#13 Unplanned Work: Part 1

Symptom: Unplanned work keeps appearing consistently on the sprint backlog.

Probable Cause: These unplanned tasks may not have been made visible during the sprint planning and are not attributed back to a user story objective.

Suggested Resolution: Try to understand what these unplanned tasks are and what objectives they are trying to achieve. If it is possible to attribute these back to a user story, then the visibility can be improved and they can be prioritised effectively.

Also during the sprint planning sessions try to understand this unplanned work and determine if this work needs to be done now or if it should be prioritised and the load on the team may be reduced.

What you are looking for here is clear visibility of the work to be done. Only then can you prioritise effectively and focus on what really needs to be delivered in the sprint.

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