Your team members keep overcommitting in Agile sprint planning. How do you get them back on track?
Overcommitting during Agile sprint planning can derail projects. To help your team stay realistic, consider these strategies:
- Revisit the definition of "done." Ensure everyone understands what's achievable within a sprint.
- Foster open dialogue about capacity. Encourage team members to communicate their true bandwidth.
- Implement retrospectives. Regularly review past sprints to learn and improve future planning.
How do you encourage accurate sprint commitments? Share your strategies.
Your team members keep overcommitting in Agile sprint planning. How do you get them back on track?
Overcommitting during Agile sprint planning can derail projects. To help your team stay realistic, consider these strategies:
- Revisit the definition of "done." Ensure everyone understands what's achievable within a sprint.
- Foster open dialogue about capacity. Encourage team members to communicate their true bandwidth.
- Implement retrospectives. Regularly review past sprints to learn and improve future planning.
How do you encourage accurate sprint commitments? Share your strategies.
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Agile doesn't have Sprints. Scrum has. A problem with articles like this here is conflation of topics that are unrelated, and seemingly providing "helpful advice" to people who understand even less. It's why "Agile" is often poorly understood, Scrum poorly implemented- resulting in poor decisions, poor execution and poor outcomes. Simple fix: if you experience organizational issues, bring in a seasoned Enterprise Coach and have them guide you. Do not rely on articles that contain an undiscernable amount of misinformation.
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Oh, sure! Nothing says "effective teamwork," like setting lofty goals, pretending everyone has the capacity of a superhero, and then being shocked—shocked, I tell you—when the team misses the mark. We should also introduce a new role: the Overcommitting Officer, whose sole job is to ensure the team constantly bites off more than it can chew. After all, isn't that the true spirit of Agile? Sprint goals? Pfft, those are just suggestions, right? Just keep moving that unattainable finish line a little further out of reach each Sprint—eventually, they'll either figure it out or burn out. Progress!
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Remind the team of their capacity at the beginning of planning, and during the process, identify any overcommitment. It's critical to continually track the team's capacity to avoid overcommitting. Concentrate on the goals and rearrange or reorder tasks as necessary. As planning comes to a finish, find out from the team members if they are completely committed and confident in complete those goals. People are forced to take their work seriously as a result, which frequently results in changes (scope creeps) like removing stories to prevent taking on a lot.
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Se o compromisso for levemente maior que a média, ótimo! O time está se desafiando a entregar mais! Deixe eles se desafiarem. Se for um compromisso muito maior: Mostre para o time o histórico de entregas (Velocity) e pergunte: -Estamos sendo realistas com a promessa dessa sprint? -O que vai ser diferente nessa sprint que vai nos fazer entregar x% a mais que a média histórica?
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Great insights on managing overcommitment in sprints! To help teams stay realistic, revisiting the "Definition of Done" and fostering open discussions about capacity are key. Regular retrospectives also play a crucial role in refining planning and learning from past sprints. I’d love to hear how others tackle this challenge—what strategies have worked for you?
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To encourage accurate sprint commitments: Ensure clarity on critical tasks to avoid overloading and understanding the definition of "Done". Use past performance as a baseline for future commitments. Simplify user stories for better estimation. Discuss individual availability upfront during sprint planning. Encourage honesty about challenges to promote realistic planning. Implement mid-sprint check-ins to review progress and make adjustments. Set WIP limits to focus on task completion and foster cross-functional teamwork. Consistently applying these strategies leads to more balanced sprint planning and timely delivery.
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Consider abandoning sprints altogether, so long as the team can define small incremental stories or tasks and prioritise the most important work. Setting an arbitrary time window is not all that helpful.
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