In this episode of the Agile Skills Library, Geoff Watts and Paul Goddard introduce the 5-5-5 Technique, a simple but powerful feedback exercise designed to build confidence, reduce imposter syndrome, and help individuals and teams recognise their strengths.
The technique involves gathering focused feedback from five trusted people using five carefully chosen questions, creating a human-scale alternative to traditional 360-degree feedback. The episode explores when and how to use 5-5-5, why it deliberately focuses on strengths rather than weaknesses, and how verbal feedback helps people see themselves more clearly.
Ideal for Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, leaders, and anyone supporting personal or team development, this episode shows how to turn feedback into insight — without surveys, scores, or corporate theatre.
Geoff Watts:
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Agile Skills Library. I’m Geoff Watts, and over there is Paul Goddard.
Paul Goddard:
Hello, everyone.
Geoff Watts:
Together, we’re giving away everything we’ve ever learned across our careers — and today we’ve got a new technique for you called the 5-5-5 Technique.
It’s a very simple tool with lots of different uses. I originally wrote about it in The Coach’s Casebook, and I’ve mainly used it in one-to-one coaching. But I’ve also used it with teams — and recently with a group of Product Owners at a large organisation, who found it incredibly useful for gathering feedback about themselves and their products.
One of the nice things about techniques like this is that people often take them away and use them in contexts we never originally intended.
Paul Goddard:
Okay, so why do I need this, Geoff? Why do I need 5-5-5 in my life?
Geoff Watts:
It depends a bit on your role — but let’s assume you’re working in some kind of agile environment.
Agile roles are fertile ground for imposter syndrome and self-doubt.
There’s a lot of second-guessing.
What often happens is this:
When something goes wrong, I feel like I’ve messed up.
When something goes well, it was a team effort.
That can be the worst of both worlds.
The 5-5-5 Technique helps people get clear, unambiguous feedback — feedback that we often find hard to ask for, and even harder to internalise.
Paul Goddard:
Is this written feedback or verbal feedback?
Geoff Watts:
Good question — and I’ll come back to that.
At its core, 5-5-5 is a human-scale version of 360-degree feedback.
It’s not a corporate survey.
It’s not anonymous.
It’s personal, focused, and deliberately simple.
The name comes from this:
People often worry about inconveniencing others — but in practice, most people actually enjoy being asked. It feels good to be invited into this kind of reflection.
Geoff Watts:
You ask the same five questions to each of the five people.
The key is who you choose.
They should be people:
There’s a difference between being nice and being kind.
Kind people tell you the truth.
In an agile context, that might include:
Their feedback should genuinely mean something to you.
Geoff Watts:
The questions should be short, specific, and reflective.
Here are some examples:
Over time, I’ve found it works well to give people a choice of questions from a list, rather than prescribing the same five every time.
Paul Goddard:
Those questions feel quite positive. Is that deliberate?
Geoff Watts:
Very deliberate.
This is an imbalanced form of feedback.
People who struggle with confidence already have a constant internal critic. They don’t need more focus on weaknesses — they need help seeing their strengths clearly.
This exercise is about restoring balance, not inflating ego.
Geoff Watts:
If all you can get is written feedback, that’s fine — use it.
But if you can, I strongly recommend verbal feedback.
It will feel uncomfortable.
But hearing it spoken out loud is far more powerful than reading it.
And there’s one more step that really matters.
Geoff Watts:
After you hear the feedback, pause.
Then repeat it back — in the first person.
So if you say:
“Geoff, I think you’re creative,”
I don’t say:
“Paul thinks I’m creative.”
I say:
“I am creative.”
That will feel weird — especially if you struggle with compliments.
But this isn’t about arrogance or false praise.
It’s about accepting evidence that already exists.
Geoff Watts:
There’s one big rule here:
You are not allowed to deflect.
No joking it away.
No minimising it.
No “yes, but…” responses.
Someone is giving you a gift.
Deflecting it is rude — and it stops the technique working.
Paul Goddard:
I imagine timing and environment matter a lot.
Geoff Watts:
Absolutely.
Choose:
I often give people a short note to send along with the questions, explaining what the exercise is for — so nobody is blindsided.
Geoff Watts:
Even with just five people, patterns often emerge.
If four out of five people say the same thing about you, that becomes very hard to dismiss — and that’s often where the biggest shifts happen.
Geoff Watts:
This isn’t just for individuals.
Teams can use it too.
Teams sometimes struggle with collective confidence. Asking other teams or stakeholders questions like:
can be hugely empowering.
Paul Goddard:
Is this a one-off or something you repeat?
Geoff Watts:
I’d start with it as a one-off.
What usually happens is that it plants a seed — and people start giving this kind of feedback more naturally afterwards.
I wouldn’t run it weekly or monthly, but it’s a great tool to return to when confidence dips or perspective gets skewed.
Geoff Watts:
We’ll include a downloadable template with:
Experiment with different questions and let us know what works for you. Over time, we can build a shared library.
Thanks for letting me share the 5-5-5 Technique. It’s another tool for your Agile Skills Library.
Use it well — and we’ll see you next time.
Paul Goddard:
See you soon, everyone.
