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Does everyone have something to work on?

 "Does everyone have something to work on?"


Is a question I sometimes hear from a product owner (or similar role), often in the end of some planning/coordination meet. And I consider it a big red flag.


As it is an indicator of trying to keep developers busy and attempting to get a lot of tasks and features done. Which is not the goal.


The goal is to maximise the impact of the team for delivering long term business value.


So instead of "is everyone busy enough", I'd suggest to try rather asking something like:

1. Do we agree that the work we have planned and prioritised is meaningful and valuable based on our current knowledge

2. Can we somehow assess and evaluate that later on

3. Are we excited!?

And then as a team organise and start to work around those goals.


Yeah it will be harder, but a lot more engaging.


And yeah you will not get as much features out, but you might just get the right ones.

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