How can you demonstrate your experience with agile development in an interview?

Knowing the Principles of Agile is not enough to ace questions on Agile development. It's necessary to speak to the interviewer as though they've never heard of the Principle before. Therefore, putting context to each answer without overly elongating things is key. For example, Agile approach encourages real time communication rather than a long list of documentation. Contextualise this with a scenario you've experienced in the past and you will be fine.

One can demonstrate their knowledge by practical examples, explaining agile principle and methodologies. Some ways are: 1. Describe the Agile frameworks (Scrum or Kanban, etc) used in projects and how you contributed to the project using Agile practices. 2. Explain the Agile tools you are familiar with or have used in your projects like Jira or Trello and how you utilised these tools to facilitate Agile processes. 3. Discuss your understanding of Agile principles and the importance of iterative processes to enhance team performance and project outcomes.

I don't want an explanation of something everyone has read, quoted, and misinterpreted to their benefit. Show how you've applied these principles. Demonstrate you can empathize with a customer. Share how you've applied a creative solution to test and learn. Your goal is to convince someone you've done this and can share your perspective from your experience, not that you've read about it. Anyone can explain the agile principles but anyone who has done it will likely leave the explaining to someone else.

Understanding the bedrock of agile—its principles and values—is paramount in navigating the landscape of product management Explaining principle and its application to product management signifies a commitment to agility and responsiveness, steering teams toward delivering value amidst ever-evolving market demands. Understanding these principles is not just about knowing—they're guiding lights in navigating the agile journey.

To depict the real case example to showcase how a vision got delivered in reality 1. Vision to mission breakdown 2. Mission to milestone 3. Milestone to initiatives 4. Iterative delivery of value

Sharing stories that incorporate agile principles has worked best for me. This means embodying putting the customer first, frequent delivery, and self-organization. I might say: We self-organized to solve a customer problem around social play. We frequently delivered updates over 6 weeks. These started with new social gameplay. They ended with new social incentives. In the end, our sustainable pace helped us crush the metrics as an empowered team. The result was an 11% increase in social play and 4% increase in revenue. It was such a win many of us were promoted. Such an answer hits the principles in a cool story.

In my past roles, I've actively applied agile methodologies like Scrum, fostering a collaborative environment within cross-functional teams. I played a key role in organizing and leading agile ceremonies, ensuring effective sprint planning and retrospectives. Through these practices, I've witnessed tangible outcomes, such as enhanced team efficiency and accelerated product delivery. Embracing change and prioritizing continuous improvement has been a constant focus, reflecting my commitment to agile development principles.

Sharing Agile Stories in Interviews: - Use STAR Method: Structure your agile experience stories using Situation, Task, Action, and Result. 🌟 - Contextualize: Describe the situation and background of the project. 🌐 - Define the Task: Clearly state the problem or goal you were addressing. 🎯 - Detail Your Actions: Explain the agile practices you used, like managing sprints or leading team meetings. 🔄 - Results Achieved: Highlight the outcomes, focusing on success and lessons learned. ✅ Example: "Led a Scrum team for an e-commerce app, prioritizing user stories, guiding sprint planning, and conducting retrospectives, which led to a 20% boost in customer satisfaction." 📈📱

Utilize the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to narrate specific instances from your projects. This approach allows you to concisely detail the context, challenge, your actions, and the outcomes. Emphasize your proficiency with agile methodologies like Scrum or Kanban, and tools like user stories and backlogs. For instance, illustrate how you led a Scrum team in enhancing an e-commerce application, detailing your role in crafting user stories, fostering teamwork, and conducting sprints and retrospectives. Highlighting these experiences demonstrates not just your technical skills, but also your ability to drive results and improve customer satisfaction within an agile framework.

Get your stories right. I have always believed in the power of stories to showcase my competence in a field. While there are several frameworks to structure your stories and make them more persuasive, it is also important to practice these stories with your friends and keep iterating them until they are conveyed with clarity. You can share examples of how you overcame challenges and enhanced team productivity with agile principles. For instance, I usually share stories of an initiative in our organization wherein we customized the agile framework to suit our business needs. This helped me to understand the agile principles and improve our processes to better support our cross-functional teams.

A common question I have been asked in the interviews if there was a solution where you and the development team had different opinions. How did you navigate the situation and come up to the conclusion.

