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Not development tasks in SCRUM

Last post 07:57 am July 2, 2020 by jaromir toke
5 replies
11:11 am June 30, 2020

Hello.

I am delegated to new function of Scrum specialist in my company and trying to grasp all issues regarding SCRUM. I have question.  How to approach to task that are not development tasks (discusses, analyzes, writing mails etc)which are important for developers work, in relation to issues in sprints and time estimation? How to estimate them in the final calculation for Product owner? Can anyone have any ideas. Thanks in advance.

 

 


05:40 pm June 30, 2020

From your reading of the Scrum Guide, who ought to be responsible for making those estimates, and when ought they to do it?


07:01 am July 1, 2020

Regarding Scrum Guide, from my point of view, this types of event should be recorded by members of development team, and should be calculated after ending of issues (sprints) with and calculated together with the programming tasks performed by developers. This could be done by Team leader which is making calculations for Product owner. Question is how to record this while working on the tasks. How to estimate time spent on this type of events. Maybe provide some time buffer in task estimation? But how?


05:50 pm July 1, 2020

There's no team leader role in Scrum, and the Development Team should be responsible for all estimates. Why would they find it difficult to estimate the tasks you describe? Aren't they the ones who will be doing the associated work?


07:31 pm July 1, 2020

How to approach to task that are not development tasks (discusses, analyzes, writing mails etc)which are important for developers work, in relation to issues in sprints and time estimation? 

If these are not development tasks but are relevant for the discovery associated to the work, it sounds very much like refinement.  The Scrum Guide mentions refinement in a single paragraph in the section describing the Product Backlog. Here is that paragraph, emphasis was added by me.

Product Backlog refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Scrum Team decides how and when refinement is done. Refinement usually consumes no more than 10% of the capacity of the Development Team. However, Product Backlog items can be updated at any time by the Product Owner or at the Product Owner’s discretion.

There shouldn't be a need to estimate the tasks, in fact I don't believe that any tasks should be estimated as they are not the item that delivers the value to the increment.  Tasks are a means of doing work to support the value.  As for the estimate to the Product Owner, they are already estimated by the Scrum Guide at 10% of the capacity of the Development Team.  And since the Product Owner is participating in the activity with the Development Team, they should be completely aware of the work. 


07:57 am July 2, 2020

Thanks Guys for all answers. I think that 10% of the capacity of the Development Team is the solution which i was searching.


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