Hey! What's good awesome people? I hope
all is well with you.
Joshua Partogi here. Welcome back to my
channel.
And if you're new to this channel
welcome on board.
After my previous video, many people,
mainly the Development Team members,
asked me when the Product Owner asked
the Development Team to do unplanned
work in the middle of the Sprint,
what should the Development Team do? If
you're curious about what the
Development Team should tell the Product
Owner in this situation,
don't go anywhere folks stay in this
video.
Many organisations implementing Scrum
don't really live this Scrum values.
They do the Scrum mechanics but not
live the Scrum values.
Whenever the Product Owner asks the
Development Team to do unplanned work in
the middle of the Sprint there must be
mutual respect between the Product Owner
and the Development Team.
Respect is one of the Scrum values. The
Product Owner must ask the Development
Team with respect.
Not underestimate the work that the
Development Team does and not using
power and authority or even cajole and
intimidate the Development Team to do
the unplanned work.
The Product Owner must be ready to
trade the existing work in the Sprint
Backlog with the unplanned work.
Product Owners who ask the unplanned
work to be completed along with the plan
work is disrespectful and only
encourages the Development Team to cut
quality and add technical debt in the
product.
Technical debt is a big problem in the
industry and because of this reason I've
made a video on technical debt.
If you haven't watched that video click
the link up here to watch the video.
The Development Team should also respect
the Product Owner whenever this
situation happens.
Just like the Product Owner respects the
Development Team, the Development Team
should also respect that sometimes
Product Owner needs to make tough
decisions to keep the cash flow moving
into the company.
I've worked with many Development Teams
who don't allow any unplanned work that
emerges in the middle of the Sprint
before first hearing the Product
Owner's reason.
Development Team who reject Product
Owner's request without first hearing
the Product Owner's reason and tell the
Product Owner to bugger off is
disrespectful and unprofessional.
As the Development Team owns the Sprint
backlog, the Development Team should also
ask two questions to the Product Owner,
of course with respect, so they can
decide whether the unplanned work should
go into their current Sprint backlog and
be traded with the planned work.
The first question the Development Team
should ask the Product Owner whenever
the Product Owner comes with an
unplanned work in the middle of the
Sprint is:
"Will this unplanned work help us achieve
the outcome metric that we discussed
during the Sprint planning?".
If the Development Team and the Product
Owner both agree that the unplanned work
helps increase the outcome metric they
discussed during the Sprint planning,
the Product Owner need to trade it with the
work that was planned during the Sprint
planning.
If the unplanned work does not align
with the team's current Sprint goal,
the Product Owner should be open to have
the work done in the following Sprint.
Openness is another Scrum value. Sprint
goal creates focus throughout the Sprint.
Besides respect,
focus is another Scrum value. Many teams
implementing Scrum have an output-driven
Sprint goal.
Output-driven Sprint goal just make the
Development Team look like feature
factory workers.
If you're unsure whether the team Sprint
goal is outcome driven, click the link up
here to watch the video i've made on
outcome driven Sprint goal.
Some unplanned work that emerges in the
middle of the Sprint is not feature
based.
It could be a defect that's not even
related with the Sprint goal at all.
If that is the case, the Development Team
should ask the Product Owner:
"what's the cost of not fixing this
defect in the current Sprint?".
For example, if the Product Owner is able
to quantify the cost of not fixing the
defect is $100,000
every minute it's not fixed, then the
Development Team should respect the
Product Owner's decision and ask the
Product Owner to trade the planned work
with the defect,
because if we wait until next Sprint to
fix the defect, the company may have gone
bankrupt.
So that is all from me today folks. I
hope this simple guideline can give you
an overview on what to do whenever there
is unplanned work that emerges in the
middle of the Sprint.
Remember what matters most is mutual
respect between the Product Owner and
the Development Team.
Without respect, Scrum just becomes a
mini-waterfall.
If you find today's video helpful don't
forget to smash
that like button or you can also buy me
a coffee using the link
up here. Don't forget to subscribe to my
channel. See you until my next video.
Until then stay safe and Scrum on folks.