An agile mindset involves adapting to problems quickly, teamwork and collaboration, flexibility, and a customer-centric approach. There are other principles of Agile, but I would like to go over these with an example. In 2010, a snowstorm disrupted the shipping and operations of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos. They could not deliver a single shoe in poor weather. What did they do in return? They converted their head office into a distribution centre and shipped shoes out of their head office, starting with those in severe need. They adapted quickly and were flexible enough to execute the idea. However, it was only possible with a team committed to the organisation's core principles.

You should focus on showing flexibility and adaptability. Share brief examples of how you've handled changes or unexpected challenges in the past. Emphasize your collaborative skills and your commitment to continuous learning and improvement. Lastly and VERY Important, ask insightful questions about the company's approach to agility, showing your genuine interest and understanding.

Demonstrating an Agile Mindset: - Learning and Experimentation: Express your enthusiasm for continuous learning and trying new approaches. 🌱 - Open to Feedback: Highlight your willingness to seek and act on feedback from customers and stakeholders. 👂 - Embracing Failure: Share instances where you learned valuable lessons from failures. 🛠️ - Flexibility: Illustrate your adaptability in changing plans and strategies when necessary. 🔄 - Real Examples: Give examples like conducting user interviews for validation, using A/B testing for hypotheses, and iterating products based on user feedback. 📊

Showcasing your agile mindset is all about demonstrating the principles in action. I often like to include an anecdote around change: We were going one direction. We wanted to enhance the onboarding experience to have more guidance. But the results from the last test were in. Guidance wasn't helping. So we pivoted. Instead of more guidance, we tried to pre-fill more information. This actually worked much better. It was a great example of changing our mind to hit impact. Such stories exemplify your agile mindset.

Asking Agile Questions in an Interview: - Inquire About Agile Culture: Ask how the company embodies agile values in its daily operations. 🌐 - Team's Agile Process: Question about the specific agile methodologies the team follows and the tools they use. 🛠️ - Product Vision and Roadmap: Show interest in understanding the product's current roadmap and future vision. 🛤️ - Customer-Centric Queries: Ask about the company's approach to understanding and meeting customer needs. 👥 - Identify Challenges: Seek information on current challenges and opportunities for improvement within the team or product. 🚀 - Role Expectations: Clarify what the company expects from the role in terms of contributing to an agile environment. 🎯

These questions can be asked 1- How do you implement agile concepts for a traditional team? Where is the starting point? 2- How does the agile approach help increase trust in the team and how do you measure the level of trust in the team?

At the end of the interview, you can ask questions that show you love agile. Try things like: How are retrospectives conducted here, and what's an example of a change that was implemented as a result? What are the biggest challenges you've faced with Agile implementation, and how have you addressed them? Where do you guys lie on the agile/waterfall spectrum? These types of questions underline your commitment to Agile.

In an interview, demonstrating your agile development experience isn't just about listing skills or past roles; it's about showing an inquisitive and collaborative mindset. Asking agile-focused questions reveals your deep understanding of agile principles and practices. Inquire about the company's agile culture, the team's process and tools, and the product's vision to align your experience with their expectations. This approach not only displays your expertise but also your eagerness to contribute, learn, and improve within their specific agile environment. Remember, agile is more than a methodology—it's a dynamic, customer-centric, and adaptive approach to work.

During interviews, highlighting agile experience extends beyond theory; it's about showcasing practical application. Narrate instances where agile principles fueled innovation and problem-solving. For instance, discuss how embracing change empowered a pivot in strategy, benefiting both product and users. Additionally, spotlight your agile mindset, emphasizing adaptability and a hunger for continuous improvement

In 2023 going into 2024, Agile can be such an overused and often misinterpreted style of management and execution. I think for any PO or Scrum Master, it’s critical to not allow some of Agile’s arbitrary structures to get in the way of making the best decision for your product and users. Some folks become too adherent to Agile and allow that to prevent urgent work or pivots in functionality from being picked up mid-sprint.

The final thing to consider is that talking about Agile is most important in 'old world' companies. At modern tech companies, they'd find the discussion of agile to sound robotic and AI-written. Instead, there, you'd talk about how empowered vs waterfall the team is. But in old world infra and banking companies, underlining your agile bonafides can be very powerful and helpful. Best of luck!