fire prevention and firefighting

Moving around large Agile projects, I came across a common situation that hinders the team performance.  Individuals cannot allocate time for improving their work (and avoid future problems) because they are constantly firefighting current issues.

It typically happens like this: Someday on the past, the problem has started. Unfortunately, the issue (small at the time) was not clearly identified. It only got enough attention when it was on fire. Therefore the vicious cycle:
Everyone is busy putting out fires -> no time to improve (and avoid future fires) -> more fires

It takes discipline! Finding the balance between fire prevention and firefighting is not easy. You still need the fire sirens. But some experienced firefighters should be working proactively instead of reactively. They should be out of the fire department doing preventive work.
Plan your capacity accordingly. How is your team working currently? Do they have time to avoid fires, in the first place? Make sure to count for preventive as well as reactive work. Make sure to build quality in to avoid future hazards.

Paulo Caroli

Paulo Caroli is an author, speaker, and consultant specializing in agile transformations, Lean Inception, and OKRs. With over 30 years of experience—including nearly a decade in Silicon Valley and 18 years at ThoughtWorks—he has helped organizations transition from project to product and from strategy to execution. Creator of the Lean Inception methodology and author of bestselling books like Lean Inception and Team OKR, Paulo is dedicated to empowering teams to align, validate, and deliver real business value.
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