Interactive graph
Alignment Before Build
Table of Contents
Get the room aligned on outcome, scope, and date before build starts - rework in sprint four is expensive politics.
Key Concept
- Alignment before build means stakeholders agree on what, why, and when before the team commits keyboard time.
- Stakeholder Mapping finds who must agree; Scope Is a Promise is what they are agreeing to.
- Building first and aligning later trains the org to treat demos as the real spec meeting.
Level 1 - Recognize
Alignment before build means shared agreement on outcome, scope, and date before implementation starts.
Level 2 - Explain
Like agreeing on the house floor plan before the walls go up - moving plumbing after drywall is painful.
Level 3 - Use
Run a thirty-minute readout: problem, proposed scope, date, explicit nos - ask for objection before sprint one.
Level 4 - Connect
Ambiguity Is the Job still allows discovery - alignment on phase one beats fake certainty on the whole roadmap.
Level 5 - Create
Document alignment in writing - one page email beats memory when a new VP joins in month two.
Examples
- Glad we aligned finance on report fields before dev started - sprint-four rework on a built screen would have been brutal.
- We built the portal while marketing still debated audience - alignment before build would have saved a month of branch work.
Note Relationships
| Relationship | Wikilink | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| extends | PM Mindset | Alignment habit inside the hub |
| extends | Stakeholder Mapping | Who must agree |
| extends | Scope Is a Promise | What they agree to |
| extends | Say No to Protect the Yes | Alignment includes explicit nos |
