Amber Hunt - Sprint 3 Paper 3 - Avoiding common pitfalls

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1   INTRODUCTION

1.2   MAINTAINING THE AGENDA

1.3   REPORTING STATUS AT STANDUPS

1.4   BREAKING THE SPRINT

1.5   MULTITASKING

1.6   CONCLUSION

1.1 Introduction If one wants to avoid common pitfalls within an agile project, these four steps can help. Maintaining the agenda, reporting status at standups, breakings the sprint and multitasking. Although they sound like a lot of guidelines to follow, they can help with being success in avoiding pitfalls. These steps will assure that the project stays on tract.

'''1.2 Maintaining the Agenda '''In an agile meeting, it can be hard to stick to the agenda. Especially if it is a standup meeting and there is limited time. People usually would want to ask questions, but the scrum master would have to let them know that it is not the time for it. Instead, they would have to wait until the meeting is over, or set up another one for questions. There is a time and place.

''' 1.3 Reporting Status at Standups '''Reporting status at standup meetings can be a bit tricky. There are two types of persons that attend/speak at these meetings. The organized and the unorganized. Th organized also known as the early risers, know what they come to say and be done within a certain period. The unorganized, also known as the late risers, are the ones that zone out during standups and don’t usually pay attention to the person speaking. Since the scrum master oversees everyone, he must figure out their personalities and know how to deal with them from there. ''' 1.4 Breaking the Sprint '''Breaking the spring in agile is not a bad thing when the team is behind on a project, it is common. Sometimes developers get called for more urgent projects, the team estimated wrong or could not overcome a hurdle. Most times it could be that the highest value work changed. (Lynda.com – from LinkedIn, 2017) ''' 1.5 Multitasking '''Multitasking is extremely important within an agile environment. Because everything is moving faster than a traditional project, one must learn/practice the art. One cannot work on one task all day. This is where time management takes place as well. Activities/tasks should be split up. That is why meetings in agile aren’t long, because developers usually have too many things going on at one time.  1.6 Conclusion In conclusion, avoiding common pitfalls can be easy once these steps are followed. They teach you what not to do. If being successful if the end goal, then these guidelines are exemplary. Maintaining the agenda is highly important to staying on track. So is knowing your team members, breaking the sprint (if you have too) and multitasking. These roles play a part in being a successful team.

Reference

Google.com. (2017). pitfalls - Google Search. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/search?q=pitfalls&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS628US628&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj6xea4hsfXAhXI2SYKHaw1CUAQ_AUICigB&biw=1517&bih=735#imgrc=cWdhIMLrmQJKrM: [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Lynda.com - from LinkedIn. (2017). Breaking the sprint. [online] Available at: https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Breaking-sprint/175075/438009-4.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Lynda.com - from LinkedIn. (2017). ''Maintaining the agenda''. [online] Available at: https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Maintaining-agenda/175075/438007-4.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Lynda.com - from LinkedIn. (2017). Multitasking. [online] Available at: https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Multitasking/175075/438010-4.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Lynda.com - from LinkedIn. (2017). Reporting status at standups. [online] Available at: https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Reporting-status-standups/175075/438008-4.html [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].