agile# How to Use Direct Marketing Innovation to Create Effective Sprint Demos in Retail Services (1/61)
A retail services SME running SAFe with a medium team of six to fifteen people has a sprint demo problem. The company provides a customer loyalty platform for mid-size retail chains. The platform handles point accrual, reward redemption, tier management, personalized offers, and customer analytics. The company has been around for six years. It has fifty-eight employees. The product development organization has eleven people. The organization runs Scaled Agile Framework (2/61)
. Two agile release train teams. Team one has six people. Team two has five people. (3/61)
The sprint demos are broken. They are boring. They are technical. They do not engage stakeholders. A typical demo starts with the developer sharing their screen. The developer opens the code repository. The developer walks through the code changes. The developer explains the technical architecture. The stakeholders sit in silence. The stakeholders do not understand. The stakeholders do not ask questions. The stakeholders do not give feedback. The demo ends after thirty minutes (4/61)
The next sprint starts. The same features are built. The same assumptions are made. The same mistakes are repeated. Last quarter, the team built a personalized offers engine. The engine used a collaborative filtering algorithm. The algorithm recommended products based on similar customers' purchase histories. The demo showed the algorithm's code. The demo showed the database schema. The demo showed the API endpoints. The stakeholders did not understand (6/61)
. The stakeholders did not give feedback.
The engine was deployed. The engine recommended products. The recommendations were irrelevant. The algorithm recommended winter coats to customers in Florida. The algorithm recommended baby products to customers with no children. The irrelevant recommendations caused customer complaints. The complaints caused the retail chain to disable the feature. The feature was disabled after three weeks. The three weeks of development were wasted. (7/61)
Estée Lauder built her cosmetics empire on direct marketing innovation. The model was simple. Lauder went directly to customers. Lauder did not rely on department stores to sell her products. Lauder handed out free samples. Lauder applied products to customers' skin. Lauder taught customers how to use the products. The direct approach created engagement. Customers touched the product. Customers felt the product. Customers experienced the product. The experience created feedback (9/61)
. The feedback was immediate. The feedback was honest. The feedback was actionable. (10/61)
But Lauder's approach was not just about selling. Lauder's approach was about demonstrating. Lauder did not tell customers about the product. Lauder showed customers the product. The showing was experiential. The showing was personal. The showing was direct. When Lauder launched a new lipstick shade, she did not describe the shade in a press release. She invited beauty editors to her office. She applied the lipstick to each editor's hand (11/61)
. She asked each editor to wear the lipstick for a day. She asked each editor to report back.
The editors reported back. The feedback was specific. The feedback was honest. The feedback was actionable. The feedback improved the product. The improvement made the launch successful. (12/61)
For a retail services SME, the sprint demo problem is the same. The demos are technical. The demos are not experiential. The demos do not engage stakeholders. Lauder's direct marketing innovation says: make the demos experiential. Let stakeholders touch the product. Let stakeholders feel the product. Let stakeholders experience the product. The experiential demo creates engagement. The engagement creates feedback. The feedback improves the product.
## The Core Principle (13/61)
Lauder's direct marketing innovation was built on a simple insight. The best way to get honest feedback is to let people experience the product directly instead of telling them about it. Lauder did not describe the lipstick shade. Lauder applied the lipstick to the editor's hand. The editor experienced the product. The experience created honest feedback. (14/61)
For a retail services SME, the sprint demo problem is the same. The demos are technical. The demos do not let stakeholders experience the product. Lauder's direct marketing innovation says: make the demos experiential. Let stakeholders experience the product. The experience creates honest feedback. The honest feedback improves the product.
