Owning Our Words, Owning Our Work
We had our sprint review today. It didn’t go quite how we hoped. Again, we didn’t hit our sprint goal.
During the conversation, I noticed something that’s been sitting with me since. When it came time to talk to our stakeholders about why we didn’t make it, the mood shifted. We weren’t really reflecting or taking ownership. Instead, we got kind of defensive, focusing on how tight the timeline was or how things changed mid-sprint. And while those things may be true, it felt like we were dodging something deeper. What really stood out to me was how we talked about it. It was the language we used. It was undefined. Stuff like “we tried our best” or “we’ll get closer next time if things line up.” There wasn’t a lot of confidence or clarity.
It made me think of something I read ages ago about Netflix and how they see their teams more like sports teams than family units. Here is the thing: no high-performing sports team says, “Maybe we’ll play well if we try hard enough.” They say, “We’re going to win.” There’s a big difference between doing the work and owning the outcome. And I think sometimes we hide behind effort instead of being clear about what we’re actually trying to achieve.
I’m not saying we need to become cutthroat or overly intense. But I do think the way we speak reflects the mindset we carry. Maybe by shifting our language just a bit, we can start building more confidence and accountability in the team.
So that’s something I’m committing to for myself: to be more intentional with how I talk about our goals, our work, and our outcomes. Not in a pressuring way, but in a way that helps us grow stronger together.