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Sprint Cancellation - Incomplete product backlog items

Last post 09:07 pm February 20, 2018 by Ullrich Vogel
3 replies
01:57 am June 28, 2015

Hi,

I am finding it difficult to comprehend the below statement from the scrum cancellation section of the guide.

"All incomplete PBI are re-estimated and put back on the PB. The work done on them depreciates quickly and must be frequently re-estimated"

My difficulty is around comprehending the second statement above. How can the work depreciation of a PBI be avoided through frequent re-estimation? Does it mean that during the product backlog refinement or sprint planning the value of these items should ascertained?

Different perspectives are welcome!


02:50 am June 28, 2015

The effort required to complete partly done work can be expected to increase. This is because, as the system continues to develop, the decisions made when performing that undone work will become less relevant. The system design, architecture, and other decisions will have continued to evolve in the meantime.

It will take additional effort by the Development Teamto pay off this technical debt that is accumulating around the undone work...and so it must be frequently re-estimated.


10:23 pm June 28, 2015

Got it. Thanks


01:59 pm February 19, 2018

Hi all,

the following advice in the scrum guide on cancelling a sprint should be revised:

"All incomplete PBI are re-estimated and put back on the PB. The work done on them depreciates quickly and must be frequently re-estimated"

It is unlikely that _ALL_ incomplete PBIs where put back into the PB without an inspection.

My Suggestion is as follows:

"All incomplete PBIs are inspected in terms of their market value, estimation and priotization before the PO puts them back into the PB."

 

A cancellation of a sprint is only allowed when the sprint goal becomes obsolete. Consequently at least one of the SBIs has become obsolete. It is very likely that obsolete items will not be put back to the PBI only by updating their estimation.

Ullrich


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