The real work begins!

During sprint 1, many things occurred. At the beginning of the sprint, we held our first planning session. Gilles, our super coach, kept the time and facilitated the meeting. Thank God! Otherwise I think we would still be there! We used the Planning Poker® technique for the first time. It allowed the team to discuss the product backlog items and to have a common understanding of what has to be delivered.

In spite of the work done during the planning session, we realized mid-way through it that what we had forecasted to achieve was not realistic. We took too many items in the sprint. Luckily, the team is motivated and there is a great chemistry. Everyone is collaborating. It had been a long time since I had seen a team having so much fun working together. Even if we had 2-3 surprises during the sprint, the team did not feel discouraged.

On the other hand, the result of our sprint demonstration was disappointing. We saw that all sprint items had been started, but not done. However, what does “Done” mean? Each team member seemed to have a different definition. I also noticed that the requirements I had chosen for the sprint were way too big. Gilles gave me a few tricks and he will guide me during the preparation for the next sprint. Now I better understand the level of detail the team needs.

During the sprint retrospective, we chose items for our action plan. These items will help us improve ourselves for the next sprints:

  • Focus on a more realistic forecast
  • Break down user stories into smaller tasks
  • Have clear conditions of success for each story.

During the retro, we also agreed on our definition of “Done” and wrote it down. That should help us complete the stories we will take during the next sprints.

I certainly hope that we will do better during sprint 2. I find the results of our first sprint disturbing. Gilles tells me that he is not surprised with these results, that it is normal. There is a learning curve. The team learns to work together and to self-organize. I’m a little worried for the next sprints… I hope our action items will allow us to take up the challenges to come.

 

maria

She has been appointed “Product Owner” in the context of an Agile transition at work.
Maria is organized at work, but her new role raises some questioning.
She wants to meet the changing demands of her clients, better connect with her development team, and have an overview of the project workflow. Maria turned to Pyxis for their expertise in Agility.

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