Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
CAUTION
Don't get caught in the common pitfall of underestimating the less visible
work, especially on a new Agile effort. Anticipate increased mentoring
needs to help people who are being asked to take on new collaboration
responsibilities.
8.15 More about the Importance of Using a Scope
Document
The Scope document should have been used by Al during discussions
with Mike in assessing any new requests. Al also should have been check-
ing to make sure any requests were on the current Sprint Backlog before
agreeing to work on them. When we built the Sprint Backlog at the start of
each thirty-day sprint, we used the Scope document to allocate Use Cases
from this document to the current sprint. I failed to take the time to train
Al in the importance of both the Scope document and the use of the current
Sprint Backlog.
I developed the Scope document, and established higher-level customer
representatives' approval, but failed to flow it down to developers like Al,
or communicate to Mike's boss, on the customer side, that he needed to
flow it down to Mike. These are all critical responsibilities that need to
receive greater attention as organizations move toward their appropriate
level of agility.
CAUTION
Don't get caught in the common trap of building a Scope document, but
failing to “flow it down” to those in the trenches who are doing the real
collaborating.
No one was checking to make sure we were involving
all
the stakeholders on
the customer side and down deep into the organization. What makes this so
costly is that it
lacks visibility
, which allows it to impact your program a
little
at a time
until all of a sudden you realize the impact is much greater than you
ever imagined.
Let us suppose I had done my job training Al how to collaborate using the
Scope document, and how to work in a more disciplined way ensuring
