More correctly, what is the optimal frequency?
When you first start bringing a team into Scrum, the sprint length is critical. A shorter interval gives you faster learning while a longer interval is less stressful on the team.
When you start an exercise program. It’s all about how many visits to the gym or how often you go running or how many sets of each exercise you do.
The frequency of the event in your process can on it’s own make it or break it. There are many factors in what you do but adjusting the frequency may be the simplest. As an Agile Coach, I have adjusted, or rather let the team adjust their iteration length. I like to start off having a team work in one week sprints. This puts some pressure on the team and reinforces a lot of new ceremonies and activities. When the team pushes back at a retrospective, it provides a great opportunity to allow the team to self organize and choose their own iteration length. This can be powerful and empowering when the experience the different ‘feel’ of moving to two weeks.
The same is true with physical fitness in your life. You give yourself a better chance of success if you can create a routine such as “yoga every Friday morning.” A commitment I have made to myself is to go to yoga once a week. I’d love to go to yoga everyday but that would make my life far too stressful. Once a week is a frequency I can manage. This reminds me of something I read on twitter once:
Meditate for 20 minutes everyday. If you don’t have time, mediate for an hour.
If you have spoken with me personally about fitness, you know that I encourage people to make fitness part of their lives and not a special event. I look at going to the gym or playing a sport as an event. Try adjusting the frequency of these events and you might amazed at the difference. When I changed from playing soccer once a week to twice, my ‘touch’ on the ball increased dramatically. If you are experiencing injuries, trying reducing the frequency. Your body needs more rest to heal and repair. There is no right and wrong it is a matter of finding what gives you the best results. As an experiment, increase or decrease the frequency of something in your life. You may like the results.
HumanRefactor 