Day 10: Backlog and Sprint Planning

We have two big tasks today. I am guessing you have both started mentally, so today we need to go back and make sure they are adequately flushed out.

1.?????Establish our Job Search Backlog

2.?????Sprint Planning

1 .?Job Search Backlog

What is a backlog?

Essentially it is a list of “on deck” items. Those ten + companies that you defined as interested in working for? On deck in the backlog. That company Amged told you to investigate? On deck in the backlog. Networking in a different field? On deck in the backlog. Reading through all the past JSLPM* Newsletters to see what you can take? On deck in the backlog.

Reasons for one?

1.?????It’s organized and simple to prioritize

2.?????It’s simple to reprioritize as priorities shift

3.?????It allows you to see logical dependencies and highest impact items

4.?????It allows you to think about long term benefits and not just immediate needs **

We are running a job search which means our to-do list is constantly being redefined as companies we are interested in are putting out new positions. Product backlogs are never fully complete either in the software world and that product backlog is always being refined as well.

The #productbacklog*** in #agile traditionally is not a simple to-do list though. There should be no low-level tasks inside a backlog (like sending emails) and it is a living document that should be rearranged. We ARE going to break that a bit because a job search is a project, but a project with a microscope placed on it. Let’s call it a Job Search Backlog then to appease any purists out there.

That said I recommend you keep a “Low Hanging Fruit” list or as I like to call it an “LHF” List. These are tasks for when your brain is giving you signals it is low on problem-solving juice, but you still need to do a task for your future. Emailing can be one of those.

To add ideas to your Job Search Backlog, go through these steps:

1.?????Brain Dump – everything you have ever thought you may need to do for a job search, brain dump into this excel. We want to identify, if possible, the user stories that each one pertains to, but as we are using the user stories a bit differently (value stories may be a better term) that may not always be possible so don’t get hung up on it.

2.?????Clarify -- Make sure you understand the reason why it was there. The amount of value it is perceived to add and the specifications of when it would be considered achieved or done. Estimate as best you can the amount of time it would take can also be done at this step. If there is a resource needed (i.e., Canva to redo your LinkedIn Banner) then make sure that is clarified also.

3.?????Prioritize - To rank value, you can use a variety of systems or come up with your own. There are a few methods for this, but I use Value Scaling most often myself. You can just use Low/Medium/High though for what we are trying to accomplish and that would work. If you need more use 200 (Low), 400, 600, 800, and 1000 (High) and organize them into those columns. Then when you prioritize inside the columns, you can give it a value specific to its rank inside the column (E.g., Perhaps completing your super resume is holding you back from applying in general so it may have a 1099 rank (nothing is higher than it), but using it to complete your 1-3 specific description you have identified to hand out to friends to get to their boss or the like is a bit lower, so those would have 1010 ranks. I do this so I can use the corresponding column to rank highest to lowest and see patterns there.

4.?????Update – this is a living document. It should not be stagnant. If you are using my other templates, you can have it all be different sheets inside of the same excel document, so you are having to open less and removing that barrier from yourself to keep this fluid and usable. There’s zero point in the documentation for documentation’s sake.

Availability & Velocity

After your Job Search Backlog is established, look at your core team’s availability. This would be just you unless your mentor or life partner is taking a more active role). If you are actively working while you are conducting your job search, this is even more essential. Ask yourself if there are any confirmed commitments for yourself to honor coming up during the timeframe you put for your job search and adjust your expectations. Write down what you can give in a format that makes sense. I tend to track things in half-hour increments because that is what I think in.

For example, I would write that I have 23 Half-Hour Increments typically a week to give to my job search, mostly on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings sequentially.

Availability is obviously very personal, but the higher amount of time/effort you can put in the faster you can benefit. That said too much effort unstructured upfront will lead you to burn out before you could even see the results. Decide what is best and what is balanced and reconcile the two if there is a discrepancy.

Typically, in a project, you would establish a velocity also to help focus on when you are going to be done, but since you are a single entity team, we are going to look at this in the first retrospective since it is an “untested team” but do know this isn’t typical. Basically, don’t worry about looking at that now.

