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Diagnosing Issue Churn

Churn is a term used to describe the movement of issues from one sprint to another during an active sprint. It can be a sign of poor planning or communication within a development team. Diagnosing the root cause of churn can help teams identify areas for improvement and reduce the likelihood of churn occurring in the future.

Why Issue Churn Matters​

Issue churn is bad because it can lead to delays in project delivery, decreased team morale, and increased project costs. When issues are not completed within a sprint, it can cause a backlog of work and make it difficult to plan future sprints. Additionally, it can be frustrating for team members to see issues constantly moving from one sprint to another without resolution.

Churn can cause second-order effects that are highly disruptive to the team and future forecasting and planning. Some of the most impactful negative effects on team performance are listed here:

  • Decreased Productivity: Frequent changes require teams to revisit and rework tasks, which can be time-consuming. This can lead to reduced productivity and longer project timelines.
  • Increased Costs: Additional work caused by issue churn often translates to increased project costs, as more time and resources are needed to address changes.
  • Confusion: Frequent changes can lead to confusion among team members, as they may struggle to keep up with evolving requirements and goals.
  • Scope Creep: Issue churn can contribute to scope creep, where the project's scope expands beyond the original plan. This can lead to an increased workload without a corresponding increase in resources.
  • Quality Compromises: Rushed changes or constant adjustments can negatively impact the quality of the work, as there may not be enough time for thorough testing and validation.
  • Decreased Morale: Team members may become frustrated or demotivated when their work is constantly changing, leading to lower morale and potentially higher turnover.
  • Unclear Priorities: Frequent changes can make it challenging to determine which tasks or issues are the highest priorities, leading to a lack of focus.
  • Stakeholder Frustration: Stakeholders may become frustrated if they perceive that the project is not making progress or if their input is not being adequately considered.
  • Risk of Project Failure: Excessive issue churn can increase the risk of project failure, as it becomes difficult to maintain project stability and meet deadlines.

As one can see, the impact of issue churn extends away from engineering and into product owners and executive ranks.

Causes of Churn​

Churn is caused by a variety of factors, including, but not limited to poor:

  • Planning
  • Communication
  • Estimation
  • Prioritization
  • Execution

Many, if not all, of these factors are interrelated. For example, poor planning can lead to poor communication, which can lead to poor estimation, which can lead to poor prioritization, which can lead to poor execution. The key is to identify the root cause of churn and address it accordingly.

Additionally, many of these factors have a human component, and thus, are difficult to quantify. NitroIQ can help you identify the root cause of churn, but it is up to you to address it.

Diagnosing Churn​

Identifying Churn in Sprints​

NitroIQ will calculate the amount of issue churn in each of your sprints and also calculate how many times individual issues have churned, leading to a churn rate score.

Churn Rate is simply defined as the percentage of issues in a given sprint that have not been completed and thus moved to another sprint.

tip

Generally, we recommend that the percentage of issues churning per sprint should be kept under 50%. Churn rates above 50% will be identified by red colors in the sprint table. Churn rates between 25% and 50% will be identified by yellow colors in the sprint table. Churn rates below 25% will be identified by green colors in the sprint table.

Digging deeper into Individual Issues​

NitroIQ will also identify individual issues that have churned and provide a link to the issue in Jira. This will allow you to quickly identify the root cause of churn and take action to address it. Identifying the root cause of churn is the first step in reducing churn and improving team performance. The root cause will vary from team to team and issue to issue, but high churn counts for individual issues are a good indicator that something is wrong, and is worth investigating further and discussing during Blameless Sprint Retrospectives.

From our own experiences in helping teams diagnose churn issues, we have found that the most effective way to address churn is to have open discussions between engineering and product. This allows both teams to understand the root cause of churn and work together to address it.

Churn By Assignee​

NitroIQ also allows you to view churn by Assignee. Although Assignees are not always the root cause of churn, it is a good indicator of which team members are struggling to complete their work on time. This can be a good starting point for discussions with team members and can help identify areas for improvement.

Assignees with high constant churn rates may not necessarily be struggling by any fault of their own, but it could be that:

  • issues are being assigned to them late in the sprint
  • issues are being assigned to them that are too large to complete in a single sprint
  • issues are being assigned to them that are not well defined

How to Reduce Churn​

Reducing churn is a team effort and requires a combination of planning, communication, estimation, prioritization, and execution. The key is to identify the root cause of churn and address it accordingly. There is no silver bullet for reducing churn, but there are some best practices that can help. Here are some tips for reducing churn:

  • Plan Ahead: Planning ahead can help reduce churn by ensuring that all team members are on the same page and have a clear understanding of what needs to be done. This can be done by creating a backlog of work and prioritizing it based on importance and urgency. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

  • Communicate Effectively: Effective communication is essential for reducing churn. This can be done by having regular meetings with stakeholders and team members to discuss progress and identify any issues that need to be addressed. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

  • Estimate Accurately: Accurate estimation is essential for reducing churn. This can be done by using historical data to estimate how long it will take to complete a task and then adding a buffer for unexpected delays. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

  • Prioritize Work: Prioritizing work is essential for reducing churn. This can be done by creating a backlog of work and prioritizing it based on importance and urgency. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

  • Execute Efficiently: Efficient execution is essential for reducing churn. This can be done by using tools like NitroIQ to identify issues that are causing churn and then taking action to address them. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

  • Improve Processes: Improving processes is essential for reducing churn. This can be done by identifying areas for improvement and then taking action to address them. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

  • Improve Team Morale: Improving team morale is essential for reducing churn. This can be done by recognizing team members for their hard work and providing them with opportunities to grow and develop. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.

Conclusion​

Churn is a common problem in software development, but it can be reduced by following the tips outlined in this article. The key is to identify the root cause of churn and address it accordingly. This can be done by planning ahead, communicating effectively, estimating accurately, prioritizing work, executing efficiently, improving processes, and improving team morale. It is also important to communicate with stakeholders and get their input on what needs to be done.