I suppose a recurring test of patience in most projects are some stakeholders that just want to be difficult no matter what. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Absolutely, both internally with the team and externally with stakeholders or management. Best to recognize and move on. Every day isn't roses and sunshine.
One example is while trying to tell me something isn't mentioned in the requirements, gold plating elsewhere. I loved squashing those conversations :) Saving Changes...
Andrew, I liked that internally and externally, it's true we are in between
Thanks for your example Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
A few years back I had internal challenges so big that we had to stop and restart the project more than once. We were asked to develop an application for a customer. We had started this application before and stopped it due to lack of interest from the customer.
So we restarted it and thought this would be a good application to use Scrum.
We took the original requirements which where just written in free hand text, no structure. I converted them to user stories and tried to review with SMEs. At first they were fine. Then later this same person came back and said they were all wrong
We broke everything into phases. The phases we're planned to be a bit longer than typical. We decided a four week phase. Our main developer refused to commit to either the schedule or the scope. Then she took the user story and treated it like the design. We tried to explain that a user story is a beginning point to discuss the feature. She refused to discuss them. And she refused to give estimates or accept ours
My patience was at an end. We could not take her off the project because she threatened to complain to HR that she was being discriminated against.
At the same time the customer, who didn't want the system but was directed by her boss, kept coming up with exceptions as to why the project was not going to work.
We ended up stopping work on the project for several months. When we restarted we had a new developer. But we still had issues with the customer. And then there were additional issues with the data that had to be pulled from another database. The person in charge of that was slow and refused to accept any help.
We once again stopped development. When we restarted, the customer had changed
The data person was still there but had a new manager. And we we're finally able to deliver something.
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1 reply by Drew Craig
Jun 17, 2018 2:33 PM
Drew Craig
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Dinah, after all that I sure hope they are using it :)
Saving Changes...
RAJESH K LProject Manager, PMP| Bharat Electronics, Bengaluru, IndiaBengaluru, Karnataka, India
In my experience, most of the situations test your patience. But the once which test you the most are the once you are not planned or prepared or expected. When things surprise you or go against the expectations, these test your patience the most. Saving Changes...
Dinah, that was really big challenge and I can feel your frustrations at that time even with long time could not heal the wounds, once I had a real jerk key stakeholder but the issues resolved in few weeks, your patience really was tested, thanks for sharing Saving Changes...
Rajesh, it is true that we are in continuous challenges but that's right we are looking for the most one here, thanks for your comment. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Jun 17, 2018 1:28 PM
Replying to Dinah Young
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A few years back I had internal challenges so big that we had to stop and restart the project more than once. We were asked to develop an application for a customer. We had started this application before and stopped it due to lack of interest from the customer.
So we restarted it and thought this would be a good application to use Scrum.
We took the original requirements which where just written in free hand text, no structure. I converted them to user stories and tried to review with SMEs. At first they were fine. Then later this same person came back and said they were all wrong
We broke everything into phases. The phases we're planned to be a bit longer than typical. We decided a four week phase. Our main developer refused to commit to either the schedule or the scope. Then she took the user story and treated it like the design. We tried to explain that a user story is a beginning point to discuss the feature. She refused to discuss them. And she refused to give estimates or accept ours
My patience was at an end. We could not take her off the project because she threatened to complain to HR that she was being discriminated against.
At the same time the customer, who didn't want the system but was directed by her boss, kept coming up with exceptions as to why the project was not going to work.
We ended up stopping work on the project for several months. When we restarted we had a new developer. But we still had issues with the customer. And then there were additional issues with the data that had to be pulled from another database. The person in charge of that was slow and refused to accept any help.
We once again stopped development. When we restarted, the customer had changed
The data person was still there but had a new manager. And we we're finally able to deliver something.
Dinah, after all that I sure hope they are using it :)
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1 reply by Dinah Young
Jun 18, 2018 9:15 AM
Dinah Young
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They are finally starting to use it. A lot of the issues with acceptance was that the previous customer loved her spreadsheets and did not want to change her process. Her process was her "baby" and she did not want to give it up. It also allowed her flexibility to "massage" the numbers. But this process involved taxing residents for their waste disposals. It needed to be consistent. Once she left that position, things started moving forward.
Usually, its when I see team members on teams I'm coaching who developed a set of working agreements themselves, then one or more of them violates those working agreements, and none of the other team members call this out...
Kiron
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1 reply by Riyadh Salih
Jun 18, 2018 1:09 AM
Riyadh Salih
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Kiron, thanks for sharing new concern which requires progressive disciplinary actions
