The Slippery Slope

Are we still Agile?

Photo Credit: Slippery Slope by S.Rae / Cropped

Alida Cheungwww.linkedin.com/in/alidacheung

@AlidaCheung

This is Not…

• Defining or explaining Scrum smell

• Arguing what is or is not Scrum

• A prescription for what you should do

This is…

My observations, experience, and reflections over the years

Scrum is an Agile Framework

Therefore you can and should adapt and change it to fit your environment and situation

…how do you know you have gone too far?

But…

When you found yourself on a slope, you ask…

• How steep is the slope?

• Will I slip?

• How far will I slip?

• How did I end up here in the first place?• Is it the beginning of creativity or the

beginning of the end?

But can you even tell that you are on a Slippery Slope?

“Let’s do it!!”

At the beginning of the transformation, spirit is high…

Perhaps at some point (perhaps very soon)…

You want to …

• Skip story estimation• Not use relative sizing• Carry stories to the next sprint• Skip daily standup• Move team members around• Put together a geographically distributed team• Ask for detail specs• Have a separate technical backlog

“We don’t have time!”

Team skips Story Estimation

Slippery Slope Index

“We don’t have enough details.”

“Let’s just start working and we’ll see.”

Team does not use Relative Sizing

=3

=1

=5=1

=2=1

=1

=1

“One experienced person-day equals 1 story point!”

“But one new person-day equals 3 story points!” Slippery

Slope Index

“Dev day:QA day = 2:1”

Relative Sizing is one of the most difficult and novel concepts to grasp!

But it is a fundamental concept in Scrum. Teams who do not get it may decide to simply skip it.

For those who do, they still need to practice to make it stick.

Estimation

Making Estimation Stick

Just like any sport, with practice, it will become second nature! But you need to put in the effort.

• Help the Team understand the rationale behind• Explain the concept again• Don’t give up when the situation becomes

difficult• Practice it at every opportunity• If necessary experiment with different type of

scales, e.g. Fibonacci numbers, T-shirt size, etc.

Team does not observe Sprint Boundary

“Let’s just carry the stories to the next sprint, what’s the big deal?!”

Slippery Slope Index

When Sprint Boundary is ignored…

• Rhythm is destroyed• Planning becomes futile• Commitment is disregarded• Predictability is jeopardized• Risks will likely be pushed down the path• Work will likely pile up at the end, compromising

quality

You are not reaping the benefits of Scrum at all!

Team Stops Meeting Daily

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Seek to Understand First

Why is the Team not meeting daily?

•Poor execution? (Punctuality issue, lack of information radiator, takes too long, gets moved around or canceled, becomes a reporting meeting, etc.)

•Not seeing the values?

• Not understanding its purpose?

If a Team does understand the Purpose of the Daily Standup and

can achieve all these without one…• Synchronize and collectively provide the big picture of

the sprint • Collectively plan for the next 24 hours• Bring blockers to the forefront• Inspect sprint execution and improve

…then perhaps they can experiment image: www.freeimages.co.uk

Teams got Re-shuffled Frequently

“We need to put all the stars together to get something done fast!”

“We need a new team for this new feature.”

Slippery Slope Index

When Teams got Reshuffled…• Both the new and old Teams have to gel• Teams have to build velocity all over again• Productivity and predictability will take a hit; so might

morale

What to do?

• Build “steel-thread” teams in the first place so that each team is self-contained and self-sufficient

• Redistribute stories across backlogs instead• Think before your leap. If you do need to create

a new Team, make sure it is a permanent Team, not a quick-fix. Give Teams (new and old) time to form and gel

Teams become Geographically Distributed

Slippery

Slope Index

When a Team is Distributed…• Technology can compensate, but there are also

quality and bandwidth issues that come with it• There is no comparison to a face-to-face real

time conversation• More meetings will have to be formally

scheduled and set up

• Missed communication may take many hours to reschedule

If a Geographically Distributed Team is Inevitable…

• Minimize the time zone differences among the team members– A 3-hour difference is manageable– A 12-hour difference just doesn’t work

• Have face-to-face planning meetings• Have team members design their own

communication agreement and protocol

Image credit: christmasstockimages.com

Detail Specs

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Seek to Understand First

• Who wants detail specs?– The Team? The Product Owner?

• What’s the reason?– The Team is extremely geographically distributed – To protect oneself (which is an indication of a lack of

trust)– Product Owner not available?

Solve those root causes instead!

Those Specs …

…should NEVER be used to replace conversations!

Slippery Slope Index

Have a Separate Technical Backlog

The Technical Backlog

• Very often the technical work are the behind the scene unsung heroes needed to deliver customer values. i.e. they are tasks, perhaps very big tasks.

• If you have genuine technical stories, put them in the same backlog. After all, it is the same team who will work on them.

• But more importantly – it may be a symptom of politics and power struggle, which erode trust and collaboration in a big way.

A few words for the Team

Learning Scrum is like learning any other new

skill

If you find that you do not need to change the way you work, think, or

behave, you probably are not adopting it properly

Agile is not……do whatever we want!

Agility requires Discipline

A few words for the Coaches

The First 3 to 6 months are Crucial

Forming habits is hard

Changing habits is even harder

Don’t let the Team pick up bad habits

Train everyone on the Team, including the Product

Owner, the ScrumMaster, and Management

Celebrate success and point out areas of improvement

See to it that they apply their learning on a daily basis

Wishing you a Firm Foothold

Photo Credit: Slippery Slope by S.Rae / Cropped