Certify, Don't Brief
The Certify, Don't Brief approach is a practice which emphasises validating that Stream Teams are performing as expected rather than defining exactly how they should work.
Goal
Blocking dependencies are the enemy of speed and autonomy. The primary goal of certification, rather than briefing, is so that we do not block Stream Teams in their day-to-day work and decision-making.
Context
It is much easier as a manager to tell people what to do - brief them on the actions they need to take. But this creates a bottleneck in decision-making and can lead to a lack of ownership and accountability. It also makes scaling much more difficult. By certifying that team members are performing the expected actions, we empower them to make decisions autonomously without fully abdicating responsibility.
The risk is that when certifying actions taken they may not meet our expectations. This is why it is important to clearly share the context and expectations with teams of the desired outcomes.
Inputs
| Artifact | Description |
|---|---|
| OKRs | The high-level goals and targets that the product is aiming to achieve. |
| Product Strategy | The overarching plan and objectives for the product, outlining the desired outcomes and key results. |
| Stream Dashboard | Provides real-time data on team performance, progress against objectives, and key metrics to inform the assessment. |
Outputs
| Artifact | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly Product Report | A collection of metric charts that covers the key stream/input metrics as well as the higher-level product/outcome metrics. |
|
| Briefing without certification: Relying solely on briefing sessions, which may lead to a superficial understanding and lack of desired outcome. | Micro-managing: Constantly checking in on team members and providing detailed instructions, undermining autonomy and ownership. |