Who's afraid of the big, bad, chart?

I love charts, but some people don't.

Some folks, despite embracing agile, whatever that means to them, don't like the visibility. They also don't like the pressure of charts, they don't like to know that they're not burning up at the correct trajectory to meet their goal, they find it counter-productive.

So how can you visualise this problem, or are we back to soft skills again?

Enter the pulse chart, the saviour of low-touch team agile charting.

pulse chart

But what is it, how can it help?

It's really simple. It's all about cadence. If your team has a smooth, steady pulse, then you are able to respond to business change very quickly. You're nice and calm, very predictable delivery, we're in good health. You're also hitting the definition of agility I subscribe to, you can change direction quickly.

The example above is interesting, but it's not the best message. Ideally you should keep the pulses inside the target size lines, and have a constant blue dotting of items released along the bottom axis. In a cake-driven-development world you can even gamify this with the team.

Stay between the lines, and thou shalt have cake.

So what does good look like?

Something like the below. If you're struggling to see why, then please click the email link below. We'd love to chat more about our home-grown charting options.

whatdoesgoodlooklike@arewethereyet.work