## Four Steps to Apply Direct Marketing Innovation to Creating Effective Sprint Demos (15/61)
1. Replace the Screen Share with a Live Product Walkthrough That Stakeholders Can Interact With
Lauder replaced the press release with a live product experience. The press release described the product. The live experience let the editor touch the product. The touch created engagement. The engagement created feedback. Your team should replace the screen share with a live product walkthrough that stakeholders can interact with the same experiential replacement. (16/61)
For a retail services SME, the live product walkthrough might look like this. The product manager changes the demo format. The old format was a screen share. The developer shared their screen. The developer walked through the code. The new format is a live product walkthrough. The product manager opens the product in a browser. The product manager logs in as a test customer. (17/61)
The test customer is a fictional persona. The persona is Maria. Maria is a thirty-four-year-old mother of two. Maria shops at a mid-size retail chain. Maria has been a loyalty program member for two years. Maria has accumulated twelve thousand points. Maria is in the gold tier. (18/61)
The product manager walks through Maria's experience. The product manager shows Maria's dashboard. The dashboard shows Maria's point balance. The dashboard shows Maria's tier status. The dashboard shows Maria's personalized offers. The product manager clicks on an offer. The offer is twenty percent off children's clothing. The product manager redeems the offer. The redemption is successful. The points are deducted. The discount is applied. (19/61)
The stakeholders watch. The stakeholders see the product. The stakeholders do not see the code. The stakeholders do not see the database schema. The stakeholders do not see the API endpoints. The stakeholders see Maria's experience. The experience is relatable. The experience is understandable. The experience is engaging. (20/61)
The stakeholders start asking questions. One stakeholder says, What happens if Maria tries to redeem an offer that she does not have enough points for? The product manager tests the scenario. Maria tries to redeem an offer that costs fifteen thousand points. Maria only has twelve thousand points. The system shows an error message. The error message says, You need three thousand more points to redeem this offer (21/61)
. You can earn three thousand points by purchasing fifty dollars worth of products. (22/61)
The stakeholder says, That is helpful. But what if Maria wants to know how many points she will earn on her next purchase? The product manager says, That is not in the current build. But I am adding it to the next sprint backlog. The feedback is immediate. The feedback is specific. The feedback is actionable. The live walkthrough created the feedback. The screen share would not have created the feedback. (23/61)
For a SAFe team of six to fifteen, the demo format should change from screen share to live product walkthrough. The walkthrough should use a fictional persona. The persona should be realistic. The persona should be relatable. For SAFe, the demo format change should be part of the sprint review. The change is a review improvement.
2. Prepare Three Specific Scenarios That Show the Product Solving Real User Problems (24/61)
Lauder prepared three specific scenarios for every product demonstration. The scenarios were: apply the lipstick in the morning, check the lipstick after lunch, and reapply the lipstick before an evening event. The three scenarios showed the product in different contexts. The different contexts created different feedback. The feedback was comprehensive. (25/61)
For a retail services SME, the three scenarios might look like this. The product manager prepares three scenarios before every sprint demo. The scenarios are based on real user problems. The real user problems come from customer support tickets. The support team creates forty tickets per week. The product manager reviews the tickets. The product manager identifies the three most common problems. (27/61)
Sprint one. The three most common problems are: customers do not know how many points they have, customers do not know what rewards they can redeem, and customers do not know when their points expire. (28/61)
The product manager prepares three scenarios. Scenario one: Maria checks her point balance. The product manager logs in as Maria. The product manager navigates to the dashboard. The dashboard shows Maria's point balance. The balance is twelve thousand points. The product manager asks the stakeholders, Is the point balance visible? Is it easy to find? Is it clear? The stakeholders say, The balance is visible. But the font is too small. The balance should be larger (29/61)
Scenario two: Maria browses available rewards. The product manager clicks on the rewards page. The rewards page shows a list of rewards. The rewards are sorted by point cost. The lowest cost reward is a five-dollar gift card for five thousand points. The highest cost reward is a fifty-dollar gift card for forty thousand points (31/61)
. The product manager asks the stakeholders, Are the rewards appealing? Is the point cost reasonable? Is the sorting useful? The stakeholders say, The rewards are appealing. But the sorting should be by category. Maria might want to see only clothing rewards. The feedback is specific. The feedback is actionable. (32/61)
Scenario three: Maria checks her point expiration date. The product manager navigates to the points detail page. The points detail page shows when each batch of points expires. Maria has three batches. Batch one expires in thirty days. Batch two expires in ninety days. Batch three expires in one hundred and eighty days (33/61)
. The product manager asks the stakeholders, Is the expiration information clear? Is it easy to understand? Is it actionable? The stakeholders say, The expiration information is clear. But there should be a notification. Maria should receive an email when her points are about to expire. The feedback is specific. The feedback is actionable. (34/61)
The three scenarios are demonstrated. The three scenarios produced nine pieces of feedback. The nine pieces of feedback are added to the next sprint backlog. The feedback improves the product. (35/61)
For a SAFe team of six to fifteen, every sprint demo should include three scenarios. The scenarios should be based on real user problems. The scenarios should be prepared before the demo. For SAFe, the scenario preparation should be part of the sprint review preparation. The preparation is a review activity.
