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As we sail through another productive sprint on our recent project, the development of the Dealogikal Version 2, me and my team conducted our sprint retrospective to pause and reflect our journey of the At the end of each sprint, we gather as a team to celebrate achievements, learn from challenges, and pave the way for continuous improvement.
Impediment List
I always start my retrospective session by reviewing our shared impediment list. Impediments are things that can potentially delay the development of the sprint and the project as a whole. This could vary from physical things including equipment related issues, people issues, programming or coding issues and a lot more.
So during our sprint development, I always have ask them this last question while conducting our daily scrum meeting. Do I see any impediments that prevents me or the Development Team from meeting the SPRINT GOAL? If by any, they shared one. I list them down to our simple google sheet of Impediment List.
This lists contains the impediments the whole dev team encountered during the sprint. As a scrum master, It’s one of my responsibility to always check on my team member’s impediments and remove them the soonest so that my team could focus to accomplish their tasks.
Impediments we encountered on this Sprint
I then opened the impediment list sheet and carefully share to my dev team the ones we encountered during this sprint. I added two impediments on this sprint. One of which is my QA having impediment during his testing the increment. He is only using a laptop and he needs to have an additional monitor to effectively conduct his testing. Not only is going to improve the quality of the test but to also promote multi-tasking. The other impediment is our current subscription to Proj4.me. We are only using its free tier as of the moment and could not fully utilized its whole features that could undeniably make us more efficient to manage our project tasks.
With that, I prepared a email letter and submitted this report to my management and requested to be working with me to work on removing these impediments the sooneset possible time.
The three questions of our Sprint Retrospective
At the heart of our retrospective sessions are three fundamental questions that would help me guide our discussions, these are:
What Went Well During the Last Sprint?
This question allows us to celebrate our achievements and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our team. From enhancing user experience designs to resolving critical backend issues, each success contributes to our project’s advancement.
What Didn’t Go Well During the Last Sprint?
Acknowledging challenges is crucial for growth. We openly discuss obstacles encountered, whether it’s technical complexities, communication gaps, or unforeseen setbacks. By recognizing these challenges, we pave the way for effective solutions in the future.
How Can We Improve?
This question drives actionable insights. It encourages our team to brainstorm strategies for improvement—from refining our sprint planning process to enhancing collaboration across teams. By focusing on continuous improvement, we ensure that each sprint builds upon the last, fostering efficiency and innovation.
Key Things That Went Well During this Sprint 16
My dev team then individually shared the things that went well during sprint 16. Each one of them shared their experience uniquely however, there were things that we shared in common. They are:
Implementation of the New Sprint Process
This insight is one we often shared. In previous sprints, team members were assigned individual parts of the software feature to develop independently. Although this approach didn’t slow down our sprint progress, it did reduce opportunities for team collaboration. To address this, I decided to change our sprint dynamics by assigning larger features that requires team members to work together.
After implementing this new approach in our recent sprint, the team found themselves collaborating more effectively. They shared tips, communicated more, and worked cohesively on interconnected tasks. Without realizing it, we had already improved our velocity.
Utilizing Proj4.me
One significant improvement in our sprint process has been the implementation of Proj4.me, a dedicated project management software. Previously, we relied on Google Sheets to manage task allocation and schedules. While Google Sheets was manageable for handling sprint deliverables, it had certain limitations.
In contrast, Proj4.me offers substantial advantages, enabling the Project Manager to manage the project more effectively. This software fosters task transparency, improves allocation efficiency, and enhances schedule visibility among team members. The transition to Proj4.me has streamlined our processes, making collaboration smoother and more efficient.
On this video, CJ, one of our Full-stack Dev, shared his retrospective about how utilizing Proj4.me improved the way he managed his tasks effectively and able to collaborate with his fellow developers. He also shared how the new sprint process improved how he collaborates with his fellow developers.
Key Things That Didn’t Go Well this Sprint 16
Over the two week sprint development period, my Team were able to experience few challenges that almost hinder them to complete the sprint on time. One of them is a risk that we don’t have any control, the other one is process related and lastly, related to equipment.
No Internet Connection in the office due to Fire Incident near the office
It was around somewhere the third week of June and the first week of the sprint development, when suddenly, our office’s internet connection went out. This was due to a fire incident occurred just across our office and most of the telephone lines within the area were affected. The incident was the cause of our internet connection loss and because of that, the whole team was forced to stop our development and waited for almost the rest of the working hours remaining on that day, waiting for the connection to get back with which, did not happened. Apparently, the team is required to be working on site for the whole working days of the week. So to address this, I submitted a temporary work from home request to our management for us to continue completing our tasks with which they gladly approved.
Bad Weather
Month of June is the start of the rainy season here in the Philippines. And when that happens, frequent rain fall is expected to occur which, is really not well for us who commutes our way to the office. Especially nowadays here in Cebu City where our flooding condition is getting worser every year. With relates to my team, some team members were late getting into the office due to extreme travel condition brought by the flooding concern which could also result into bad traffic conditions.
Inadequate Equipment Needed for Testing
This impediment was shared by our System Analyst who also took the role as a Tester in our Team. He is currently using an average laptop when conducting his testing process and screen wise, it was struggling for him to do so when switching between applications. Not only during testing that he finds one monitor to be difficult to manage but also to navigate those applications effectively.
Key Things on How Can We Improve
Over the two week sprint development period, my Team were able to experience few challenges that almost hinder them to complete the sprint on time. One of them is a risk that we don’t have any control, the other one is process related and lastly, related to equipment.
For Internet Connection Issue
Undeniably, working on-site can pose risks to my team members, particularly when commuting during bad weather. Additionally, we depend on our office infrastructure, such as electricity, internet connection, and ergonomic workspaces. When adverse events like severe weather or a fire occur, we face challenges such as internet outages and difficulties in commuting. Failure to adapt to these situations can delay our sprint development.
To address these challenges, our team needs to be adaptable, and one effective solution is to implement a Work From Home (WFH) setup. I have submitted a proposal to our management for WFH guidelines and policies. Once approved, this initiative will enable my team to remain agile and continue working on our sprints even during such disruptions.
For Equipment Testing Issue
Steve jobs once said, “You cannot mandate productivity, you must provide the tools to let people become their best.” Meaning, a person can be more productive if given the right set of tools. It’s the other way around to what our System analyst was struggling to complete his Testing tasks with. To remove this impediment, I submitted a purchasing request to our management. If this could not be addressed immediately, my team could potentially developed a poor quality software.
Inadequate Equipment Needed for Testing
Steve Jobs once said, “You cannot mandate productivity; you must provide the tools to let people become their best.” This means that individuals can be more productive when given the right tools. Unfortunately, our system analyst has been struggling to complete his testing tasks due to inadequate resources. To resolve this issue, I submitted a purchasing request to our management. Addressing this promptly is crucial; otherwise, our team risks developing poor-quality software.
Conclusion
Reflecting on our journey through Sprint 16 has been insightful. By celebrating our achievements, acknowledging our challenges, and striving for continuous improvement, we are paving the way for future success. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and I look forward to sharing more updates with you.
Stay tuned for more insights and reflections in our upcoming sprints!
Best regards,
Marvin E. Navarro