why_do_people_overcommit
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| why_do_people_overcommit [2025/04/11 07:20] – [What Can We Do To Reduce Need to Overcommit?] hans | why_do_people_overcommit [2025/04/11 09:35] (current) – [What Factors Contribute to Teams Over Committing?] hans | ||
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| * Management talks, but does not walk, Agile: For example, there is a conversation on over-committing, | * Management talks, but does not walk, Agile: For example, there is a conversation on over-committing, | ||
| + | * Management implies: More insidious, because it is harder to see, is when management say things that they intend to be received as "do what is realistically possible" | ||
| * Management unwillingness to make the hard calls: Sometimes management are presented with a problem and are unable to make a decision. Even though the Team has evaluated various positions management response is “If we just did it like this ... we can do both of these ...”. Spoken like a person who doesn’t actually have to do the work. | * Management unwillingness to make the hard calls: Sometimes management are presented with a problem and are unable to make a decision. Even though the Team has evaluated various positions management response is “If we just did it like this ... we can do both of these ...”. Spoken like a person who doesn’t actually have to do the work. | ||
| * Management unwillingness to protect the Team from the consequences of “not now”: While Teams make the call, and Management agree, you will often see Management fold when their customer or stakeholder complains about the decision. Don’t get me wrong, there is often a need to change plans, but if that discussion does not include a discussion about taking work off the Team, all management is really saying is “you have to do it.” | * Management unwillingness to protect the Team from the consequences of “not now”: While Teams make the call, and Management agree, you will often see Management fold when their customer or stakeholder complains about the decision. Don’t get me wrong, there is often a need to change plans, but if that discussion does not include a discussion about taking work off the Team, all management is really saying is “you have to do it.” | ||
| - | This assumes | + | In many ways these are all examples of short term thinking |
| - | In many ways these are all examples of short term thinking | + | This assumes that management understands the issue and want to do something about it. Organizations sometimes have a culture |
| ====== What Can We Do To Reduce Need to Overcommit? ====== | ====== What Can We Do To Reduce Need to Overcommit? ====== | ||
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| Assuming management wants to engage and actually address the issue, there are some obvious things we can do. Firstly, we can help our Teams understand that these drivers exist and that we often create problems for ourselves. Sometimes a simple discussion raising awareness will help. This is true of both the above individual and environmental factors which lead to over committing. For example: | Assuming management wants to engage and actually address the issue, there are some obvious things we can do. Firstly, we can help our Teams understand that these drivers exist and that we often create problems for ourselves. Sometimes a simple discussion raising awareness will help. This is true of both the above individual and environmental factors which lead to over committing. For example: | ||
| - | * Many people are unaware of the optimism bias we all have. You can make people aware of this bias by having a discussion around the [[https:// | + | * Track data: Assuming you don't have this information, |
| - | * You can talk about the Hero culture in the context of books like the [[https:// | + | * Optimism bias: Many people are unaware of the optimism bias we all have. You can make people aware of this bias by having a discussion around the [[https:// |
| - | * We could talk about using “[[https:// | + | * Hero Culture: |
| - | * A capacity buffer could be added or increased to | + | * Yesterday' |
| + | * Capacity Buffer: | ||
| * Reflect the unknowns in the work intake system. The idea here is to force the Team to commit to less “planned” items until the intake system stabilizes. | * Reflect the unknowns in the work intake system. The idea here is to force the Team to commit to less “planned” items until the intake system stabilizes. | ||
| * Reflect the fact of that not everything will go to plan even if the system is relatively stable. This type of thinking goes back to [[https:// | * Reflect the fact of that not everything will go to plan even if the system is relatively stable. This type of thinking goes back to [[https:// | ||
| - | * Retrospectives could be run on the estimates, to improve the Team’s understanding of the work. | + | * Retrospective: |
| - | * Team Members could ensure that “everything is on the board” to reduce the impact of hidden work. | + | * Visibility: |
| - | * Teams could do a value stream mapping exercise to understand percentage of work that is accurate and complete, and so work to reduce the amount of work that returns. | + | * Value Stream Mapping: |
| - | * Management could show awareness of their fallibility by admitting to past errors and discussing how they will address going forward. | + | * Management authenticity: |
| We also might try a more “culture oriented” approach. For example, we could adopt a mantra like: | We also might try a more “culture oriented” approach. For example, we could adopt a mantra like: | ||
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| * [[our_estimates_are_terrible|Our Estimates are Terrible!]] | * [[our_estimates_are_terrible|Our Estimates are Terrible!]] | ||
| + | * [[https:// | ||
| + | * [[https:// | ||
| * [[https:// | * [[https:// | ||
| * [[https:// | * [[https:// | ||
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