Achieving The Sprint Goal With Slack Time And Process Improvements
Allocating Capacity for Unplanned Work
Defining sprint capacity based on the development team’s velocity provides a starting point for planning. However, additional slack time should be allocated to account for unplanned work that may arise during the sprint. Planning for a 20% buffer by reducing scope or stretching capacity allows the team to absorb incoming requests without jeopardizing the sprint goal.
Define Sprint Capacity Based on Team Velocity
The development team’s reliable velocity, calculated from previous sprints, forecasts how much work they can complete in the next sprint. Using the average story points completed per sprint, the product owner can select high-priority features that match the team’s capacity. This capacity measure also accounts for each member’s availability, assuming a consistent team for sprinting. Defining realistic sprint capacity upfront directs the product owner to scope the sprint to the team’s known capability.
Build in Slack Time for Unplanned Work
Even with velocity-based scoping, unplanned work tends to arise in each sprint. Unfinished tasks from previous sprints, production support issues, and newly discovered dependencies eat into the team’s availability. By allocating an extra 20% as slack time, the unexpected work can get absorbed without forcing the team to descope planned stories. They can still meet the sprint goal despite the surprise work that got added to their backlog. Saving capacity for unplanned items prevents obstructing the team’s sprint progress.
Allocate 20% Buffer for Incoming Requests
To reliably deliver on the forecasted sprint commitment, the slack time should allow for a 20% buffer. This capacity allocation accounts for the reality of urgent production issues, customer requests, environment setup needs, and other unplannable work. If the product owner schedules the full team capacity with no slack allocated, any emerging requests get deferred or displace the sprint goal. Planning in a 20% unallocated capacity buffer enables the team to take on the unforeseen work during the sprint without delaying sprint delivery or forcing descoping conversations.
Improving Team Processes
Optimizing processes to remove waste and improve flow represents an impactful area for sprint performance gains. By methodically mapping out the current processes using lean techniques, wasteful steps get highlighted for removal or improvement. Implementing small experiments to reduce waste accelerates processes. Getting frequent feedback then continues to refine the steps over subsequent sprints.
Identify Process Waste Through Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping carefully outlines each step in current processes, separating those adding value from non-value-adding waste. The detailed flow diagram measures process cycle efficiency by calculating the percentage of steps progressing work towards the goal. Low value percentages indicate significant process waste to address. Mapping out processes not only quantifies waste but draws attention to build, test, and deployment bottlenecks. Visualizing the process flows forms the foundation for targeted waste reduction.
Employ Incremental Process Changes
Wholesale process overhauls carry risk of overcorrection or unanticipated impacts. The sprint routine offers a controlled interval for rolling out small process experiments. The short duration limits any downsides of failed tests while generating frequent opportunities for feedback. Using sprints to incrementally trial process adaptations allows gradual refinement as changes demonstrating value get adopted while ineffective adjustments get discarded. Steadily incorporating workflow efficiencies over a series of sprints accelerates processes.
Gather Feedback and Refine Processes
Experiment effectiveness gets determined by analyzing relevant sprint metrics along with qualitative feedback from stakeholders. Comparing completion rates, output velocities, and quality measures reveals the process impact. Additionally, surveying team members and users affected by process modifications yields actionable subjective inputs. Consistently inspecting process changes via data analytics and user interviews provides the evidence to cement enhancements delivering positive outcomes. Repeated feedback gathering perpetuates iterative analysis and further refinement.
Enabling Team Focus
Preserving stretches of uninterrupted time enhances the development team’s inner workings to complete the committed sprint work. Avoiding context switching allows feature work to flow across functioning sub-teams. Carefully planned sprints also sequence stories for interdependency management. Actively guarding the team’s focus ultimately enables efficient sprint execution.
Reduce Context Switching with Focused Sprints
Frequent context switching gets triggered when unplanned interruptions break team momentum across too many disparate activities. Each switch incurs reorientation costs along with costs of partially completed work. Time-boxed sprints create condensed intervals for teams to focus on planned objectives without external distraction. By deliberately eliminating context switches during sprints, tasks can get fully completed with fewer disruptions to the team’s rhythm and efficiency.
Prioritize and Sequence Work for Flow
Not all sprint tasks hold equal importance, nor can they run independently without consideration for order. Product owners must diligently prioritize the high-value features to develop first. Technical leads understand underlying dependencies that dictate appropriate sequencing for smooth flow. Jointly planning sprints to sensibly order stories prevents productivity gaps from stalled work. Team velocity and output rely on honoring priorities when scheduling stories to enable work sequences to logically flow.
Protect Team from Interference During Sprint
Preventing external interference shields the development team’s focus during time-bounded sprints. While open communication gets encouraged, direct requests that trigger context switching should get deferred until the next sprint planning session. Edits to the current sprint backlog also threaten focus and get deferred accordingly. Stakeholder commitments made at sprint planning provide reason to safeguard developers from disturbances. Managing external interactions preserves inner team attention on their agreed objectives.
Tracking Progress Through Working Software
Tangible system functionality demonstrates meaningful progress at the end of each sprint. Breaking down large goals into small shippable increments provides regular value delivery. Reviewing the integrated software gives stakeholders transparency into advancement made by development teams. Incorporating user feedback gathered on each build further ensures alignment to requirements.
Break Down Stories Into Shippable Increments
Product owners decompose epic level goals into granular stories suitable for completion within a single sprint. These vertical feature slices produce standalone system capabilities usable by end customers to evaluate. Each built increment provides measurable value despite not fully realizing the larger backlog item. The regular delivery of consumable solution increments provides tangible evidence of sprint progress.
Review Running Tested Software Every Sprint
At sprint end, fully integrated code gets verified under quality assurance testing before review. Rather than paper specifications or static prototypes, stakeholders can experience actual working software capabilities added throughout each sprint. Hands-on interaction with the live system exposes them to the incremental evolution directly reflecting team productivity. Review meetings also serve to inspect software quality while shaping next steps.
Adjust Based on Stakeholders’ Feedback
The insights gathered from directly using the software can get used to realign backlog priorities or refine existing requirements. Stakeholders can provide contextual feature corrections or performance change requests. Teams can swiftly respond to suggested adjustments either within the current sprint if slack capacity exists, or schedule appropriately for upcoming sprints. This closed-loop review process perpetuates purposeful feedback exchanges to advance solution delivery.
