What happens to all the other stuff? This is a common question that was recently brought up in response to my editorial on a Retrospective technique. In my editorial I reviewed a method where we identified a number of things we didn’t like and things we did like. Then, as a team, we prioritized the list into a top three (positive, and negative). The Positive things we were motivated to continue. The negative things we made plans to address during our next cycle of work.
But, what happens to all of the other stuff? I can say that this is a question we have to ask and resolve on a daily basis. When developing or maintaining computer systems, we never have enough time or resources to get everything we need. At least, we don’t have enough to get everything we want, or think we need. So, we constantly have to prioritize what it is that must happen now, and postpone other valuable things.
Ok, I still haven’t answered the question. What about the rest? There are a number of ways you can address them. If you don’t want to forget what you captured, a great way to handle those other ideas or issues is to add them to your backlog. The backlog may not only consist of the things you want to do to your product. It may also be things you need to add to your services, skill sets, or processes. Have yourself a backlog so things that are not of the highest importance today may be fresh in hand when time and resources are available.
Some teams I have participated in do a similar concept when writing code. There are times when you come to a section of code where the implementation does not make sense anymore. The code stinks. We called it a “Code Smell”. Here’s a good example: when you come across the need to copy and paste existing code into another module, it is probably a good time to refactor the code. When this happens a third time, you really need to do something. That’s a code smell. If your unable to address the issue immediately, don’t forget about it. Add it to you code smells.
We kept code smells on a board so it was highly visible. They could be prioritized. Also, being highly visible, they were often integrated into work being done, rather than being swept under the rug.
My take away is this:
- You can only do so many things. So focus on high priorities
- You took the time to identify other things you can’t address immediately. That doesn’t mean it isn’t important. So, track it as something important so that when your goals are complete, you won’t have lost sight of the other items
Cheers,
Ben