Just witnessed this
Scrummaster: Hey QA Guy, just wanted to check with you about the order of the cards in the QA Ready column.
QA Guy: Yeah, I see you keep moving cards around and I keep putting this card back on top.
Scrummaster: What is important about that card?
QA Guy: There is an acceptance meeting with the business owner this afternoon and I want to make sure it is ready.
Scrummaster: Well several of the other cards are needing to be deployed as soon as they are ready, so I really think they are more important. This card can really be deployed in the release at the end of the cycle.
QA Guy: Oh, how did I miss that those cards wanted to be deployed? They aren’t marked urgent.
Scrummaster: They were cards that didn’t get released in the last cycle and I didn’t want marketing to wait another full cycle. But, they aren’t really urgent. I put comments in the cards.
QA Guy: Can we tag cards like that so they are more obvious on the board?
Scrummaster: Let’s see. Well, we really aren’t using this yellow tag, let’s label that as Needs Early Deployment.
QA Guy: That works. Yellow is one step below the orange and red for Urgent and Emergency.
Scrummaster: How long will it take to test the card for the meeting this afternoon?
QA Guy: Probably only another 30 minutes or so.
Scrummaster: Oh, you’re already in the middle of it?
QA Guy: Oops. Guess I forgot to move it to the In Progress column.
Scrummaster: No problem. Go ahead and finish that card and I’ll mark the other cards yellow.
A little background
At BuildASign, we use Trello as an electronic index card board. All things considered, it is very effective and I can definitely recommend it. One of its limitations is there are only 6 colored tags for highlighting types of cards. We have to be very careful how we use them.
Communication break down
While each communication glitch was small, the sum exposed a problem.
- The cards were lacking a key highlight – if the important information were clearly displayed, there would not have been contention on the prioritization.
- The QA Guy forgot to move a card to the proper column – the contentious card was in the wrong column.
Communication success
I actually enjoyed watching this conversation because it exposed a weakness and resolved in a better place.
- We have a great team culture and a very open environment. A face-to-face conversation is always best.
- A new feature was added to the board.
- The Scrummaster followed up with the entire team.
I love it when communication works, even when it starts with miscommunication.