2 .?Sprint Planning

Okay, go grab a fresh cup of coffee as we are going to change gears. Now we are going to just plan out this week using what we put together for the backlog and other steps we have already taken.

1.?????Establish the big picture. To do this I would simply recommend reading through your user stories. When you are running a sprint, you want to remind your team why you are doing what you do. You need the same yourself, even if you are a team of one.

2.?????Establish for yourself any new updates/feedback and issues. This is less of a thing during the first week, but going forward, this would be a dedicated space a time to review any personal rejection feedback you have received. You can also add things to your Product Backlog during this time. It is also useful to ask yourself what were your roadblocks that you had this past week once we get a further into this to help learn yourself and how you work better, to better set yourself up for success.

3.?????Confirm availability for the week. We don’t have a velocity during the first week since it is just us and we are still learning, but we will look at that too in the coming weeks. Make sure you a lot for the extra time a child’s birthday or whatnot would need. The goal here is honesty and eliminating surprises or being overwhelmed from affecting your job search expectations for the sprint.

4.??????Go through your backlog. The backlog should be kept up to date so you can launch into it. The whole goal is to basically make sure you are doing an accomplishable amount this week and prioritizing the tasks that truly need to be done. Use the value ranking to help establish a priority and work through what would be an expected outcome of the sprint.

5.?????Write it down in terms like “By the end of this sprint, we will have completed our Super Resume, reviewed our top companies' job boards, and determined/applied to X number of jobs that fit our Job Search Charter expectations, and have networked into X, Y and Z companies.” The goal is to really understand what you are going to accomplish and not have an open-ended list of distracting other tasks to do. By the time you are done writing them down, these are the tasks you are working on during these hours until they are completed. Scope creep is a thing in projects, and it is a thing in Job Searches too.

6.?????Officially Begin your Sprint. I honestly recommend having two signature moves- one to deploy at the end of a Sprint Planning session and one for a Sprint Meeting (which I will talk about tomorrow). It helps transition your brain from planning to doing and back again. For an end of a Sprint Planning session, I physically stand up and fist bump into the air exactly like this and then shout “So It Begins”. It does make my partner look strange at me**** but it works. I am amped up and ready to rumble.

I'll tell you what I do at the end of my daily #SprintMeetings tomorrow.

Sorry, it was such a long one today, but we covered good stuff and educated you to an essential #agileceremony if you aren’t already familiar with them! Tomorrow back with a #sprintmeeting and we will continue from there through our Week 1 Sprint.

As always, please comment on what you find useful if you would like this sort of material in a longer-term format and hit the like button/share if you think someone else may benefit.

Stay fantastic!

Bexs

*JSLPM = Job Search Like a Project Manager because that is a good descriptive, but long title to keep writing.

**It is easy to freak out and start cycling as you get no feedback after the first few days of efforts in a job search and fall into a pattern of doing tasks just to feel the endorphin rush that you are doing something even though what you are doing is NOT high impact and will NOT get you closer to your goal. Hello Mr. One-Stop-Shop-Resume meet Mx. Easy Apply Button.

***Ideally this is something made before we would have started our sprint, but everything in a Job Search is condensed and squishier like we talked about before. I’ve fit prep work down into two weeks and tasks that can be done in the evening after work hours at a current job to fit inside a two-week notice timeframe.

****My Great Danes also judge me but then think there may be a walk in their future.?

Links and Past Posts:

1. Session Zero, Day 1: Getting going with User Stories (check comments!)
2. Session Zero, Day 2: Tracking the User Stories and Getting Main Values
3. Session Zero, Day 3: Plan for Life Event Interruptions
4. Session Zero, Day 4: Get a List of Companies You are Already Connected To
5. Session Zero, Day 5: Job Search Charter
6. Planning Week, Day 6: ... Dreaded Resumes
7. Planning Week, Day 7: Company Shortlist
8. Planning Week, Day 8: Agile Job Search
9. Planning Week, Day 9: Recap, Claps and Sprint Layout

Templates and Forms:

• Job Search Charter
• User Stories Template