Executing a sprint

 Your team is now really clear on what it's doing and crucially not doing in the month sprint. That lies ahead. This week, we're looking at what happens along the way to make the sprint a success.

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Punchy, actionable insights and tips to make the life of the team leader a breeze.

[00:00:00] Pia: Your team is now really clear on what it's doing and crucially not doing in the month sprint. That lies ahead. This week, we're looking at what happens along the way to make the sprint a success. I'm Pia.

[00:00:14] Dan: And I'm Dan, and this is Squadify Connects. Leading a sprint effectively will keep the team on target and make sure you get the most from the sprint in terms of outputs and learnings to accelerate. So what do you need to do? I.

[00:00:27] Pia: Well set regular short meetings. These can be weekly or daily if you need to, and we call these standups and they allow everyone to report progress. Call out blockers and here's some tips to run a standup. So number one, keep it time boxed and concise. While 15 minutes is the classic standup, we often take a little longer so that we can discuss the cards in a bit of detail if needed.

[00:00:57] But remember, it's not a meeting, it's a check-in. So if you need more time, book a separate call. Number two, use the Kanban to track progress visually. Go through the in-progress cards one at a time and focus on the three key questions, yesterday's progress, today's plans, and any blockers. This is really granular and, and it helps to capture the actions itemized for follow-up.

[00:01:26] Make sure that you can do that. Number three, encourage participation, foster transparency and accountability, and address blockers collaboratively. Don't lead people with blockers all on their own. It's a team effort, so it has to be a safe space where there's no blame and people can speak up about all of their challenges.

[00:01:48] Dan: Now there is a question here about roles. So who is the best person in your team to lead these standups and maintain the Kanban? Ideally, this is not you, the team leader. So think about finding someone who's process oriented and disciplined, can maintain a good spirit in the team, and you make them what's called the scrum master. They organize these standups and lead the way through the sprint.

[00:02:11] But it is time now to get into action book in all your standups, and do at least one this week as you are working out what really works for you. Take a moment to share the feedback on the process too as a team. Have a little mini retro along the way to say, how did that go?

[00:02:26] Pia: So you're now on the road towards super transparent, collaborative, and rapid execution. Enjoy the feeling attraction that we always get in our own Agile team. And then we'll see you next week to talk retros.