why_do_people_overcommit
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| why_do_people_overcommit [2019/07/08 08:00] – hpsamios | why_do_people_overcommit [2021/08/30 12:55] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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| * Optimism bias: People overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes when they look into the future. There is benefit in having a positive outlook, but in this case we are letting this attitude adversely affect our ability to make rational decisions. | * Optimism bias: People overestimate the likelihood of positive outcomes when they look into the future. There is benefit in having a positive outlook, but in this case we are letting this attitude adversely affect our ability to make rational decisions. | ||
| * The retrospective bet: The last retrospective was very positive and the Team determined a problem and a solution. The Team bets on this result. This means that we assume we will get better before we actually get better. | * The retrospective bet: The last retrospective was very positive and the Team determined a problem and a solution. The Team bets on this result. This means that we assume we will get better before we actually get better. | ||
| - | * A genuine want to help: Knowledge workers really want to help and so when someone says “I just need this ...” they will take it one themselves to get it done, especially if they know the person asking. | + | * A genuine want to help: Knowledge workers really want to help and so when someone says “I just need this ...” they will take it on themselves to get it done, especially if they know the person asking. |
| * Hero culture: The organization has traditionally rewarded (one could even say developed) the heroes of an organization. This is so ingrained that people are not even aware they are operating this way. | * Hero culture: The organization has traditionally rewarded (one could even say developed) the heroes of an organization. This is so ingrained that people are not even aware they are operating this way. | ||
| * Uncontrolled work intake system: Many Teams, especially when starting, do not have control of their work intake system. This means they are unable to plan and predict the work, and are impacted more than expected by “break ins”, for example. | * Uncontrolled work intake system: Many Teams, especially when starting, do not have control of their work intake system. This means they are unable to plan and predict the work, and are impacted more than expected by “break ins”, for example. | ||
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| The question is “what can we do to improve the situation? | The question is “what can we do to improve the situation? | ||
| - | There are some obvious things we can do. Firstly, we can help our Teams understand that these drivers exist and create problems for ourselves. Sometimes a simple discussion | + | 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 |
| * 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:// | * 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:// | ||
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| * Management could show awareness of their fallibility by admitting to past errors and discussing how they will address going forward. | * Management could show awareness of their fallibility by admitting to past errors and discussing how they will address going forward. | ||
| - | <WRAP center round todo 60%> | + | > Under-commit; |
| - | Under-commit; | + | |
| - | </ | + | |
| We also might try a more “culture oriented” approach. For example, we could adopt a mantra like “under-commit and over-deliver”. We would set the cultural expectation that it is OK to under-commit so long as we meet the resultant expectation. Some Management will worry than this will mean that Teams will slack off. The data above shows that we do not have this problem in reality. And wouldn’t you love to be in the room when a Team reports to the customer saying “we were able to complete the committed items and, since we had spare capacity, we also delivered this high priority item you were wanting.” BTW: I have actually seen this happen. | We also might try a more “culture oriented” approach. For example, we could adopt a mantra like “under-commit and over-deliver”. We would set the cultural expectation that it is OK to under-commit so long as we meet the resultant expectation. Some Management will worry than this will mean that Teams will slack off. The data above shows that we do not have this problem in reality. And wouldn’t you love to be in the room when a Team reports to the customer saying “we were able to complete the committed items and, since we had spare capacity, we also delivered this high priority item you were wanting.” BTW: I have actually seen this happen. | ||
| Often these approaches have been tried and you still find a pattern of over commitment. In these situations the Team might want to set up a single subject Retrospective to discuss approaches to improve. This might be a place to discuss the issue, raise awareness of factors, and review possible approaches. I suspect that when you ask the Team, there will be other, more specific factors and potential approaches to take. | Often these approaches have been tried and you still find a pattern of over commitment. In these situations the Team might want to set up a single subject Retrospective to discuss approaches to improve. This might be a place to discuss the issue, raise awareness of factors, and review possible approaches. I suspect that when you ask the Team, there will be other, more specific factors and potential approaches to take. | ||
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| + | For example, one factor that we often see is that while overcommit data is available, it is also ignored. It’s just a number on the screen. One idea to make this more visceral is to hand out tokens which represent capacity and as people plan work, take the appropriate number of tokens away. Watch for an interesting discussion to develop when people run out of tokens and still have more demand (“we have to get this done!”) | ||
| And finally we could also consider other more direct and experimental approaches. For example: | And finally we could also consider other more direct and experimental approaches. For example: | ||
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