I am often in conversations where it's clear things would go much better using the Agile Canvas explicitly to organize the engagement, and people don't know about the process and there isn't the time or timing to introduce it.
What we can do is simply insert any of the core questions of the process naturally in the conversations. Here are some prime examples.
- What would you love to see possible?
- When do you think that could realistically happen?
- Do you think anything needs to happen before that happens?
- Do you see yourself as part of making that happen?
- Who else do you think should be invited to help?
- What do you think needs to be researched and decided to make progress toward making that happen?
- What could we do in the next two weeks to move forward?
They don't have to emerge in this or any order. We can use them anytime we think they can move the conversation forward. They are simple, skillful questions that move people from ambiguity to clarity, isolation to alignment and talk to action.