3. Hand the Product to the Stakeholders and Let Them Try It Themselves (36/61)
Lauder handed the lipstick to the beauty editor. The editor applied the lipstick. The editor wore the lipstick. The editor experienced the product. The experience created honest feedback. The honest feedback was more valuable than any survey.
Your team should hand the product to the stakeholders and let them try it themselves with the same hands-on experience. (37/61)
For a retail services SME, the hands-on experience might look like this. The product manager sets up three laptops before the demo. The three laptops are logged in as three different test customers. Laptop one is logged in as Maria. Laptop two is logged in as James. James is a twenty-eight-year-old single man. James shops at a mid-size retail chain. James has accumulated eight hundred points. James is in the bronze tier. Laptop three is logged in as Linda (38/61)
. Linda is a fifty-six-year-old grandmother. Linda shops at a mid-size retail chain. Linda has accumulated forty-five thousand points. Linda is in the platinum tier.
The product manager invites the stakeholders to pick a laptop. The product manager says, Pick a laptop. Try the product. Do whatever you would do if you were a real customer. I will watch. I will take notes. I will not help. If you get stuck, tell me what confused you. (39/61)
The stakeholders pick the laptops. The stakeholders start exploring. One stakeholder picks Maria's laptop. The stakeholder tries to redeem a reward. The stakeholder clicks on a reward. The reward is a ten-dollar gift card for ten thousand points. The stakeholder clicks redeem. The system asks for confirmation. The stakeholder clicks confirm. The redemption is successful. The stakeholder says, That was easy. But I want to see what happens if I try to redeem something I cannot afford (40/61)
. The stakeholder clicks on a fifty-dollar gift card. The gift card costs forty thousand points. Maria only has twelve thousand points after the previous redemption. The system shows an error message. The stakeholder says, The error message is clear. But it does not tell me what I can afford. It should show me the rewards I can afford. The feedback is specific. The feedback is actionable. (41/61)
Another stakeholder picks Linda's laptop. The stakeholder tries to check Linda's tier status. The stakeholder navigates to the dashboard. The dashboard shows Linda's tier status. The status is platinum. The stakeholder says, What does platinum mean? What benefits does Linda get? The stakeholder clicks on the tier details. The tier details page shows the benefits. The benefits are free shipping, early access to sales, and a dedicated support line (42/61)
. The stakeholder says, The benefits are good. But the page is too text heavy. It should use icons. Icons are faster to scan. The feedback is specific. The feedback is actionable.
The hands-on experience produced six pieces of feedback. The six pieces of feedback are added to the next sprint backlog. The feedback improves the product. (43/61)
For a SAFe team of six to fifteen, every sprint demo should include a hands-on session. The session should use multiple test personas. The session should last at least fifteen minutes. For SAFe, the hands-on session should be part of the sprint review. The session is a review activity.
4. Capture Feedback in Real Time Using a Simple Three-Column Format and Review It at the End of the Demo (44/61)
Lauder captured feedback in real time. The feedback was written on a notepad. The notepad had three columns. Column one: what the editor said. Column two: what it means for the product. Column three: what to do about it. The three-column format was simple. The three-column format was fast. The three-column format was actionable. The real-time capture eliminated forgetting. The elimination of forgetting improved the product. (45/61)
You should capture feedback in real time using a simple three-column format and review it at the end of the demo with the same real-time capture.
For a retail services SME, the real-time feedback capture might look like this. The product manager opens a shared document. The document has three columns. Column one: stakeholder comment. Column two: product implication. Column three: action item. The document is visible to everyone. The document is projected on the screen. (46/61)
During the demo, the product manager types feedback into the document. Stakeholder one says, The point balance font is too small. The product manager types. Column one: Point balance font is too small. Column two: Customers cannot read their point balance easily. Column three: Increase point balance font size to twenty-four pixels. (47/61)