As we approach the end of an iteration we need to decide which stories we’ll see to completion and which we’ll postpone or abandon, so we can reallocate our team’s efforts to finalize more work.
We proactively make decisions to put-aside some “almost-done” stories so we can let others reach done status. Two half-done stories aren’t progress. We are explicit about which work we stop and why, and then refocus the team’s attention on finishing the chosen set of stories. This keeps momentum, reduces waste, and preserves quality.
We treat these end-of-iteration choices as deliberate trade-offs, not failures.
The goal isn’t to finish all the stories. The goal is to deliver quality and value.
Discussions for your team
- Are our stories written in a way that allows us to choose to safely postpone or drop some that aren’t going to be finished by the end of the iteration?
- Do the stakeholders understand that postponing half-done stories is strategic and not a sign of failure?
- How do we inform to the stakeholders which stories are being postponed?
- Do we know which of the stories in the iteration deliver the most value?