Ask an Agilista
Leftovers Always at The End
Apr 27, 2009
Dear Agilista,
My team never finishes the work we committed to in the iteration. No one seems bothered by this, and the product owner never gets mad. Is what we’re doing okay?
- Leftovers Always at The End
Dear LATE,
It’s both okay and not okay. It’s okay to not meet your commitment if you are a new team, or new to agile, and just learning what the team can accomplish. It’s also okay if unforeseen problems caused you to not deliver everything—for example, an ice storm shut you down for three days. It’s not okay if these “unforeseen” events happen every iteration and form a pattern that is being ignored. It’s also not okay if your team is on its fourth or fifth iteration and should know better by now how much work they can expect to complete.
Is it okay for you to do this in your situation? Nope. The team is supposed to be making commitments and honoring them. It sets a bad precedent to consistently fail to keep your promises. Even if everyone is okay with the status quo, remember that agile is about continuous improvement. You can either reduce the amount of work you commit to, or you can find a way to meet what you have committed to. Either way is sure to be better.
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