Prediction vs. Adaptation
The purpose of the Sprint is not to predict what we will complete in 2 weeks time.
I repeat, it's not about completing everything in the Sprint.
The point is to inspect and adapt so we can make the most progress toward our goals. The difference seems subtle, but understanding it is crucial.
We don't know what we can't know before starting the work. We can know if we handled what we didn’t know in the best way we could.
Worry less about the failure to predict, and more about the failure to adapt.
The more we try to prevent sucking at predicting, the more we will guarantee to suck at adapting.
Progress is what matters and not the comforting illusion of glorious plans.
Very well put!
The more obsessed an organisation is about'accurate estimates', the more people start to game the system. It's the rapid feedback and continual introspection that matter for improvement, not the sprint in itself.
“The point is to inspect and adapt so we can make the most progress toward our goals.”
Thinking about this in terms of Dual-Track Continuous Discovery and Delivery, what I might add to this could be:
“...and so we can _learn_ the most about what might bring us closer to our goals.”