Jeremy Brown's Newsletter.
Time Boxing.
The Project Delivery Superpower
by Jeremy Brown.
Read by Jeremy Brown.
5th of March 2024.
Issue number 22.
This is a project by Jeremy Brown.
I'm a journeyman.
sharing insights on leading product and engineering teams, building
products and exploring technology.
As I build this newsletter and a podcast and YouTube channel in the
open, you will get updates occasionally.
Hi, welcome to issue number 22 of my newsletter and a special
welcome to the newest members of my newsletter community and those
of you listening to this podcast.
Thank you for giving me space in your inbox.
So this week's newsletter somehow got stuck in a pipe last week.
Apologies for that.
Life happens.
I'm still learning to ship something consistently and regularly, with as
little pain and stress as possible.
In other news, I've been trying to post more regularly on LinkedIn.
Trying to iterate and learn feels better after putting my principles together.
Now I'm trying to avoid checking LinkedIn all the time.
How social media sucks you in is a giant trap, and that's why I
quit social media some time ago.
So we'll see where we get there with that.
I'm going to have to use timeboxing, batching, and scheduling when I'm
going to be interacting there.
I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
In my most recent posts, I've mainly been talking about principles and concepts.
Foundational stuff.
I wanted to focus on foundational topics because I felt it was important to get my
thoughts together and written down first.
In future, I'll be composing them together and linking to them in articles
that are more tactical and usable.
So onwards to this week's newsletter.
Timeboxing, the project delivery superpower.
When used well, I believe that timeboxing can give us superpowers
by creating forcing functions.
that help us gain control over our time.
A time box is a predetermined period during which a team strives to deliver
a predetermined outcome by working until the time limit is reached.
Instead of measuring the time taken to complete an outcome, the team evaluates
what was accomplished within the time box.
By implementing timeboxes, we can work in a focused environment towards
completing a meaningful goal rather than just working without a goal.
Timeboxes also help minimize risk by providing cutoff points for reflection
and learning from what we've done.
Timeboxing creates boundaries that force us to think more
granularly inside the box.
If we can only dedicate six weeks to an outcome, especially if the task
feels enormous, we must figure out how to move the needle within the timebox.
That shift in thinking can make all the difference.
I believe timeboxing results in better outcomes for users.
Firstly, aggressively timeboxing our work results in shipping smaller pieces
of value more frequently to users, resulting in earlier feedback from them,
which informs the rest of our work.
Further, since timeboxing periods end with a retrospective, we
should improve with each iteration.
The two rules of timebox management.
When it comes to timebox management, there are two critical rules to follow.
Number one, release something before the time box is up.
This means achieving a specific outcome within the given time frame, even
if that means releasing less than we initial, initially thought we would do.
And number two, stop working when the time box ends and review our progress.
We should analyze our successes and failures to improve our
work and plan future time boxes.
Always ask, did we meet our target outcome at the end of the time box?
Following these two rules will help ensure effective time
management and successful outcomes.
Time boxing versus time blocking.
Time blocking is a widely recognized productivity technique that shouldn't
be confused with time boxing.
Time blocking involves dedicating a specific time slot to accomplish a task.
For example, setting aside 1 to 3 p.
m.
for meetings and communication.
Time boxing, on the other hand, refers to the total time
allotted to complete a task.
However, one could use time blocking to preserve a portion of
their day for a specific time box.
The Origins and History of Time Boxing
James Martin Author of Rapid Application Development first used the term.
He based it on Parkinson's law from the book by naval historian C.
Northcote Parkinson.
Parkinson's law theory states that work expands to fill the time allotted to it.
Meaning, if given a month for a project, people will stretch it out
even if they could finish it sooner.
Martin saw Parkinson's law as relevant to software development due to the
failures of the 1980s Waterfall model.
Developers, including Martin, worked towards a new model called
Rapid Application Development, RAD.
This interactive, iterative approach involved teams working in short
bursts and constantly communicating, reducing inefficiency and allowing
immediate evaluation and improvement.
Timeboxing became a cornerstone of agile methodologies like
Scrum in the early 1990s.
Actually, Scrum uses fixed length iterations, sprints to drive
progress, promote collaboration, and enable continuous improvement.
Using timeboxes.
Timeboxes can be used everywhere.
Meetings can be timeboxes with goals.
Sadly, not all meetings.
I'm a big fan of the Lean Coffee approach.
to facilitating meetings.
You gather topics, vote on them, have a time box for each topic,
and decide whether to extend them.
By the way, if you're a Google Calendar user, my tip is to turn
on speedy meetings and aim for 25 minute meetings as the default.
Timeboxes supercharge the building process . That's why we have the concept
of iterations or sprints in Scrum.
