Comments on: The Definition of READY http://www.agilecoach.ca/2009/08/21/the-definition-of-ready/ Changing the World, One Person at a Time Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:46:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Andy Roberts http://www.agilecoach.ca/2009/08/21/the-definition-of-ready/comment-page-1/#comment-320 Andy Roberts Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:05:00 +0000 http://www.agilecoach.ca/?p=72#comment-320 One way to look at this is that the PO is failing in his responsibilities, and that as a result, the team is accepting responsibilty for the stories that aren't ready, and trying to complete planning as if nothing was wrong. So one option is for the team to start refusing to deal with the worst 'not ready' stories (e.g. "We really don't know what this means"), prompting the PO to address the situation. If this is done in a non-confontational way, perhaps at the same time offering to spend time with the PO grooming stories, or perhaps negotiating a common definition of 'ready', then you should be moving in the right direction. Have these issues surfaced in retrospective ? Does the team realise it has the option to address this situation as opposed to accepting it as a given (I'm inferring that's what's happening at the moment.) ? One way to look at this is that the PO is failing in his responsibilities, and that as a result, the team is accepting responsibilty for the stories that aren’t ready, and trying to complete planning as if nothing was wrong. So one option is for the team to start refusing to deal with the worst ‘not ready’ stories (e.g. “We really don’t know what this means”), prompting the PO to address the situation. If this is done in a non-confontational way, perhaps at the same time offering to spend time with the PO grooming stories, or perhaps negotiating a common definition of ‘ready’, then you should be moving in the right direction. Have these issues surfaced in retrospective ? Does the team realise it has the option to address this situation as opposed to accepting it as a given (I’m inferring that’s what’s happening at the moment.) ?

]]> By: Jason Little http://www.agilecoach.ca/2009/08/21/the-definition-of-ready/comment-page-1/#comment-319 Jason Little Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:15:00 +0000 http://www.agilecoach.ca/?p=72#comment-319 Thanks for the comment Wouter. Something you may want to try is to reflect back to the team the pain not having 'ready' stories is creating. If you can help the PO understand the impact not having ready stories is having, he/she may be more willing to take some time to be available. I've found it helpful to timebox a specific day and time each sprint dedicated to grooming the backlog with the goal being to prepare stories for the next sprint. This sets an expectation with the team and PO. Scrum recommends spending 2 - 4 hours per sprint getting stories ready for the next sprint, of course assuming a 2 week sprint length. Thanks for the comment Wouter. Something you may want to try is to reflect back to the team the pain not having ‘ready’ stories is creating. If you can help the PO understand the impact not having ready stories is having, he/she may be more willing to take some time to be available.

I’ve found it helpful to timebox a specific day and time each sprint dedicated to grooming the backlog with the goal being to prepare stories for the next sprint. This sets an expectation with the team and PO. Scrum recommends spending 2 – 4 hours per sprint getting stories ready for the next sprint, of course assuming a 2 week sprint length.

]]> By: Wouter Dewanckel http://www.agilecoach.ca/2009/08/21/the-definition-of-ready/comment-page-1/#comment-318 Wouter Dewanckel Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:05:00 +0000 http://www.agilecoach.ca/?p=72#comment-318 That is exactly what I am trying to push into our scrum processes. Though it is not easy to free the PO on weekly bases. Which makes no sense of course, since we pay for it later on, during the sprint planning meetings, that could be much shorter... That is exactly what I am trying to push into our scrum processes. Though it is not easy to free the PO on weekly bases. Which makes no sense of course, since we pay for it later on, during the sprint planning meetings, that could be much shorter…

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