More often that not, teams new to Scrum take on more than they can handle for their first sprint. From a communication standpoint, this causes major problems, which in turn leads to project problems.
Have you ever played telephone? Ok not recently, I mean when you were a kid. Did the message ever make it to the end of the chain without being garbled?
The same thing happens to teams, even when they’re colocated. So what do we do? We set up team portals, wikis, blogs, messaging systems. Then we all enter all important communications and documentation into these systems, don’t we?
If you’re already overloaded, chances are slim you’re going to use any of those tools. Then people don’t have timely information that they can work with, and the entire project comes to a grinding halt.
What’s the solution? Do new Scrum teams under-commit and risk management backlash? I think back to how one of my English professor’s referred to a first draft as a “shity first draft.” The same goes for the first few sprints. Teams will more than likely take on too much, and the first sprint will seem like a failure. It might happen a few more times too. But don’t become disheartened. Keep those expectations in line.
Like fine wine, Scrum teams improve their estimating capabilities with time, only faster. Communication will flow, and teams will succeed.
