#14 Unplanned Work: Part 2

Symptom: Unplanned work appearing consistently on the sprint backlog.

Probable Cause: User stories not prioritised effectively.

Suggested Resolution: Sometimes unplanned work finds its way onto the sprint backlog just because it needs to be done at that time, which also suggests that the work is of high priority.

Try to associate any unplanned work with user stories as described in part 1, and in the sprint planning sessions, really try to connect with the product concepts, release plan and what really needs to be the top priorities at that point in time.

The product owner should try to really understand what is required from the product and when, and provide a balanced approach to both functional user stories and technical user stories. (Tech stories are to be covered in another post.)

Effective prioritisation of the user stories will really help to put things into perspective and allow the team to focus on the needs of the project and make good progress.

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