Every Sprint the Team gets lots “Done”, but how many times do people ask what have they gotten Done? Sprint Scrum Boards are great Information Radiators but they only show progress for a Sprint. How does a team show what has been accomplished over multiple Sprints?
What the Sprint Board Does Not Show is Team Done over Time?
Every Sprint the “Done” column gets cleaned off and the Story stickies get tossed into the trash.
So how does the Team show how much work it has completed, besides the working software. I would argue that sometimes just seeing working software does not show the quantity of work involved.
Many teams are using digital applications like Rally, Jira, VersionOne, etc… They are great for showing the current Sprint and the future Backlog, but they don’t show the past very well. Maybe the Sprint Velocity charts give some indication, but most people in the business would have no idea what we are talking about.
We work so hard to visually show what we are Doing and what we Plan to Do, but not much about what we have Done. I recently watched a few videos where I saw Scrum Walls with “Done” story stickers on a wall or in a box on the floor.
The Solution: The Big Project Done Board Add On
It is a board to collect all the “Done” Story Stickies. As the Sprints pass by over time it is hard not to admit how much work the Team has completed. It is actually pretty amazing as to how visual the wall starts to fill up. Some places put the stickies in a bucket, but the bucket just does not convey the magnitude of the work.
I’m looking forward to seeing the entire wall covered in Done Stickies as we get closer to completing the project.
