2023-04-14 - The best way to handle unexpected requests mid-Sprint - Chewing the Fat 📈

[lukecookssw]

Hi team,

Let's discuss this rule: Do you have flexibility with the order you do the work?

[tiagov8]

Communication is key - As long as everyone is in sync and aware of the effects of a Sprint change I don't see a lot of harm in it.

[jerryluossw]

Great rule, in the long term, maintaining the team's work pace is more important than asking to work overtime to deal with temporary requests.

In China, especially for government clients, they often add requests mid sprints, the way we deal with it is as similar as the rule, most of time it works, and clients like the way of communication very much, that's one of the reasons why they think SSW is better than other suppliers. But sometimes they don't want to delete other PBIs （Usually because their boss wants everything）, so we have to do some overtime work, luckly those cases aren't often.

[leehawkinsssw]

The rule is helpful and serves as a handy reference for anyone encountering this issue during their daily work.

It's a common problem with stakeholders who are new to Scrum and dev teams are often their own worst enemies in taking on such requests to try to keep stakeholders happy.

The Sprint is an important (I wouldn't use the term "sacred") container for work that easily overflows if more stuff is added without draining some other stuff out. One of the benefits of short Sprints is the easier conversations you can have about these "urgent" additional pieces of work - "can this really not wait for 2 weeks and be added to the next sprint?"

[leahy268]

I haven't always done Scrum. However I would say that it's always important to be prepared to push back on a Product Owner. I'm not saying don't do the work but you must prioritize it in amongst all the other tasks that you already have.

It's amazing how often when a Product Owner realizes that something else has to be pushed back to fit in a 'Urgent' task how often the 'Urgent' task becomes only an 'Important' task.

[jakebayliss]

Super important rule when it comes to keeping the sprint goal alive. I think if the new task is big enough to cause the team to likely miss the end goal then put it in the backlog, but if its only small then adding it to the sprint is probably fine

[bahjatalaadelssw]

This is a useful skill because it helps manage over committing to tasks. Without set expectations it's easy to burnout or start to despise your work because the goal post keep getting moved. Staying balanced is key.

[ozdemir-mehmet]

Agree with all of the above

[danielmackay]

Great video @jontygardner! Nice to see you in front of the camera for a change. 🙂

Some great tips here for avoiding distraction and dealing with stakeholders/PO

[vladislav-kir]

Great tips for keeping Sprint on track when facing interruptions.

[JackDevAU]

Great video + rule - with a good email template! Nice work!

Communication is a must and this rule will defiantly help when dealing with ad-hoc work!

[calumjs]

Protect your Sprints, be ready for curveballs, and keep the team happy and productive. That's the key to rockin' Scrum!

[TobyChurches]

Great Video and a Great Rule! Definitely important to maintain the sprint workload and ensure that you arent over committing to tasks.

[cvionnet]

Nice video and rule!
Maintaining the focus of the Sprint is super important.
Additionally, it's important to educate stakeholders who may not be familiar with Scrum about its benefits.

[jontygardner]

I enjoyed making this video as I have found this approach to Scrum very effective.

Even if you receive 'small tasks' from the PO, make sure you follow this method and create a PBI for it. Document the work so you have a trail. The exception for this is if the work takes than 30 minutes to complete. But then again, if the Product Owner gives you 10 x 30 minute Ad Hoc tasks then that compromises the Sprint Goals.

[Ben0189]

Nice Video, the request's urgency is important things to consider before made any adjustment on the sprint plan

[JaneYangssw]

Nice video and great rule! It's so important to consider the team's interests before making any changes in a sprint and this rule really helps us to do that. It's great to see such a thoughtful and effective approach to team collaboration.

[Aibono1225]

Great video, short and informative. Since unexpected requests happen occasionally, we really should build bridges between developers and POs to meet the requirements of both parties as much as possible

[jimmidier]

Great video and rule. It's also important to be mindful when breaking down PBI into tasks. The smaller the tasks the better the granularity will be, thus more prepared for any change/cancellation mid-Sprint

[drwharris]

Interruptions are inevitable. One of the goals of scrum is to allow you to pivot quickly. If a new, higher priority issue comes up then you just have to pivot. However its important that the decision on why you pivoted is recorded.

1. Make sure a PBI is logged for the pivot work.
2. Have the decision maker record the need for the pivot in your current PBI & the new PBI.

[sylhuang]

The beauty of Scrum is we are more flexible and reactive to new changes. If absolutely necessary, we are able to take out PBIs of similar size and swap for a new prioritized work. Like the game of packing a box.

[KristenHu]

Great video, there are always emergency situations in real life, which is hard to avoid, this rule helps a lot to tell us how to communicate with the PO and the client to solve these problems.

[AnkyChe]

Great video and great tips!
Interruptions are inevitable so the conmmunication is important. The vedio teaches me how to do that communication - first acknowledge it (e.g. "That's a great idea!"), and then enquire about the new task's priority.

[SofieHong]

Great video and rule! 👍 Especially the PBI Substitutions email template, it provides an effective way to deal with PBI changes.

[Berber-Mama]

I love the video. Protecting Sprint's progress is as important as balancing clients' needs!

[PothieuG]

Great video and content.
Nice tip as well, I'll try to use it well in my future project !

[SamBWagner]

Just be clear with the PO that the Sprint Goal is the 1 and only real metric for measuring the team's success. If this isn't communicated to them early and clearly. It's best to pursue the conversation with them

[BrookJeynes]

Very important rule and serves as a good reference

[UlyssesMaclaren]

It's great that everyone's getting aligned on this :)

[camillars]

Great video from Jonty. These are great tips to keep the Sprint work/goal on track amidst interruptions, which, let's face it, will always come.

[Levijj22]

Great video @jontygardner!
Awesome to see everyone on the same page.