Demo Trust
Demo Trust is a one-hour review session from the Atlassian Team Playbook in which a project team shows unfinished work to a small leadership panel early enough to change direction. The leaders question the work, check its strategic fit and look for overlap with other initiatives, and the group agrees high-level course corrections. Everyone closes with a confidence vote on a scale of one to four.
Facilitation script
- 1
Set the stage: say where the project is in its lifecycle and confirm or adjust the agenda.
5 min - 2
Demo: the project team shows the current vision or build and explains value and trade-offs.
15 min - 3
Discuss: leaders question and challenge, check strategic fit and name overlaps with other work.
20 min - 4
Decide: agree high-level course corrections and park detail for a later session.
15 min - 5
Confidence vote: everyone gives a number from one to four and a short reason. Note follow-ups.
5 min
Tips
Timing matters more than polish: if the work looks nearly finished, the session is too late and feedback will be defended rather than used.
Brief the leadership panel that their job is to steer, not to redesign, and move any deep dive into a separate session.
Hold the confidence vote even when time is short, and ask people to show their number at the same moment so the senior voice does not set the answer.
Common pitfalls
Running it too late. The team has already committed to the solution, so the session becomes a presentation and course corrections are resisted.
Preparing a polished slide deck. Preparation eats team time, and polished material signals that the work is finished and invites approval instead of challenge.
Diving into details. One design question takes over the hour and the strategic check and the vote never happen.
Inviting a large audience. With more than about six people the leaders stop speaking candidly and the project team gets defensive.
Skipping the reasons in the confidence vote. A row of numbers without explanation tells the team something is off but not what to change.
Variations
Remote: share the screen and collect the confidence vote by having everyone type their number in chat at the same time. Software projects: staff both sides with one person each from product, engineering and design. Series: run it at regular intervals during discovery and stop once the plan is settled, the work is broken into deliverable increments and success criteria are agreed. Without a formal approver: use the two or three people whose backing the project depends on as the panel.
Where it fits
When to use it
A project is past the idea stage and a change of direction is still cheap
The sponsor has not seen the work since kick-off and the team is unsure whether it still has backing
Several teams are working in neighbouring areas and nobody has checked for overlap
Leaders tend to give feedback late, when rework is expensive
The team has made trade-offs it wants confirmed before investing further
When not to use it
The work is nearly complete. Feedback can no longer change much; run a Sprint Review or launch review instead
The team wants detailed feedback from peers on the work itself. Use Sparring or a Design Critique
The aim is to gather input from a broad stakeholder group. The format depends on a small panel; a Feedback Carousel or Gallery Walk suits larger groups
There is nothing to show yet beyond an idea. Write a Project Poster first so there is something to react to
Leaders treat the session as an approval gate with a pass or fail result. Teams will then polish and hide problems, which defeats the purpose
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Demo Trust?▾
Demo Trust is a one-hour session described in the Atlassian Team Playbook. A project team shows work in progress to a small leadership panel, the leaders challenge it and check strategic fit, and the group agrees course corrections. It ends with each person voting their confidence in the direction on a one-to-four scale.
Who takes part in a Demo Trust?▾
Four to six people. On the project side, the full-time lead and one contributor; on the leadership side, the project's approver and one or two stakeholders. For software work, the play suggests one person each from product, engineering and design on both sides.
Why is the confidence vote on a scale of one to four?▾
An even scale has no middle value, so nobody can sit on the fence. Each person has to lean towards confident or not confident and say why. The reasons are the useful part and should be written down with the follow-ups.
How is Demo Trust different from a Sprint Review?▾
A Sprint Review happens every sprint, shows finished increments and collects feedback for the backlog. Demo Trust happens earlier and less often, shows unfinished thinking, and asks leaders whether the project is heading in the right direction at all. It is a steering conversation, not a product inspection.
How often should a team run Demo Trust?▾
Periodically during the early phase of a project, and at any point where the direction changes. The play suggests continuing until the project is ready for execution: the plan is settled, the journey is cut into deliverable increments, and success criteria are agreed.
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Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Atlassian Team Playbook.