Scrum Time Capsule approach to boost Agile maturity fast

Where do we start?

“Agile project management is an iterative development process, where feedback is continuously gathered from users and stakeholders to create the right user experience.” — wiki reference.

Agile maturity — a level of adherence to Agile process in the company or project and how comfortable team members are with the Agile framework that are adopted.

“Scrum is an agile team collaboration framework commonly used in software development…” — wiki reference.

The practices mentioned above have gained significant popularity in software delivery today, thanks to the numerous advantages they offer in swiftly achieving business objectives.
Frequently, the initial phase of Scrum adoption begins with the query, “Where do we start?” “How I can make my team understand the process form day one?”. And in this article I would like to introduce you with one solution how quickly align team to Scrum process and boost Agile maturity — “Scrum Time Capsule”. This approach is suggesting the encapsulation and preservation of crucial moments and milestones in the Sprint timeline.

“Scrum Time Capsule” across multiple time zones

Scrum Time Capsule

Key elements of this model are:

• predefined list of activities of Sprint N — Daily stand up, Sprint review, Sprint retro, Sprint planning, Backlog grooming sessions.

“Scrum Time Capsule” activities

• predefined duration —e.g. two week Sprint period with start and end day of the week, time boxed duration of each ceremony etc.

“Scrum Time Capsule” duration

• predefined cadence — once a day (stand up), twice a week (grooming), once in two weeks (planning, retro, review) etc. Define which day of the week ceremony will be conducted with the key rule — no more that two standard ceremonies per day.

“Scrum Time Capsule” cadence

• predefined time schedule— when possible schedule each ceremony at the same time on the defined week day with accounting people are working in different timezones. This helps to build a routine on every day and plan rest of the day efficiently.

“Scrum Time Capsule” time schedule

• focus days — allow team to fully focus on deliverables and plan few days in the Sprint working without switching context. These days the preference is to conduct only stand up call and not have any other meetings where whole team is involved. Working and collaboration session to solve issues may still happen on these days but with the limited members participation.

“Scrum Time Capsule” focus days

Benefits

Having predefined schedule of all Scrum ceremonies helps for:

Consistent Context

Above examples shows

• Two week Sprint basis with a start on Wednesdays, an end on every 2nd Tuesday. This gives opportunity to keep the context of the Sprint from the very beginning with at least one Sprint grooming session (on Monday of the same week) and Sprint planning (on Tuesday of the same week) session goes right before the start of the Sprint. If let’s say Sprint starts on Mondays then this brings your team schedule to Sprint planning happens on Friday following a weekend, which may impact productivity at the 1st day of Sprint as team needs to get up to speed on the context from the previous week.
• Sprint Review scheduled one day after end of Sprint gives opportunity to prepare what you want to demo, clean up environment (remove unnecessary resources that were used for testing purpose , setup better data etc.)
• Sprint retro in the same week when Sprint ends helps to productively discuss what went well and what improvements to consider as team still have fresh in mind details of the previous Sprint.
• Sprint Planing day before the start of the Sprint helps to define up to date Sprint goal with latest priorities, and make sure all selected stories added to the Sprint backlog contribute to the Sprint goal.

Stress Reduction

Knowing exactly what needs to be done and and by when things need to be done it can significantly reduce work-related stress. Employees feel more confident and less anxious when they have clear guidelines and processes to follow. Team members can be ready for the certain activity and secure participation.

Easy time management

By allocating time-box duration, start and end time in different time zones to make sure every participant joins the call. It allows for better planning and allocation of resources, ensuring that critical tasks are completed within deadlines. This also helps to minimize time spent on the calls.

Increase productivity

Keep maximum 2 standard ceremonies per day and leave maximum “Focus days” where only stand up is conducted in the morning and rest of the day team members focusing on delivery.

Team Coordination and Collaboration

When everyone follows the same set of procedures, it enhances team coordination and collaboration. It ensures that all team members are aligned and working towards common goals, minimizing conflicts and misunderstandings.

Build platform to share and collaborate with others

Team can share this calendar with other teams so they aware of regular schedule and will not setup conflicting meetings.

Easy on boarding process for new employees

This approach makes it easier for newcomers to integrate into their roles within the team and contribute effectively as it provides a clear expectation of what needs to be done and how it should be done.

Why routines is important

One of the key steps in the journey of adoption would be to make it a routine. Because outline processes form the backbone of effective work environments, providing a foundation for efficiency, quality, safety, and continuous improvement.

A routine is a set of regular actions or a sequence of activities that are performed consistently, often on a schedule:

• routines are established to achieve efficiency, maintain structure, and reduce the need for decision-making about everyday tasks,
• routines help in organizing time and activities, ensuring that important tasks are completed regularly,
• routines provide a predictable structure, ensure tasks are completed in a consistent manner, leading to predictable and high-quality outcomes,
• routines can reduce stress, improve time management, and enhance overall productivity and stability,
• routines make it easier to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement.

Summary

A “Scrum Time Capsule” term is not explicitly called out in standard Scrum methodology. However it doesn’t reduce its value. Using “Scrum Time Capsule” helps ensure that all team events are planned, consistent, and visible to everyone who participate in the process — team inself and all partners (other teams, stakeholders, business representatives, sponsors etc.). Supporting the transparency and regular rhythm vital to Scrum effectiveness.