How do you use Scrum with fixed deadlines and budgets?

Some ways to get you started: - In my experience, before starting your sprints, it is important to understand the software release deliverables, talk to all the stakeholders involved, and come up with a realistic agreed-upon timeline. - Select the sprint duration (eg, once/twice a week) depending on your timeline and make sure it is comfortable with your engineering team by discussing it with them so they don't feel overworked or under-appreciated. - Prioritize the backlog items based on their value addition in the release deliverables. - Have a meeting with the engineering team to make sure the expectations are clear before the deliverables commence.

Scrum is not project management. Beyond a sprint may be considered a project, this misconception needs to die. If there is fixed time and budget, you conduct sprints to see how far you can get until time or money runs out. Nothing is committed to other than the definition of done, one sprint at a time, and one product goal at a time. Other feedback here is wildly incorrect. The product goal overarches sprints. A sprint goal is the sprints approach to progressing the to the product goal while delivering increments of deliverable value. Using scrum for fixed time and budget is often a misalignment in tool selection of scrum. The Cynefin framework can help understand this misalignment.

?? Early involvement of stakeholders ensures alignment and ownership ?? Maintain adaptability to accommodate new insights or business changes ?? Revisit the vision at milestones to ensure continued alignment with goals ?? Employ visual aids like vision boards or roadmaps for clear, concise communication of complex ideas

Yes, I do believe that a shared vision is crucial for effective sprint planning. Before diving into the details, ensure everyone understands the project's purpose, key stakeholders, and what success looks like. This alignment should reflect the customer's needs, align with business objectives, and consider any limitations. Utilizing tools like vision statements, value propositions, and product roadmaps can be invaluable. They help articulate and validate the project's direction, ensuring that each sprint contributes meaningfully towards these overarching goals. This approach not only fosters clarity and focus but also enhances collaboration between the team and stakeholders, leading to more successful outcomes.

Using Scrum in a project with fixed deadlines and budget can be challenging, but it’s definitely feasible with the right approach. Here’s how you can manage such constraints, when working with fixed deadlines and budgets, the key to successful Scrum implementation lies in flexibility with scope, disciplined timebox and proper resource management, and frequent communication with stakeholders. By focusing on delivering high-priority items first and remaining adaptable, you can maximize value delivery within the constraints.

Ruthlessly prioritize product backlog. As budget & timelines are fixed, scope is the only play. One skill I see that helps some of the great product managers is to creatively adapt to the requirements and toss around alternate solutions that could help achieve the expected state given the constraints. One big caution is to be mindful of not creating in excess a pile of tech debt, or use and throw work.

It is also important to prioritise items which help the team gain knowledge. Prioritising time boxed Spikes can increases the team’s understanding and can result in more articulate acceptance criteria. This helps to maximise work not done

A well-prioritized backlog is like a tranquil lake, offering the team a crystal-clear view of their next steps. This clarity, combined with a strong sense of purpose (clarity in vision), can boost the team's motivation and productivity, ultimately enhancing their ability to meet the fixed deadline with greater efficiency.

When prioritizing the product backlog in Scrum, the following factors can guide your decision-making: Business Value: Identify user stories or backlog items that provide the highest value to the customer or end-user. Consider the impact on customer satisfaction, revenue generation, or strategic alignment with business goals. Dependencies: Evaluate the dependencies between different backlog items. Prioritize items that can unlock or enable the completion of other critical features or functionalities. Risks and Uncertainties: Assess the risks associated with each backlog item. Prioritize items that address significant risks early on or reduce uncertainties in the project.

Never forget the importance of saying NO. There will always be new features and items to add to your backlog, but if you have made a solid and validated plan stick to it and do not let any stakeholders drive you away from the real focus. Especially if you are on a tight budget and there are deadlines. Learning to say no and learning to be ok with it are keys to your success as a PO.

Sprint planning is a crucial step in the Scrum framework, and your advice on planning wisely and realistically couldn't be more accurate. Balancing scope, quality, and time within each sprint is an art form. It's essential to consider the team's capacity, taking into account their availability and skills. Additionally, identifying and mitigating dependencies, risks, and uncertainties early in the planning process is key to ensuring a smooth sprint. Overcommitting or underdelivering can lead to frustration and a loss of trust among the team and stakeholders. It's about finding that sweet spot where you challenge the team, but not to the point of burnout, and consistently deliver valuable increments.

Fixed deadlines and budgets require diligent sprint planning. Break down user stories and tasks to a granular level to estimate more accurately. Consider setting aside a contingency buffer to handle unforeseen challenges or scope changes. Additionally, use sprint retrospectives to reflect on and improve your sprint planning and execution processes.

As much as you have your value curve defined, this is easy. In each sprint try to deliver something tangible, and increment that makes sense. If it's possible production release - at least get closer to production-ready version.

To ensure fixed deadlines are met, one important factor to consider is timeboxing. That means all Scrum events, including Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective, have a fixed duration.This helps maintain focus and ensures efficient use of time. The time and cadence should be fixed wisely depending upon the scum team size, the sprint duration etc. Personally I have seen instances where the team size is large, the sprint duration is large and the time allotted for planning, grooming and retrospective is less, there by reducing the utilization of the team members and preventing the organisation from reaping the full benefit of scrum practices.

