The Unit of Work
Learn about the different units of work in Agile.
We'll cover the following...
The problems with small units of work
Using small units of work might not be an ideal method in other approaches.
Let’s look at a few drawbacks of using small units of work:
- With small units of work, come longer iterations. Any feedback given will be very late once the work item is realized.
- It results in irregular iterations.
- Only one work item is realized per iteration, which removes flexibility from the project.
- It results in low productivity. This is because, in case of any unplanned activity (new or changing requirement), it will take longer to counter the problems.
However, the classic use cases the project manager uses for their project planning are too large. In Agile projects, it’s essential to choose a small unit of work so that several can be realized during a single iteration. In the following sections, we’ll look at why we need to use small units of work for an Agile project.
- Prioritizing: Being able to reorganize and prioritize the work items in every iteration is crucial. Work items with a low granularity provide the flexibility to do so. The granularity of classical use cases doesn’t.
Prioritizing the tasks
- Dividing: Working on several smaller work items simultaneously provides better work distribution. The