Cutting Mobius Strip Development
I’ve Been Here Before
“The List” - it’s everywhere and in software development, IT is no exception. Turn these into requirements, user stories, use cases - (a list) and it’s work to be done. Format the list this way, use this phrasing or fill in these fields, oh yeah – fill out this sticky form and put it on ye olde scrum board. Feel better now? I sure don’t. All I’ve succeeded in doing is adding another item to my backlog…err list. The brow is starting to furrow in frustration and you know this is a Titanic moment… but we MUST press on!
Ye Olde Requirements
Fill in the mystical details – What is this work item, what does it mean? How can I put the least detail (aka. save time) so that I can be – use that buzz word – agile. Yay agile! Um, we still haven’t moved on this work. Okay, okay – we should have a meeting where we discuss these things and get them all down on paper. Planning will help us assign story points, drive deeper, and prevent those “oh &*@#” moments that will hopefully be avoided by our extreme prowess and foresight as software developers! We are also hoping that we’ve discovered enough of our dependencies to come to the conclusion that either we can handle this ourselves or we’re going to take 10x as long because we’ve got to integrate with X other teams. Everyone else has their own priorities so we need to escalate dependencies because we don’t have the political swagger to get the job done. Looks like we’re in for another meeting that should have been carried out before we had this meeting.
Where We Began
Our TARDIS has taken us to a meeting where we’re meeting with all our user proxies, representatives, project managers plus our appropriate bosses who have the ability to determine our course quite swiftly but might not because they’re thinking about how to improve the machine. At this, we’re going to be told exactly what ”The List” is in the ug, presentation format. One question derails the entire line of thinking – setting us back only to figure out that it was just a misunderstanding upon which we can continue only to get to the next question which repeats the facepalm process. Or to be more eloquent – a samba! I’m really feeling defeated at this point and perhaps started appreciating the …massage a facepalm can bring. All our work is hinging on this discussion with other teams and the people that want us to do something for them…to make someone else happy. Presentations can’t do it for us, the format has to change.
Converse Presently
Bosses/managers facilitate the tagging of ”The List” items with things like: contract dependent, improves the bottom line, critical to quality, or the inevitable “already sold”. Development gets involved – “The List” that we started with is now simplified at this point - how did that get there? It was emailed out. These are the things the customers/user proxies/product managers want done and are prioritized (in their own right) with sufficient regard to known effort. What do I want to do – tear the list apart and wait for them to contact me. What should I really do – split the list, split the team, and go have a conversation. We need to cover three sections:
- Go be a sponge – Discuss the list item in its original format and add appropriate detail to establish priority and approximate effort
- Consult your team – Rank the list with what’s realistic (consider dependencies, technologically uncharted territory, or sheer size). If it’s not known or will take too much time to estimate, the item becomes an investigation phase. If you get the item completely done by the next opportunity – great! If not, you’ll have an idea (or maybe even a rough prototype) to go from.
- Dutch Auction – Switch the conversation around and let your “customers” …discuss… your efforts. Send team representatives (which can include the “customer”) to other teams if there is a dependency.
Where are the bosses in all of this? Doing what they do best – floating from conversation to conversation, watching for body cues for assistance, and listening for heightened tensions. Establish an escalation path – discuss, mediate, escalate (repeat if necessary or limit the number of escalations).
We’re there – we’ve effectively cut the mobius strip of development and established a point where a sprint can start.
