Can Sprints Track NOT Doing Something?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and even though we’re all meeting in smaller groups, I’m pretty certain that there will still be an abundance of food for everyone. And that abundance of food can lead to a few unwanted pounds, which then leads to wanting to shed those pounds. It’s a frequently quoted New Year’s resolution. So can you use Scrum to lose weight - to not eat? The simple answer is yes, but the details are important.

For a goal like losing weight, it is important to use Scrum for Your Life to reinforce good habits that can be measured. Every four weeks you will be reviewing your accomplishments, and your brain isn’t going to be very happy with something you haven’t done. So framing the goal as a set of positive behaviors is the way to do this. With diet, this can be done by creating a backlog item to intentionally eat only a certain number of calories a day, or a certain amount of protein (if you’re using a Keto plan) each day. Exercise is easier. Just set a step goal or workout minutes; whatever you choose to measure. Now I haven’t said track pounds yet, which you should, but only to see if your behavior is working. Your weight is a result, sticking to your plan is the goal to be measured. If you’re truly sticking to the behavior you’ve committed to, and you’re not losing weight, then you need to change your behavior. That’s the benefit, and the importance, of the Sprint Retrospective. At that time you take an honest account of what went well in the previous four weeks and determine what needs to improve in the next four weeks. This gives you 13 chances a year to improve.

There are other behavioral goals that can be handled this way. Just remember to state them as positive behaviors to be achieved, rather than negative behaviors to be avoided.