This week’s theme: make the work unmistakable, make “done” undeniable, and move decisions to where the knowledge lives. Do that—and ownership and pace take care of themselves.
1) Define–Deliver–Drive
If the sprint can’t be stated in one measurable sentence, the team can’t finish it. I unpack this in the first episode of my new podcast. Replace “almost done” with proof and push authority to the edge that holds the context.
Try: pin one sprint goal at the top of the board and every PR.
2) Definition of Done Is a Product Feature
No DoD, no quality—just hope. Make it public, testable, and boring enough to be reliable. Treat DoD like an artifact with versioning.
Try: add /DoD.md with a checkbox list to your repos.
3) Decision Latency Is a Hidden Tax
Slow decisions compound in the wrong direction. Smaller batches and time‑boxed debate reduce the interest rate. Move choices to domain owners and measure “decision lead time” like you do incident MTTR.
Try: set a 48‑hour SLA for non-urgent decisions and publish the oldest open decision daily.
4) Adults With Autonomy Stay Engaged
My first video note resonated because people want to be treated like adults: clear outcomes, guardrails, and trust. Swap gatekeeping for SLOs, tests, and rollbacks—and start reviews with “What do you recommend?”
Try: run a one‑week pilot where instead of approvals you provide guardrails for your team.
5) Reframe to Preserve Momentum
As Naval (via Eric Jorgenson) notes, calm comes from how you interpret events. The same applies to teams under pressure. Teach the habit of reading incidents as information, not indictment, so pace survives setbacks.
Try: end retros with one reframe: “What story keeps us moving next week?”
This Week’s Core Message
One measurable goal, a testable Definition of Done, and fast edge decisions create the conditions where adults ship without supervision.
Actionable Experiments to Try This Week
Pin the sprint’s one‑line goal and open demos with before/after, not a ticket tour.
Ship a DoD file
Publish a decision SLA and track “decision lead time” visibly.
Run an autonomy pilot: replace one approval with guardrails (SLO, tests, rollback) for a week.
End each retro with a reframe: one sentence that turns a setback into a plan.