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We use scrum technique to plan for short development lifecycle. It is very common that sometimes tasks gets moved or reallocated or deferred from the current sprint for multiple reasons. In that case there is a chance of resources getting freed up from the planned work. It may get difficult to allocate new tasks to them during sprint as mostly all projects are tied up at that point with planned work. What is the best way to plan resources in these situations?

Chanakya
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  • It sounds to me like you are asking: "If developers can't work on anything except what is defined in the sprint, and new requirements are not added in the middle of a sprint, what should we do if so much work is taken out of the sprint that people don't have enough to do?" What choice do you have? Let people have not enough work, or change your process so that either work can't be taken away or there is always work that can be added. – JeffH Mar 19 '10 at 20:02

5 Answers5

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Just give your resources some freedom. If it is agile - they will be happy.

anatoly techtonik
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I think Agile still needs planning, otherwise anyone will pull anything from the backlog queue and start working on absolutely unrelated tasks and it will reach no where. work need to be planned to achieve common goal. Database and environmert resources need to be planned for availability if there are crossfunctional teams

First off, I am not sure what "agile" methods you are following. In Agile SCRUM the ScrumMaster manages the backlog and the user stories are weighted (prioritized) by the team. This ensures that they won't just "pull anything from the backlog". Each sprint has a common goal.

Agile development doesn't just mean any one can do anything within a sprint...there is still structure in it with daily standups for reveiwing progress and adding more to the sprint if needed, as well as sprint reviews and sprint planning meetings. The key is that the team is self-mananging the work with guidance from the ScrumMaster.

Chips
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"It may get difficult to allocate new tasks to them during sprint as mostly all projects are tied up at that point with planned work"

Project management smell.

If you have "pre-planned" all the work, that's not very Agile, is it? Agile == Flexible. You should be able to rearrange without breaking anything.

If your plan "breaks" you have too much plan and too little Agile.

You shouldn't over-plan this kind of thing.

S.Lott
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  • well, I am talking about the resources and not the work. – Chanakya Mar 19 '10 at 19:47
  • @Chanakya: "the resources and not the work"? Doesn't make sense. If "all projects are tied up at that point with planned work" Then you've done too much planning. Plan less, and reallocate the resources more flexible. Agile == Flexible. – S.Lott Mar 19 '10 at 20:48
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One of the (wonderful) purposes of agile techniques is to try and remove a lot of unnecessary planning, as you admit that your project plans will change, and that if you hold to a tried and true planning method such as the common waterfall method (reqs->specs->design->dev->qa->release, etc) that you're going to go through a lot of needless iterations and wasted time.

Either plan less, or have a pool of activities that developers can pull from if they have flexible time to use (minor feature requests, old UI bugs, less important things that can be dropped if needed)

Jason M
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In that case there is a chance of resources getting freed up from the planned work.

First, I'd start to talk about people or team members, not resources ("respect people").

It may get difficult to allocate new tasks to them during sprint

You shouldn't allocate tasks to people (this sounds like micro-management). Tasks are in the queue (the sprint) and the team should self-organize to get items DONE, focusing on most important items first.

What is the best way to plan resources in these situations?

The best way is to not do it.

Pascal Thivent
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  • I think Agile still needs planning, otherwise anyone will pull anything from the backlog queue and start working on absolutely unrelated tasks and it will reach no where. work need to be planned to achieve common goal. Database and environmert resources need to be planned for availability if there are crossfunctional teams – Chanakya Mar 22 '10 at 17:12
  • @Chanakya People don't pull "anything" from the backlog, they pull the most important items (that should be properly prioritized). So yes, Agile **does** involve planning (more precisely continuous planning), but not too much. But items should be pulled, not pushed. This is fundamental concept of Agile IMO. – Pascal Thivent Mar 22 '10 at 17:28