Reducing cycle times is a very good way to streamline processes within the software development life cycle. In order to reduce cycle times, there are some bad ways to cheat and some good ways to cheat:
Bad ways to cheat:
[X] remove sign-off from definition of done
[X] remove automation from definition of done
[X] remove unit tests from definition of done
[X] remove testing from definition of done
[X] call individual tasks user stories
[X] watch the person, not the baton
Good ways to cheat:
🙂 break down user stories into smaller user stories
🙂 have more people work on a user story at the same time
🙂 break down small user stories into even smaller user stories
🙂 do fewer user stories at the same time
🙂 chase the Product Owner and encourage her/him to sign-off quickly and often
🙂 make sure no user story is “hanging” because someone is on holiday/ill
🙂 don’t put a story in progress if you are not really working on it
🙂 break down even smaller user stories into yet even smaller user stories
🙂 watch the baton, not the person
So please cheat … but in a good way 🙂
