Model poster

Information contained in models is useful in making day to day decisions and communicating understanding of problems and resulting solutions to design and development team members. But, often information isn't available when people need it, at the hundreds of small "moments of truth" when we need to make decisions. The information may be buried away in electronic form where it isn't readily or immediately accessible. Obtaining it may cause its consumer just enough imposition for him to avoid it. When electronic information is readily available, it's often difficult to share with others during a discussion, especially when viewed from a single computer screen or a standard printed sheet of paper. A bigger representation that can be easily gestured to or pointed at is more useful for supporting an effective discussion.

Sadly, given the difficulties of leveraging electronic models, many Agile projects favor simple communication. Information is retained in team members heads, are accessible through conversation with that team member. That conversation often finds its way to a place in front of a whiteboard or other artifact that can be gestured to. Conversations that require lots of recall on the part of the information provider, or lots of context to be explained before simple answers can be given become difficult.

These visible posters act as what Alistair Cockburn describes as an information radiator. When not being discussed, they serve to remind team members about the variety of information the team does know and has ready access to. When it comes time for a discussion about the information, that discussion can occur in front of a large poster.

Create poster large enough that at least two people can comfortably stand in front of the poster and carry on a conversation. Keep markers or post-it notes nearby so the poster may be changed or annotated during the discussion.

Posters may be created by hand from original index cards or post-its used to create the model. Posters may be created electronically and printed large enough be easily discussed in front of and marked up. Or posters may be build from a mixture of electronically stored information printed large then manually assembled and marked up collage-style.