Agile Thoughts

Impediments are barricades, hurdles or obstacles. In terms of Scrum, they are “blockers” that prevent the Scrum Team from completing work, which in return impacts velocity. Anything that prohibits the team from doing work is considered an impediment. Examples of Scrum impediments are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Scrum Impediments

The Scrum Master is responsible for tracking, monitoring and ensuring that impediments are removed. All Scrum Team members are responsible for continually identifying impediments for discussion during the Daily Standup Meeting. If for some reason an impediment does not disappear in a timely manner, this would indicate that the root causes have not been identified. The Sprint Retrospective is another place for impediments that reoccur. It is important to understand that the Scrum Master is not solely responsible for the removal of impediments. The team should work together to remove impediments that can be easily resolved and provide assistance with any additional support that may be required.

A few things to note:

• Impediments that are identified daily are generally very small and can be quickly resolved. This may include sending a simplifying email and/or getting assistance from a Scrum Team member.
• The bigger impediments are most likely to be identified during the Retrospective meetings and require a level of dedication to be removed. These types of impediments are added to the Sprints for resolution.
• Impediments that are identified by the team are added to the Product Backlog for prioritization and processing. Large items that are not able to be addressed quickly are addressed in later Sprints.
• Organizational impediments added to the Impediments Log are prioritized and addressed on an ongoing basis. Both team and organizational impediments are reviewed after each Sprint in the Retrospective meeting.

There are two main types of impediments, organizational and team related and they need different types of handling.

• Team Impediments – issues that the team can solve without needing external assistance. However, the team may need internal assistance from management. These types of impediments would include but are not limited to:
  • Changes to the way that the team works
  • Reminders for when a specific problem re-occurs
  • The need for tools or workflows that can make team’s work easier
  • Internal measures put in place for the team to avoid repeating a prior error
• Organizational Impediments – issues that are dependent on others to solve. These issues include but are not limited to:
  • Slow internet
  • Issues with obtaining input from other teams or divisions
  • Lack of training

The expectation is that the team can learn to remove its own impediments without the Scrum Master’s intervention. This also means that impediments in the log should not be delegated to the team because many of them may be very difficult to resolve. On the other hand, the Scrum Master is not expected to resolve all impediments alone either. The entire Scrum Team needs to work together to determine which impediments it can resolve and what support may be needed. Over time, the team should become capable of removing more and more impediments on its own.

Impediment Logs

There should only be a single Impediment Log for a Scrum Master to manage. Table 2. outlines the process that is typically used to create, monitor and maintain the Impediments Log.

Table 2. Impediments Process in Scrum

Table 3. identifies a description of each of the field on the Log. Figure 1. is an illustration of an Impediments Log. Let’s examine the data input fields to gain the proper understanding of their usage.

Table 3. Impediment Log Data Input Fields

Figure 1. Impediments Log

Tips for Removing Impediments

Following are several tips for the removal of impediments:

• Impediments should be identified at any time. The Scrum Team should never wait until the Daily Scrum to discuss them.
• If an item will prevent the team from achieving the Sprint Goals, it’s an impediment.
• There is a distinct difference between blockers and impediments. A blocker impacts a single task and an impediment hinders overall progress.
• Use an Impediments Board to ensure of adequate transparency. This means that Impediments should be included in the list of Information Radiators.
• Track completed impediments. This information is good feedback for the Sprint Review and Retrospective meetings.
• The Scrum Master needs to understand the organizational culture to best figure out how to remove impediments.
• Use courage and creativity to remove impediments. Ask for forgiveness later if a bold decision needs to be made.
• Collaborate with the Product Owner. Many impediments in Scrum are related to product management, stakeholder and supplier collaboration.
• Don’t waste time and effort in fixing incorrect problem. Make sure that the focus is on the real problem(s).

Keywords: Impediments, Logs, Scrum

References:

CoreWorks. (2014). The Impediments Backlog. Retrieved from http://www.coreworks.co/scrum-impediments-backlog

Getting Agile. (2011). Organizational Impediment Management: Early Risk Detection for Agile. Retrieved from http://www.gettingagile.com/2011/01/24/organizational-impediment-management-early-risk-detection-for-agile/

LeanAgileTraining. (2017). What are Impediments? Retrieved from https://www.leanagiletraining.com/impediments/what-are-impediments/

Openbravo wiki.  (2009). Scrum/Impediment. Retrieved from http://wiki.openbravo.com/wiki/Scrum/Impediment

Overeem, Barry. (2016). The Scrum Master as an Impediment Remover. Retrieved from http://www.barryovereem.com/the-scrum-master-as-an-impediment-remover/

Scrum Alliance. (2011). Five Tips for Impediment Resolution With Scrum. Retrieved from https://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2011/september/five-tips-for-impediment-resolution-with-scrum

scruminc. (2017). Impediments. Retrieved from https://www.scruminc.com/impediments/