Working in Weekly Sprints Finally Works For Us After 7 Years of Trying
We had a great conversation about why working in sprints works for us now after 7 years of trying and why it might be the best way to work for you.
Or read my write-up
So why it works for us now?
It allows us to portion the big ideas into smaller chunks, set measurable goals, and then assess how each of the sprints contributed to the bigger goal.
It makes us accountable both in terms of tasks for given weeks and for the actual results the sprint delivers.
It's also easier for us to focus on things that matter and don't get distracted throughout the week. Many opportunities occur every day, but if we set our sprint, stick to it and the opportunity is really great, we just put it into the next one.
We work in weekly sprints. Each Sunday we talk about the past sprint and set a new one. The discussion is abstract, we chat about business in general and then get to the specific task setting. That's why it's Sunday - you can already work on Monday. With a clear head.
We are a remote team so we do syncs when we feel like they're needed. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
We tried many other ways in the past. We also tried sprints before, but it never worked. Why?
The most important lesson we learned is that we always overestimated what can be done in one week so the sprints prolonged themselves to the next week. And then it doesn't make any sense.
We are still learning to set clear and measurable goals for each week that bring us closer and closer to our big dream.
At the end of the day you have to find what really works for your team but this is a nice inspiration.
I agree with what Marek said in the video - this approach (if adjusted to the team) would probably work for like 90% of the teams. The truth is that not even close to 90% of teams actually give it a try!
Or they do but don't properly grasp the essence of sprints. Which is that they bring a bit more order into chaos, and it takes a bit of sacrifice to do that, some planning, realization you might not do that much in one week and focusing down on what you planned and not jumping from one thing to another just because it seems cool now.
Which most of our brains tend to do.