Our Stories Aren’t Getting Done: Taking on More Than Possible

One of the classic issues that pop up when teams chronically don’t complete work they say they will, in the time they say they will is that they are taking too much work at once. Being somewhat hyperbolic, I liken it to eating a very large hamburger (for example) in one bite. Even if it is possible to shove the whole thing in, it would be painful to swallow. I have facilitated more than a few retrospectives that discussed taking on more work than is completable in a specific timebox. Several of the reasons that generally surface:

 

Agile Back To Basics: Daily Scrum and Stand-up

Standing Up?

Shu Ha Ri has become a common pattern transplanted from martial arts into the agile vocabulary.  The pattern describes the learning journey from student to master. Students follow their masters, and masters create new patterns of knowledge to teach students. A common issue I observe in many organizations and teams is that as a person, team, or organization matures their agile and lean practice they let the basics atrophy. It’s almost as if there is a gremlin that whispers in practitioners’ ears, “basics are for learners, you are a master.” This laxness is observed and emulated. The Daily Scrum or standup meeting is a case in point.