It’s our job to kill dangerous hope early.
Hope lets teams give optimistic answers that hide real progress. That’s how projects quietly fail.
Instead we should aim to gather hard data every iteration so managers, product owners, and stakeholders can make real decisions instead of wishful guesses.
This isn’t about going faster - it’s about learning the truth as soon as possible so we can manage trade‑offs effectively.
Delivering hard facts quickly gives us options; clinging to hope removes them. I encourage teams to treat iteration feedback as a tool for making pragmatic, timely choices.
Discussion points for your team:
- Can we present iteration data in a clearer way that helps stakeholders make decisions?
- Are there other key metrics we should collect and share each iteration?
- Are stakeholders able to use our current data to adjust scope, schedule, and resources?
- Can we change any team habits to promote data-driven decisions instead of optimistic guesswork?