FROM A MONTH TO NONE

How long should your Sprints be?

LAST Conference Melbourne 2014Reginald de Silva11/07/2014

What is a Sprint / Iteration?

Scrum Guide Definition:“The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one

month or less during which a “Done”, useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created.”

What is cadence and time-boxing?

Why do it?

Running a clean Sprint

Toyota Production System (TPS)Key types of waste: ‘Muda’ (wastefully activity)

Eliminate waste - Waiting, over-processing, overproduction, unnecessary transportation, correction etc.

‘Mura’ (unevenness)

Remove stress through use of a pull system - “just in time“ inventory of car parts

‘Muri’ (overburden)

Eliminate bottlenecks

Running a clean Sprint

Lean Software DevelopmentKey types of waste:

The Eight WastesManufacturing Software

DevelopmentIn-Process Inventory Partially Done Work

Over-Production Extra Features

Extra Processing Relearning

Transportation Handoffs

Motion Task Switching

Waiting Delays

Defects Defects

Unfulfilled Potential Unfulfilled Potential

Running a clean Sprint

Kaizen (change good)5-S Principles Sort (Seiri)

Set In Order (Seiton)

Shine (Seiso)

Standardise (Seiketsu)

Sustain (Shitsuke)

Running a clean Sprint

Kaizen (change good) – 5-S Principles

Running a clean Sprint

Parkinsons Law“work expands so as to fill the time available for its

completion”

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

One Piece Flow (OPF)

Limit Work in Progress (WIP)

4-Week Sprints

Sprints are limited to one calendar month.

When a Sprint’s horizon is too long the definition of what is being built may change, complexity may rise, and risk may increase.

Sprints also limit risk to one calendar month of cost.The Scrum GuideThe Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the GameDeveloped and sustained by Ken Schwaber and Jeff SutherlandJuly 2013

4

3-Week Sprints

A blessing or a curse?

When suitable?

3

2-Week Sprints

Why is this most common?

Prescriptive - SAFe

2

1-Week Sprints

How to deal with the intensity?!!…

Time management – be ruthless!

1

No Sprints at all Kanban

Limits WIP to capacity rather than through time-boxing

Allows for large work items as well as small

NONE

Special note:Pomodoro Technique

There are five basic steps to implementing the technique: Decide on the task to be done Set the pomodoro timer to n minutes (traditionally 25) Work on the task until the timer rings; record with an ‘x’ Take a short break (3–5 minutes) After four pomodori, take a longer break (15–30 minutes)

Supporting information

Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) Lead time and cycle time

Supporting information

Forecast vs Actual

Supporting information

Burn charts

What to do if your Sprints are totally stuffed?!

Reduce the amount of work that is forecast to be done when planning the next Sprint

Split User Stories into smaller chunks while ensuring that they are still potentially shippable

In extreme cases: Cancel the Sprint Stop, replan the release and start again

Software development considerations

Work on one thing at a time – avoid multi-tasking!

Definition of Done (DoD) – “Dev Done”is not “Done”!

Even flow of work – avoid batching and doing final inspections and reviews too late

When is automation “Done”?

Ensure that Stories are sized appropriately and are “potentially shippable”

Discussion

References The Scrum Guide - The Definitive Guide to Scrum: The Rules of the Game

Developed and sustained by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland July 2013https://www.scrum.org/Portals/0/Documents/Scrum%20Guides/2013/Scrum-Guide.pdf

Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash Mary Poppendieck (Author), Tom Poppendieck (Author)http://www.amazon.com/Implementing-Lean-Software-Development-Concept/dp/0321437381

Kanban and Scrum - making the most of bothHenrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarinhttp://www.infoq.com/minibooks/kanban-scrum-minibook

The Pomodoro TechniqueFranceso Cirillohttp://caps.ucsd.edu/Downloads/tx_forms/koch/pomodoro_handouts/ThePomodoroTechnique_v1-3.pdf

Scaled Agile Frameworkhttp://scaledagileframework.com/