Agile: Essentials of Team and Project Management. Manifesto for Agile Software Development by Campbell Alex

Author:Campbell, Alex [Campbell, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4: How to Manage Sprints and Sprint Events, and the Backlog

There are three key elements to managing an Agile Team when you get past the people element. You need to be able to manage sprints, Scrum events, and backlog. It is likely that other people may take the reins on managing certain pieces of a sprint, Scrum event, and the Product Owner may even delegate control of the backlog. But it is important that every person of the team understand the core purpose of these three facets of an Agile Project.

One of the common complaints about Agile, or the argument against using Agile, is that there are too many meetings. Because of the emphasis that Agile places on communication, these meetings are necessary. Scrum events and sprints demand a high level of communication, so there won't be the meetings where everyone sits around, not addressing the primary issue. Agile meetings are often restricted on time, highly structured, and exist with a clear purpose.

The Daily Meeting

The daily meeting, the daily Scrum, the Kanban meeting, the daily standup, and many other names all reference the same meeting. Many Agile teams will avoid using the terms Scrum and Kanban because they refer to specific Agile Methodologies. But Scrum and Kanban are also common jargon among Agile Teams, so it's not uncommon to hear them used in reference to this daily meeting. The daily standup term came from Agile Members standing up during the meeting to keep the meeting as short as possible.

The daily meeting exists to report the status of different tasks and the backlog to the Product Owner. The Scrum Master takes the wheel on the daily meeting by discussing what each person in the team has accomplished, where the project is at currently, and the progress of the current sprint. This is not the meeting to talk about conflicts unless a prior conflict has arisen and is impacting the team's progress.

This particular meeting is the forum for each team member holding the other accountable and for the Product Owner to ask questions. The Scrum Master should serve as the communication conduit during this meeting. They should interpret any answers that the Product Owner didn't fully understand, and help the Development Team understand requests or information from the Product Owner. This meeting is the opportunity to plan out the next few hours.

Tools for the Daily Meeting:

● Kanban/Scrum Board – This board, although called a Kanban or Scrum board, is often used in Agile Teams even when they're not using the Kanban or Scrum methodologies.

● The Parking Lot – All questions or concerns brought up that aren't pertinent to the work currently being worked on get put in the "parking lot." It's the equivalent of "putting a pin" in something.

● Timer – It is important that the meeting only lasts for 15 minutes. If the meetings go longer than this, they can devour the entire day.

● Project Calendar – Project calendar outlines the current sprint goals to ensure that daily tasks stay in line with the overarching goals.

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