Pointed Learning: Why and How to Lead Your Team in Agile Research Spikes

Sometimes your team just doesn't know enough to understand how to approach their next project. The problem is too unknown, or too hard, or simply different from the last project.

Naturally, the best approach to solving this dilemma is... learning! Agile teams all over the world use the concept of "spikes" to quickly learn (in a few days!) about a new technology in order to increase the confidence of the team and reduce the risk of implementation. Come learn how we implement this concept in the Libraries! I have seen how research spikes increase the energy and speed of our teams and the quality of the products we create, and I'd like to share with you and get your thoughts on this technique.