Information Radiators in Agile

This is a term that we use a lot in Agile, so we'll continue down our Agile tool process. So Agile information radiators are really giving you information about different aspects of the project, the product, the project team, right, the Scrum team, right, everyone basically. Everyone can get access and everyone's going to see the information that's happening at the project level. So, an information radiator is a tool that physically displays project information in the Scrum team's working space or anywhere the project's being executed. So, it's really about getting that information out there.

So let's look at our planning questions, right? When would you create it? Well, again, in the initiation or the planning process, but because it's supply project information, right, it's really going to be set up in the initiation and the planning and then used throughout the life of the project. Who will use it? Absolutely everyone on the project is going to use it. Why are you going to use it? Because you want to show the progress with the project's process or progress, right? You want to continue to report project information and then make course corrections and adapt and adjust where, right? How are you going to use it? I like this. There's a couple of different techniques when you think about it, and it's low touch, high touch, high tech, low touch, right? And so, there's this kind, this combination, right? So when you talk about low tech, low touch, high touch tools such as sticky notes or cardboard cards, they're often used in strategy meetings and release planning meetings, right, at the beginning of the project. But a high-tech, low-touch tool could be something like a Power BI dashboard or a VSTS dashboard, or again, it's really about showing that progress and that ongoing information.

How will you distribute it? Again, it's going to get out there through dashboards, through document control systems, through SharePoint sites, you know, that type of thing. How often? Again, throughout the life of the project, you're going to use it. As the project progresses, you're going to constantly use it, one information schedule, cost sprint information, resource information, right? So, these information radiators are really dashboards, and they're really about getting that information out there. Make sense? Good. Okay, let's jump into a little bit more deeper. We'll pop over to, um, again, the introduction to it. We talk about this low-tech, high-touch, high-tech, low touch, right? A couple of different angles to that. The value of the tool, um, and then we go into some of the really good examples like a product roadmap, a user story map, a product vision box, a Kanban board, a wrist board, right? These are examples of low tech but high-touch information. Okay, it makes sense. And so, it's really about getting that information out. Here are some examples of high-tech, low touch, burn down charts, burn up charts, right? We've got all the definitions, dashboards, cumulative flow diagrams, velocity tracking charts, right? Often that's a complicated calculation, so I've seen that done in Excel, I've seen that done with a number of different tools, but it's really, again, it's about getting that information out there and making sure people can see the progress of the project.