Other flavors of Agile also use timeboxes.
Using timeboxing to build software.
When coaching teams in delivery, I use timeboxes to set specific
periods for completing the work.
These periods can range from a day, to multiple weeks, The goal
is to use the shortest possible time frame for our time box.
I coach teams to set a time box for any significant initiative
or project they're working on.
Suppose an initiative will take more than six weeks.
In that case, we should chunk it up into multiple smaller initiatives.
Once we have our overall initiative or project time box, we should
then chop that up into a series of thin slices of value or milestones.
Each value slice is a week or two, three in extreme cases.
And a side note here, naming is everything.
I coach teams to choose meaningful names for each initiative or project
and its value slices or milestones.
And my preferred approach is for each to be an outcome, which I
define as a change in human behavior that impacts business results.
This can be really hard, and AI can be surprisingly helpful here.
And I link out to another article I wrote about this.
Applying the principles of timebox here means that if, as we get towards
the end of a timebox, we realize we might be going over, backlogs
always grow as we do the work.
Due to what we learn and the unexpected, well we can de scope some work to still
be able to release something that helps us reach our target outcome for the time box.
And then we re evaluate, incorporate those learnings, and have another go,
if we decide to do another time box.
Tracking progress within a time box.
To ensure success with time boxing, tracking progress throughout
the time box is essential.
Here are some visual management tools to help you monitor your work effectively.
Number one, Kanban boards.
A popular visual management tool, Kanban boards provide an
at a glance view of tasks and their progress within a time box.
By dividing tasks into to do, in progress, and done columns, team
members can quickly identify what needs attention and prioritize accordingly.
Number two, burn down charts or burn up charts.
These charts graphically represent the work remaining within a
time box versus the time left.
They help teams visualize their progress and predict whether they will complete
all tasks within the allotted timeframe.
And number three, progress bars.
Simple yet effective.
Progress bars visually represent how much of a time box has
elapsed and how much remains.
This helps keep team members aware of the countdown to completion.
By implementing one or a combination of these visual management tools,
teams can effectively track their progress within each time box, helping
them stay focused and on track to achieve their desired outcomes.
I usually recommend refining the work to small tasks around one day
of work, tracking them in a Kanban board and visualizing our progress
via a burndown chart that simply tracks the number of tasks remaining,
Estimates and Timeboxes.
Underestimating the time required for tasks can lead to incomplete
work and missed deadlines.
I'm not an advocate for estimation.
Instead, I would recommend refining the work to small tasks around one
day of work and tracking velocity by simply counting the number of tasks
you get done historically in a week.
Through this, you should get a good feel for your velocity, and you'll easily spot
when a task gets stuck for a few days.
It might mean someone needs help, or the task should be split further.
Timeboxes.
The irony.
Ironically, while timeboxes are simple and powerful, they're
surprisingly difficult to apply.
People naturally resist constraints, and backlogs tend
to grow as we learn and work.
With Murphy's Law lurking around every corner.
We fear what the world will think if we release our work in its current state.
So when we reach the end of a time box and don't think our work is ready, we hesitate
to let the world see it, thinking, if only we do a few more things it'll be perfect.
In those moments, remember that embracing timeboxes can lead to a
more focused and efficient workflow.
Be brave and remove scope aggressively.
Remove what doesn't matter to the point that you can still deliver
the outcome of the timebox.
If it feels painful, you're probably starting to do it right.
Exercise judgment.
I will say, please exercise judgment with time boxes.
Don't be too inflexible and rigid with your time boxes.
Allow for some flexibility within time boxes.
If a high priority task emerges, adjust the time box to accommodate it.
Review and adjust your time boxes regularly to ensure they align with
your target outcomes and priorities.
Don't forget to stop and smell the roses.
Failing to review and learn from completed time boxes can limit
improvement and lead to repeated mistakes.
So schedule retrospectives after each time box to discuss what worked,
what didn't, and how to improve.
Use these insights to refine your ways of working and enhance team performance.
Highlight of the week.
This quote resonated with me when I read it, and I've repeated it many times over
the years since I read the book Slack, Getting Past Burnout, Busy Work, and the
Myth of Total Efficiency by Tom DeMarco.
I highly recommend this book.
It's a classic.
There is no such thing as "healthy" competition within
a knowledge organization.
All internal competition is destructive.
The nature of our work is that it cannot be done by any single person in isolation.
Knowledge work is by definition collaborative.
That's all for this week, folks.
Have a great week, Jeremy.
If you had some thoughts while reading this, I would love to hear them in
the comments or drop me an email.
I would really appreciate your feedback on my newsletter and
the format of this podcast.
I'll be trying it for a few episodes and we'll see where we get to.