is critical to success.