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I've been having a problem recently. In my recent sprints, I have found myself finishing my work well before the sprint ends (several hours in a 2 week sprint).

I am left with a lot of time and nothing to work on. I approach my team members and ask them if I can help them, but they always refuse.

I am bored during this time, and need something to do. If I finish my work early, I would like to help other people who are still working.

Is there any way I can get them to accept help so I have something to work on?

Thanks

DrunkDog
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  • see also: [Help, team members out of tasks want to start with future sprints topics](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/267199/help-team-members-out-of-tasks-want-to-start-with-future-sprints-topics) – gnat Feb 24 '15 at 16:19
  • My question is about offering help when complete. I think it's a little different. But that question is also helpful – DrunkDog Feb 24 '15 at 16:22

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Is there any way I can get them to accept help so I have something to work on?

If you're near the end of the sprint, then the rest of your peers should be doing testing. Very few developers like doing testing, and testing doesn't require a ton of information exchange. By offering to do that stuff, you should get some help.

If you're in one of the many companies doing sorta-agile, and you're still doing development near the end of the sprint, there's likely not much you can do. Your peers are in a rush to hit their deadline and don't want to spend time telling you what needs to be done instead of just doing it.

But you should still try. During standup, offer to help out with stuff. This gives your peers (and manager and project manager) an opportunity to get your help and provides visibility to get you more work next sprint. If they do not take advantage of it (and there's no quicky bugs in the backlog) then enjoy the free time. Maybe watch some training videos or read a book. Browse the web to see what new advancements have come up. Maybe mock up a prototype for something interesting.

Or just relax and recoup your energy/morale/motivation so you can hit the next sprint at your best.

Telastyn
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Your problem is that you're not doing Agile. What is this "my work" you speak of, as if its been allocated to you?

In an agile environment, you should have a backlog of tasks that the team works on, individual members of the team, pick up a task, work them and then go back for more until either you run out of time or you run out of tasks (what you do then is debatable, either declare the sprint finished early, or go get some more tasks to include.. up to you).

So, the easiest way around this is t fix your processes so that you all are involved in all the tasks. If that's not the case, you can test your work, and then test it again, or declare your lack of work to all in the standups (you have them, right) so your manager can fix the problem possibly by re-allocating outstanding work.

Or, my favourite - ask to "work from home" at the end of the sprint to "get the remaining work done wthout any distractions so you can achieve the deadline". Managers like that kind of commitment ;)

gbjbaanb
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