The (in)finite Sprint
When your agile team needs a rest.
In a past article, I talked about Accountable Teams and how they are responsible for their own success. In the software industry most of these teams use a variant of an Agile method, like SCRUM, where one of the goals is to divide the amount of work into smaller pieces and define iterations, also known as sprints, where it’s easier to manage changes in the requirements, deviations in the plan or any unexpected issue that might occur (Hey, if you screw it up at least you will be behind the schedule a couple of weeks instead of 6 months!).
For example, most teams define a two-week sprint. The first day they get together to define the iteration plan (most of the times the customer joins these meetings) and what they’ll be doing for the next 2 weeks. Then, the team commits to a series of features or tasks to deliver at the end of the iteration. All members are involved in this planning session and they have a voice and vote for each assignment.
Alright, once the plan is set and the team is ready… The Sprint Begins. Every day they’ll perform their daily meetings, assign tasks and discuss the issues they had the previous day. And when the two weeks are over, the team will show the customer what they did during the sprint (this meeting is also known as the Sprint Review). The customer is happy… He provides feedback and the team adds new items to the project backlog. The next week, they’ll start all over again and a new sprint will begin.
But, most agile managers or SCRUM Masters forget that this kind of rhythm can’t be sustained over time. As in real life, we can’t sprint to the infinite. We’ll need to rest in order to be in shape for a new run. The same happens to an agile team. They can’t run all the time. And the weekend is not enough to replenish your team’s energy. They need some spare team, as a team.
What are the options to replenish you team’s energy? Some teams have free time after completing a couple of sprints. They have a smaller iteration (1 week long) where they can do whatever they want. They can read, learn new things, maybe improve some code they did in the previous iteration, etc. The goal is to set a state of mind for the team. Not all team members will be “on vacation” during this week and that’s because they are an accountable team. They’ll take things lighter but they’ll stay committed to the project. And once ready, the reenergized team will start a new sprint.
My teams created fantastic tools to automatize internal processes and were happy while doing it. They were creating things, small things that matter and helped them in their daily work. Check the current view of Google’s original 20 Percent projects.
So don’t forget to get your team in shape. We can’t run all the time; sometimes we need to stop and smell the roses. Once our energy is back, we can start a new sprint towards the goal.
You might ask: Won’t this slow down my project? Won’t this promote a lazy team? How do I know if this agile team will get the project done on time? To answer this, we’ll need to understand what Sustainable Rhythm is. Which I’ll explain in a later post.
This article was published on VerlicRedclaw.WordPress.Com.
Verlic Redclaw writes about team building and motivation at VerlicRedclaw.WordPress.Com, and he also shares info about design, software, and freelancing. You can follow him on Twitter here.