Incorporate AI-enabled project forecasting tools into your Scrum framework. These tools can analyze historical data, team performance and project complexities to provide more accurate estimations and predict potential bottlenecks. This way, you can manage fixed deadlines and budgets more effectively, adjusting your Scrum sprints and priorities to ensure you meet your project goals within the constraints. This data-driven approach enhances transparency and enables more informed decision-making in agile projects with fixed constraints.

Using Scrum within fixed deadlines and budgets the first step is to prioritize the backlog based on the features that offer the highest value, ensuring that critical aspects of the project are addressed first.Scrum's time-boxed sprints provide a clear framework for managing progress, enabling the team to regularly deliver potentially shippable increments.Flexibility in scope is another key strategy when working with fixed constraints. The team, in collaboration with the Product Owner, may decide to deprioritize less critical features if time or budget pressures intensify, ensuring that the most valuable features are delivered.Additionally, proactive risk management is crucial to deliver within timelines

Inspect and adapt frequently in Scrum. Conduct sprint reviews, retrospectives, and analyze data to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement. Create an adaptation plan, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and make incremental changes to enhance team performance and product delivery.

Conduct frequent sprint reviews with stakeholders to showcase the progress made. Use these reviews to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments. If you're falling behind schedule or exceeding the budget, stakeholders can provide guidance on reprioritizing or making trade-offs

Use burnup or burndown charts to track progress. These can help visualize whether you're on track to meet the fixed deadline or if adjustments are needed.

One thing I found really useful is developing a mindset of embracing change. Not just for myself but also encouraging it for the scrum team members.

Implement lean budgeting principles by allocating funds incrementally based on the progress of the project. Allocate a portion of the budget for each sprint, and release additional funds based on demonstrated value and validated learning.

Scrum's adaptability can coexist with fixed deadlines and budgets. Prioritize tasks in the Product Backlog, focusing on customer value. Use disciplined estimation and monitoring with burndown charts to track progress. Maintain clear Definition of Done for quality assurance. Use sprint reviews and retrospectives for course corrections. This methodology aligns well with SAFe principles, enabling teams to deliver value without sacrificing quality, even under tight constraints.

Collaborate effectively in Scrum by forming cross-functional teams, conducting daily stand-up meetings, refining the backlog together, involving stakeholders in reviews and demos, and holding retrospectives. Communicate clearly through active listening, visualizing work, maintaining documentation, and utilizing collaboration tools.

Effective collaboration and communication are key to successful teamwork and project completion. ?? Tips for effective collaboration include clear goals and roles, open communication, active listening, respect and empathy, and leveraging strengths. ?? Tips for effective communication include clarity and conciseness, engagement, non-verbal communication, feedback, and the use of appropriate channels. ?? Steps to enhance collaboration and communication include regular meetings, goal alignment, building trust, adopting technology, and training and development. By integrating these practices, teams can improve their collaboration and achieve more productive and harmonious outcomes.

Maintain clear and transparent communication with all project stakeholders. Inform them of progress, any changes to scope or timelines, and any risks that may impact the project's constraints.

Prioritize the most critical features and functionalities early in the project, as this allows you to deliver value to stakeholders sooner and provides room for flexibility in the later stages of development. Focus on what matters most first, so you can better manage fixed constraints while still accommodating changes and improvements as the project unfolds. This is how you can maximize the value delivered within the given limitations.

La je ne suis pas d'accord. La flexibilité et la créativité peu être inscrite dans un cadre de conseil pas plus. Sinon on va perdre le contr?le.

While sticking to deadlines and budgets is crucial, be prepared to adjust priorities and explore creative solutions if challenges arise. Flexibility allows you to pivot when necessary without compromising the overall project objectives.

Be prepared to adapt to changes in scope, priorities, or unforeseen challenges. Flexibility is crucial in Scrum, especially when working within fixed deadlines and budgets. Use creative problem-solving to address issues and make necessary trade-offs without compromising the project's core objectives.

Scrum fixes time and cost, and allows the scope to vary, iteratively and incrementally. The scope is not fixed. Deliver scope until the stakeholders no longer invest time and cost.

Transparency: Keep stakeholders informed about progress and potential challenges. It's like letting those waiting for the meal know if there's a delay or change in the menu.

When using Scrum with fixed deadlines and budgets, consider adopting a "just-in-time" planning approach. Instead of planning out every detail of the entire project upfront - focus on planning for the next sprint or two. This approach allows your team to remain flexible and responsive to changing requirements while still meeting fixed constraints. Plan in smaller increments, so you can adapt to feedback and shift priorities more effectively. It also enables you to allocate budget and resources where they are needed most at each stage of the project, increasing the likelihood of staying on track with your fixed deadlines and budgets.

Rolling wave planning or progressive elaborations are some techniques that helps in concentrating on short-term objectives and creating adjustments while keeping the overall picture in mind. These objectives could be transformed into a sprint wisely as a Scrum team. Regardless of any model (predictive, hybrid, adaptive) planning is the key to success.

With fixed budget and timeline - we can play only with scope... so my suggestion would be to focus on low hanging fruits meaning features which are easy to implement and generate more value for customer.