Collective Wisdom from the Experts 45
- A team vision of the project scope is created through the stories, and good
acceptance criteria are established. - Stories are broken down into tasks and estimated by the developer who is
to complete the task.
After the meeting, the tasks are entered into the task tracking system. The
significance of the task tracking system is often misunderstood. It is used for
developers to see what tasks are started. If they have finished their own tasks
early, they move on by “stealing” (or completing) a task not yet begun by the
originally assigned developer.
Tim turned out to be an outstanding hire. He out-produced everyone else on
the team. The most obvious measure of his value was in the number of tasks
he “stole” from other developers. Completing more tasks meant the project
finished quicker.
So the question is, why would another PM see Tim as unproductive? On closer
inspection, it became evident that the Tim-basher had a management style
that was excessively controlling. She would “spoon-feed” tasks to developers
and then leave the team workspace to attend meetings. Tim was so fast that he
would complete his assigned task immediately. Without any further direction
regarding project priorities or tasks he could begin next, he was left idle.
You’ll be amazed what a good team can do with a clear vision, well-defined
acceptance criteria, and shared project priorities not determined by a lone
software project manager but known, documented, and managed by the entire
team. Sometimes the best thing for the PM to do is get out of the way. Do you
manage a Tim?