Being Agile: Eleven Breakthrough Techniques to Keep You from “Waterfalling Backward”

Small Tasks

Many agile practices are built on the adoption of queuing theory, which involves using small tasks to accomplish work. Within an iteration, it is easier to complete a steady stream of small work items, or tasks, than it is to complete one or two big tasks. When tasks are small, their boundaries are easier to define and contain. Using small tasks limits the scope of the work so that project debt is more readily noticed and, therefore, harder to accumulate. Other wasteful practices are also more readily apparent.

The idea is to break the work down into tasks that can be completed in several hours, or 1 or 2 days at most. Small user stories, small tasks, in short iterations, make it easier to define the boundaries of completion. When ...