So many times I see teams dive deep into requirements starting with the 1st one without really knowing the macro view of the goal. They might start coding the very first requirement or story in a particular direction. The problem solution picked for that 1st requirement might paint them into a corner. This can cause them to have to start all over from scratch and waste a ton of time. However, if they looked at the big picture first before diving deep this might have been prevented.
The same could be said when trying to cook Mrs. T.J. Kirschenman’s Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe from the 1940’s San Joaquin County Farm Home Department Cookbook.
If one started going right into following the directions without reading the entire recipe there could be a lot of wasted food ingredients. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 Tbs, shortening
2 Cups sugar
2 eggs
4 squares (4 oz.) chocolate melted
1-3/4 Cups flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 Cups milk
1 Cup chopped nuts
Instructions:
Cream shortening. Add one and one half cups sugar, then beaten egg yokes. Cream together. Blend in melted chocolate. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add to 1st mixture, alternately with the milk. Beat just enugh to make the batter smooth. Blend in vanilla and nuts. Beat egg whites until they hold shape, then beat in remaining on-half cup sugar. Fold the meringue into cake batter and bake 40 to 45 minutes for layer, 50 to 55 minutes for loaf at 350 deg F. Makes two nine-inch layers or one 8″x12″ loaf.
Potential Pitfalls!
So what could we have missed by not reading the entire process before diving straight into step one?
- So my wife commented that if she did not read all the instructions she probably would have thrown out the eggs whites when she separated the egg yokes. This would have caused her to use 4 eggs and wasting food.
- Did you notice the vanilla in the instructions but it was missing in the ingredient list? Plus how much? That might be a trial and error measurement?
- What if we did not have the correct pan or two pans to make a layer cake
- Do we have even time to bake the cake? If we were making this in a home economics or cooking class is there enough time to mix and bake it?
- And most important what about Chocolate Icing for the cake? Especially a layered cake?
Comparing to other recipes or stories we did in the past
How Much Vanilla?
Part of refinement is comparing to other work done in the past sprints. In the recipe example above, if someone looked around at the other cake recipes in the cookbook there is a trend of using just 1 tsp of vanilla. Maybe that is the place to start verse just guessing as to the amount. I wonder how many bad cake batches that one look around saved?
Different Cake Options?
Plus there are other Chocolate Cake Options. Is that 1st chocolate cake going to bring the most value or in this case chocolate joy? Here are a few other cake options
- Chocolate Cake by Mrs. Francis Wiggins, Jr
- Chocolate Nut Fudge Cake by unknown?
- Chocolate Peanut Cake by Mrs. A.G. Vierra
- Chocolate Sponge Cake by Mrs. Stanley Burson
- Chocolate Mocha Layer Cake by Mrs. Emil Bender
Chocolate Cake by Mrs. Francis Wiggins, Jr only lists 4 ingredient with no oil or shortening, but with sour or buttermilk and those two are not listed as an ingredient
Chocolate Mocha Layer Cake by Mrs. Emil Bender‘s recipe gives advice to butter and flour the pan where other do not
Frostings or Icings!
Reminder the missing frosting? Well there are a bunch of frosting options scattered about:
- Peanut Cream Frosting
- Sour Cream Frosting
- Chocolate Icing
- Creamy Powdered Sugar Icing
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Malted Milk Frosting
- Caramel Frosting
- etc…
So when taking on a Refinement Session look around at the entire Epic and other Epics as well. You never know when a gap might be filled (like how much Vanilla) or a missing requirement (like Frosting) might be realized.
Plus looking a current or similar product might open one’s options to solutions. Maybe Mrs. Wiggin’s recipe with 4 items (plus 1 missing) is all we have in our tool box or pantry to make at this time? But at least it is a desert for our team at our next Scrum Event.
