How can I work on backlog work without commiting to it?

Chris Obermeier August 21, 2018

When one of my teams finishes their sprint work and goes to bring in extra work from the backlog, it ends up screwing up my burn down since it increases the total amount of committed work. 

Is there a way to reflect this work was not committed to?

I currently have them do the work and keep it in the backlog until it's completed and then move it in, but that doesn't seem like the proper way to do it either since once it's completed the committed work goes up again.

What's the accepted practice here?

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Warren
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August 21, 2018

Ask 3 people and you'll get 3 different answers ;-)

I don't know that there is a good practice, apart from trying to be so accurate that you don't need to bring anything in, which isn't useful advice.

I build my own burndown chart, with an extra (usually horizontal) line showing the committed value. If we then bring in another item, that line will go up on the day it came in and similarly if we remove anything. That way we are clearly showing changes in commitment

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Ryan Fish
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August 21, 2018

@Chris Obermeier

maybe even 4+ answers :0

Bringing in "additional" work into a sprint is sometimes necessary. In the world of Agile, it should be transparent too. A dev team with capacity and the will to do more should have conversations among the team and product owner to see how adding the additional work will accomplish the sprint goal.

  • They can slice a story into smaller bits, where it makes sense, and deliver something in the sprint.
  • They can bring the story in and carry it over from sprint to sprint.
  • They can do any number of things to screw up the burndown :)

How will a clean burndown accomplish your goal?

Does the burndown need to be adapted to reflect changes like @Warren suggested?

Will a conversation and simple explanation suffice?

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