How to Track Details in a Sprint
This quick answer to this question is it is up to the team. When starting to use Scrum or other agile frameworks, sometimes the Scrum Master needs to explain benefits to the Scrum team and management. My experience is when developing software, management AND the developers expect to have software available to track the backlog, sprint, and schedule.
Most Scrum Trainers recommend not using a third party solution to manage the Scrum model. Having implemented Scrum in a traditional software company used to the waterfall method, I agree with the trainers.
It is recommended that the Product Owner use Excel to track the backlog and Scrum team can use Excel to help track the burndown in the sprint. See the Scrum Alliance for a spreadsheet template. The Sprint Planning and tracking can be done by using an old fashion cork board. This may seem like you went back in time, but this process has several benefits.
- Buying software to manage the process will set an expectation to all stakeholders that the process is being managed. Not to mention that when a company invests money in tools, they expect to see quick results. This can really set the team up for failure before they have the chance to succeed.
- Story cards on a cork board are inexpensive and engage the team in the process. Remember that, once committed, the team is responsible for delivering the work. The ‘how’ is up to them and the Scrum Master is responsible to facilitate the how. The team is responsible for getting it done.Story cards are also extremely flexible and easy to move around.
- Story cards help to create the conversations that are so important for successful sprint
- Cork boards are highly visible and help to create the transparency that is so important.
- The team can figure out the best processes for them instead of complying with their initial understanding of how the software solution wants them to do Scrum.
Challenges that I have experienced when using software
- The product owner and/or stakeholders end up putting too much detail in the product backlog. This can cause the team to spend more time creating estimates and also have a higher expectation of the accuracy given the additional information.
- The team begins to reduce the conversations because the software can capture more detailed requirements.
- Observers can tend suggest/manage the scrum team in order to attempt for them to become more effective. This can be the most difficult part of implementing a strong agile methodology.
Scrum and other flavors of Agile processes require a high level of trust among team members and the executive teams. It is generally understood by Scrum ‘experts’ that it will take a team about 2 years to really figure it out. This needs to be understood and emphasized early on. While 2 years seems like a long time, it doesn’t mean that the team is less productive than the traditional waterfall. It just means the team needs to make mistakes and figure out how to get better over many cycles.