Archive for January, 2012

Ready For Sprint?

5
125 days
by in Agile, Basic Scrum
Ready for Sprint?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robert_voors/767796301/

Have you ever been sitting in a sprint planning and heard the following sentences:

  • “Can we split this user story and at least start with the GUI?”
  • “I’m not sure if the hardware will be available on time to integrate this story but we could use an emulator instead.”
  • “There are no wire frames yet, but we could start with the back-end.”
  • “The acceptance criteria are still quite vague, but I think I know what the customer needs.”
  • etc.

Does some of these sentences sound familiar? I observed these conversations several times in the past. All of these quotes are based on the same problem: The user story is simply not ready for the next sprint. Still, some teams pull these user stories into there next sprint to implement at least a part of it, to make the PO happy. Stop it! It doesn’t make sense at all. None of these user stories will be done at the end of the sprint, because important parts are missing. These teams have to be reminded that every user story has to be implemented, tested, integrated, documented and shall deliver value to the end user. If you already know at the start of a new sprint, that you won’t be able to finalize a user story: ditch it!

But what can you do to avoid these discussions? There is a simple solution: Introduce the “Definition of Ready” (DoR)! The DoR defines, when a user story is ready for a sprint. If it doesn’t comply with this definition it will be ignored in the next sprint planning. As the “Definition of Done”, the DoR is defined by the team itself and therefore varies from team to team. If you’re e.g. developing a web application, hardware may be not that important for your team, but if you’re developing software for e.g. a medical device it is could be important. Sit together with your team and your PO and define what the DoR has to contain in your current situation. Agree, only to pull those stories into your sprint, that are ready for sprint.

Most agile teams I know implement a DoD, but the DoR is still only rarely used. I hope this will change in the future. Don’t waste your time implementing half-baked user stories. You can use your time better than that.

What are your experiences? Leave a comment!

Food For Thought #13: Less distraction, more ideas

1
137 days
by in food for thought, life
Distraction

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30228426@N03/2832163100/

Do you know these moments, were you’re between two tasks and don’t have the energy to start with the next one? I know these moments a lot. It’s same when you’re working on a task and you’re stuck. This is the time when a lot of people search for distraction. At least that’s what I did in the past. You open your web browser and start surfing the web, reading your Twitter timeline, checking for mails on your 11 different email accounts or check who is online on Skype. Nowadays it’s easy to get distracted. There are hundreds of ways to waste your costly life time. The main problem is, when you get used to this behavior, your productivity decreases over time. In the end your not able to concentrate on a single task and even get distracted by simple things DURING a task (like e.g. an incoming email or DM on Twitter). You don’t have the energy to start any task (maybe smaller ones). Don’t tolerate this behavior, stop it! Now! Did you hear me? Stop it!

The next time you’re having a break between two tasks, lean back and do….. nothing. Yes, exactly. Just do nothing. Don’t try to fill these breaks with some distracting activities. Try to withstand the impulse to open the browser or anything else to fill this gap. Just sit there (or stand) and wait. After a while the magic will happen: New ideas will come up into your mind. Your mind needs these breaks to get back into creativity mode. This isn’t wasted time, instead it’s one of the most valuable things you can do with it. In my experience the best ideas are created during these mind breaks.

Try it out and tell me your observations and experiences in the comments. I’m already looking forward to read them.

Top 10 Posts 2011

0
139 days
by in General

I was quite curious what blog posts got the most clicks in the past year. The following list is the result of the analysis I ran:

Top 10

 

 

 

If you haven’t read them yet, they are definitely worth the read ;) BTW, the blog post with the most discussions was “5 Reasons A Product Owner Team Might Be A Good Idea“. What blog post did you like the most? Leave a comment.

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