In several companies where I supported process improvement initiatives (often by setting up Kanban systems) I saw the same effect: hundreds – or even thousands – of tickets in the (pre-existing) system.
Everybody knows that most of these tickets can't be addressed. Especially with new tickets arriving in the system at a rate exceeding the speed with which tickets can be handled.
Is there a problem at all? After all we can't work faster than we already do, can we?
IMHO this question is really besides the point. Most of the time the answer is ‘yes’ by the way. Most teams with a high workload could go way faster than they do if the took the time to ‘sharpen the blade‘ which they think they can’t do because it seems more important to cut trees. But that is not point I‘m trying to make. Much more important is the question “What is the harm those requirements do, even if nobody is working on them?”
What’s the harm? Enter the Zombies
Comparing those old requirements to Zombies is closer to the truth than one should think. To my knowledge Zombies have never been proven to exist, but Zombie requirements seem to be a fact of life!
So how do they compare? Let’s see:
# One: They eat Brains!
Whether you like it or not, these old requirements still consume brainpower.- Ever so often someone has to go through them and check if one of them is more important than a new one.
- Each time a new requirement arrives someone has to check if it is not already in the system
# Two: They come back!
Unfortunately people don't realize that those are dead, because they look so alive from afar.- Customers enquire on the current state and have to be answered. This usually takes time.
- Service level agreements and maintenance plans (which your company sold to your clients) kick in and create a huge debt. (Think “fixed in the next major release”)
# Three You can not trust them
- There is almost always at least one person who thinks someone else is working on ‘that’ (long dead) requirement and accordingly they rely on it being implemented ‘soon.’ Little do the know.
- On the other hand there almost always one person who didn't get the memo and thinks it is a good idea to optimize for ‘that’ feature - which never comes.
# Four They grow, especially because they are dead
Even though it may seem counterintuitive for people from outside the software-industry, software tends to rot and decay.- That requirement you priced at 2 days of effort two years ago – perhaps even in a binding offer – now might costs you three weeks because the software has evolved and the database-schema now includes another dimension that wasn't there when you wrote the offer.
- That other requirement, which was a “excitement factor” when your sales representative first mentioned it to a customer has become a “dissatisfyer” in the meantime.
Kill your Zombies! Now! Just think Triage. And do it!
till next time
Michael Mahlberg
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