The business-side will have some ideas and you know they will be good ones, because they are paying for everything! Amazing how ideas sound a little different from the person (with)holding the checkbook. Developers will have good ideas because they are creative and just finished reading medium.com, and are eager to try new framework/library/database because surely it will be amazing and solve all the things. Other people in the company, or even individual clients, will have ideas now and again, sometimes in a very niche part of the software. And those ideas are important to them, more important than your next major or minor release!
What to do?!! Blowing people off and just blazing ahead with your plan might turn out well, and you'll prove to everyone how right you were! But at best some people are not happy, with you or your processes. At worst, you stop receiving new ideas at all. (Let's not even consider ignoring others ideas and still sinking . . . uh oh for you!)
When it comes to receiving ideas, two things need to happen:
People need to feel heard
People need feedback
Feeling Heard
Like I mentioned before, any idea someone brings up is important to them. If they do not feel heard or valued when giving their idea, they might become alienated to the team or just bitter. Could happen differently for different people, but the basic principle is to treat people well! We want good ideas, and we want people to give them.Feeling heard is just a quick discussion, and it is also helpful in clarifying the idea.
- "What were you thinking?"
- "Why is this important?"
- "Any timeframe the idea?"
- Maybe there's a quick drawing on a whiteboard.
If you can repeat back the idea after you understand it, that person will feel valued.
All this will go into your backlog of choice, whether its a spreadsheet, sticky notes in your dev's cube, or some tool that team uses. Ready to evaluate and enter planning (or cold storage : )
If you hear people's ideas and they have no way to get any feedback, their ideas just go into a blackhole and they have no clue if the idea is something to prepare for. We contracted on a team once where the Tech Lead wanted the business team to leave the dev team alone, constructed a wall, and ideas were tossed over (through him). Without any feedback from their meetings, the sales team were pitching one set of ideas to clients, the dev team was building another set of ideas, and everyone only found out how far apart they were at Milestone Releases! Contrast that with a company I've spoken with that has great intra-team communications, and ideas are flowing!
Giving Feedback
Often called closing-the-loop, any idea needs a resolution.- Is it happening this sprint?
- Is it up for future review?
- "Yes, though wait until Milestone 2 is over."
- Skip it, because...
It does not matter whether this feedback is personally communicated or can be looked up at another time. It does matter why the resolution turned out the way it did.
People need to know what was good about the idea, and what was not. Maybe the idea was good, just not right now. Maybe the impact would not be worth the investment. Whatever the reason, it communicates the goals and schedules of the team, and will help shape better ideas in the future.
If people's ideas get feedback, but they are not heard, the people do not feel valued. Ever hear things like this?
- "Why bother giving ideas, they just get rejected?"
- "Those tech guys don't know anything, this idea is necessary and will save the company!"
- "Yeah, I saw the demo. That was my idea, ya know?"
People that feel valued will contribute more, will stay with the company, will think of real ways to improve because they genuinely care. Good people are the greatest asset, and must be valued (of course, a principle in life and not just business.)
Now Do It
The process your team implements can be adjusted, but both parts are necessary.
The existing meetings (Planning, Retros, "weekly team", etc) you already have are a good place to touch on these things. Keep using whatever tool you're using to manage tickets. With an attentive team lead (scrum master, whatever), even "being heard" can be accomplished remotely through the ticketing system; though starting that way may not have the right affect until people can trust the process. Even give rewards for good ideas. Whatever it takes for your specific team.
Everyone has good ideas, so work hard to find and keep the good ones, and ensure the next ones are brought in.
