Nexus clarifications and other questions
Hello everybody,
I'm preparing for the SPS assessment and as always reading in too deep into the guide creates some questions.
1. It seems that the Nexus Integration team doesn't have to participate in any meeting. They only do if they are part of the development teams. It is also stated in the nexus guide in Nexus Sprint planning, Nexus Daily Scrum and parts 3 of Retrospective that the appropriate representatives are members of the Scrum Teams. So if the NIT members are not in said teams, they don't have to participate in any meeting but the 1st part of the retrospective if they are deemed appropriate representatives of the Nexus (which may or may not make sense).
Do you think the statement above is correct? If yes, then how are the NIT members supposed to interact with the Scrum teams productively without the need of any extra meetings and thus introducing waste? Is it part of the teams being self-organised the HOW of this?
2. Who participates in the sprint review? I can assume that since it replaces the individual reviews all Scrum team members must participate which doesn't seem to be practical enough. Is it left vague on purpose?
3. The duration of the Nexus timeboxed event should be driven by the corresponding duration of the Scrum events. What does that mean in practice? If for example we run an 8 hour sprint planning, then do you think the new event should be a percentage of the 8 hours + the 8 hours of the individual sprint plannings?
Personally I would start by trying to allocate some of the time for the Nexus Sprint Planning (let's say 2 hours) and have 6-hour sprint plannings with each of the teams (considering that lots of work is done during refinement and Nexus Sprint Planning). Adaptation would follow into the next sprint as the teams would inspect the allocation and change it accordingly. Is there any indication in the nexus guide for these?
Many thanks,
Thanos
My thoughts,
1. The NIT attends all nexus events to have a clear understanding of what is happening across the nexus. They dont need to attend the team events. The scrum & nexus framework and the scrum values guide you, but scrum supports the empirical process: So continuously inspect and adapt. If critical people are missing from an event, you simply adapt for the next iteration. During the Sprint they work with the teams in any way they feel necessary to safeguard the integrated increment.
2. It can be impacted by the number of teams you have. But remember the fundamental purpose of the review - to facilitate empiricism and ensure you are delivering business value. So make sure the necessary stakeholders are there to provide feedback, plus anyone from each team who feel they need to be there.
3. It's a direct comparison. So you have an 8hr Nexus Sprint Planning timebox. This is followed by each team having an 8h Sprint Planning timebox. Remember, the timebox is a limit, not a target. Just take as long as you need in the NSP to organise around the Nexus Goal for the next Sprint and eliminate dependencies not previously resolved.
Just m2c.
how are the NIT members supposed to interact with the Scrum teams productively without the need of any extra meetings and thus introducing waste?
Why would they need meetings in order to collaborate with Scrum Teams?
As the scrum master raises issues in the retrospective where all are present, I would expect the NIT to have a similar opportunity to address everyone. I'm pretty confident it's needed.