CEO nagging CTO to fix a bug
Our CEO is constantly asking me to fix a bug on very seldom used functionality.
The bug is nasty to fix and I keep assuring him that it will be included by the Product Owner in a sprint where we will review the whole functionality. Otherwise we will be forced to waste time correcting the bug in a part of code that will disappear.
However, this will not happen in the next week and maybe not in the next month, according to P.O.
Only solution seems to force the bug in the sprint, just now, force somebody to do it, put our goal in danger etc.
If this it's happening only once, it would probably not a problem, but it's happening very often.
CEO has been formed on agile and agree on the methodology
Furthermore the CEO knows that I have the skill to solve it...if I don't do it immediately he will think I'm not obeying his orders...Since this is happening often, he is loosing trust in me...
It's a very stressful situation, anybody has any suggestion?
I assume that you have raised the issue either in the daily scrum meeting or otherwise. As this issue can be seen as an impediment, not only to your own work but to the project in general, it would be the Scrum master's task to resolve this issue.
Does the fix appear in the Product Backlog? If it doesn't, then any discussion about which Sprint it may be actioned in is immaterial. If it does then the PO can advise the CEO about its priority.
It's up to the PO to liaise with stakeholders, including the CEO, about any work included in the Product Backlog. Remember that you can't issue assurances on the PO's behalf. Also, any PBI for the fix must be refined and estimated by the whole Development Team, irrespective of which developer eventually does the work.
Log the bug in the Product Backlog and inform the PO so that he can work with the CEO
Redirect all questions regarding priority of the backlog to the PO. I would also discuss this with the scrum master. If stakeholders (CEO or others) go directly to members of the team to discuss changes and thereby bypass the PO than this an issue that need to be adressed. The CEO does not seem to get this and might need some coaching.
Hi Marco,
Following needs to be done in the order of priority if the directive to include the fix is directly from CEO.
1. PO to discuss with CEO and agree to cancel the current sprint due to nature and priority of bug means existing sprint goal is no longer makes sense.
2. PO to factor the bug in product backlog and prioritize to deliver in the next sprint.
3. Scrum master to facilitate meeting wherein above is communicated to the team and arrange Sprint Planning meeting.
4. Sprint retrospective should be effectively used to capture root cause, lessons learned and why you have arrived into this situation, how can this be avoided and share the outcome with CEO.
From my past experience, above can be down within a day and a Sprint planning could be called in the next day to re-arrange the sprint backlog and kick start Sprint with the revised goal.
Cheers
Pankaj