Had a small ticket day in our software dev team and this is how it went
If you are a part of a software development team, you are well aware of how the backlog just keeps growing. There are main feature tickets, bugs, different priority items, and sometimes someone just comes up with an amazing improvement idea in high dopamine excitement and never actually thinks of implementing it. They keep hanging in the project management tool’s backlog, always annoying everyone, yet no one really wants to allocate time to wrap those up. In order to clear them up for good, we do a small ticket day once in a while.
Small ticket day is a day when we set aside our usual tasks and work on small tickets that have been in our backlog for a while. These tickets are usually simple, quick fixes, or improvements that have been ignored for a long time. The goal of small ticket day is to clear out as many of these small tickets as possible in a single day. It is a great way to increase team morale, clear out the backlog, and work together as a team.
During our small ticket day, we were a team of seven developers and one designer. Each task completed earned one point, while half a point was awarded for code reviews. By the end of the day, we had completed 36 tickets and 30 code reviews. It was a fun but productive day, and I learned a lot from it.
Here are some key learnings from our small ticket day:
- Gamification is always great. Even though there wasn’t any prize attached, it gave us a fun challenge to add one more point to the whiteboard. It made the day more exciting and helped us stay motivated to complete as many tasks as possible.
- Collaboration is the key. Everyone was available to help each other, so things moved fast. Usually, people are busy with their tasks, working from home or the office, and it can take some time to consult about requirements or issues. When everyone was available, things moved much faster. This made us realize the importance of teamwork and how it can improve productivity.
- Fun and productivity can go hand in hand. The day felt like a nice relaxing day, and the output was great. All together we completed 36 small tickets in less than 7 hours. We had a great time working together and cleared out a lot of backlog in a short amount of time. It made us realize that having fun while working can increase productivity and improve the team’s overall mood.
- Small tasks can be daunting, but they are doable. Personally, I found that during the small ticket day, tasks that I was hesitant to take on were easier to challenge myself because I knew help would be provided. It made us realize that sometimes we get intimidated by small tasks, but they can be doable with the right mindset and support.
In conclusion, small ticket day was a great day, and it felt like a festival. We cleared most of our backlogs and had a reason to celebrate after work. It was also a great collaborating session. We realised the importance of teamwork, gamification, fun, and how even small tasks can be daunting but doable. We are definitely looking forward to more small ticket days in the future and are excited to see how it can improve our productivity and morale.
Every team is special and they have their way of dealing things. This was what we tried in our team but I would love to hear how it is done in your team. I would love to hear your feedback and comments. If you enjoyed reading this article, support me by clapping and following. Additionally you can connect me via Linkedin.❤