Technical Spikes and Research Tasks | Sprint Planning
Run time-boxed spikes to answer technical questions before committing. GitScrum tracks spike tasks with findings and follow-on implementation stories.
8 min read
Spikes answer questions before you invest in solutions. GitScrum helps teams track research work and capture learnings for future reference.
When to Spike
Identifying Need
WHEN TO DO A SPIKE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DO A SPIKE WHEN: │
│ ──────────────── │
│ │
│ FEASIBILITY UNKNOWN: │
│ "Can we even do this?" │
│ "Will this technology work for our use case?" │
│ "Is this technically possible?" │
│ │
│ ESTIMATE UNCERTAIN: │
│ "We have no idea how long this will take" │
│ "Team has never done this before" │
│ "Could be 2 days or 2 weeks" │
│ │
│ MULTIPLE OPTIONS: │
│ "Should we use Library A or Library B?" │
│ "What's the best approach?" │
│ "We need to compare options" │
│ │
│ INTEGRATION RISK: │
│ "Will this work with our existing system?" │
│ "How do we connect to this API?" │
│ "What's the performance impact?" │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ DON'T SPIKE WHEN: │
│ ───────────────── │
│ ❌ Team already knows the answer │
│ ❌ It's a familiar type of work │
│ ❌ Spike would take as long as just doing it │
│ ❌ Analysis paralysis - just try it │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Spike Structure
Creating Effective Spikes
SPIKE TEMPLATE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SPIKE: PDF Generation Approach │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ TYPE: Technical Spike ││
│ │ TIME BOX: 2 days ││
│ │ OWNER: @alex ││
│ │ ││
│ │ QUESTION TO ANSWER: ││
│ │ Which PDF library should we use for invoice ││
│ │ generation that supports our requirements? ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CONTEXT: ││
│ │ • Need to generate invoices with tables, logos ││
│ │ • Must support multiple languages (RTL included) ││
│ │ • Target: < 2 seconds per document ││
│ │ • Volume: ~1000 documents/day ││
│ │ ││
│ │ SUCCESS CRITERIA: ││
│ │ ☐ Recommendation with rationale ││
│ │ ☐ Proof of concept with sample invoice ││
│ │ ☐ Performance benchmarks ││
│ │ ☐ Estimate for full implementation ││
│ │ ││
│ │ OPTIONS TO EXPLORE: ││
│ │ 1. PDFKit (client-side) ││
│ │ 2. Puppeteer (headless Chrome) ││
│ │ 3. WeasyPrint (Python) ││
│ │ 4. wkhtmltopdf ││
│ │ ││
│ │ OUTPUT: ││
│ │ Document with findings linked to this task ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ KEY ELEMENTS: │
│ • Clear question (not vague exploration) │
│ • Time box (prevents rabbit holes) │
│ • Success criteria (know when done) │
│ • Expected output (document, prototype, estimate) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Types of Spikes
SPIKE CATEGORIES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TECHNICAL SPIKE: │
│ ──────────────── │
│ Explore technical approach or feasibility │
│ │
│ Examples: │
│ • "Can we use GraphQL with our current stack?" │
│ • "How do we integrate with Salesforce API?" │
│ • "What's the best caching strategy?" │
│ │
│ Output: Technical document, prototype, recommendation │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ FUNCTIONAL SPIKE: │
│ ───────────────── │
│ Explore user needs or requirements │
│ │
│ Examples: │
│ • "What do users actually need from this feature?" │
│ • "How do competitors solve this?" │
│ • "What are the edge cases?" │
│ │
│ Output: User research, requirements document, mockups │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ ESTIMATION SPIKE: │
│ ───────────────── │
│ Reduce uncertainty to enable estimation │
│ │
│ Examples: │
│ • "How much work is the migration?" │
│ • "What's involved in upgrading to v3?" │
│ • "How complex is this integration?" │
│ │
│ Output: Rough estimates, risk assessment, task breakdown │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Running Spikes
Time-Boxing
TIME BOX DISCIPLINE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ WHY TIME BOX: │
│ ───────────── │
│ • Prevents analysis paralysis │
│ • Forces decisions with available info │
│ • Limits investment in exploration │
│ • Keeps sprint predictable │
│ │
│ TYPICAL TIME BOXES: │
│ • 1 day: Quick investigation │
│ • 2 days: Moderate exploration │
│ • 3-5 days: Complex research (rare) │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ WHEN TIME BOX ENDS: │
│ ─────────────────── │
│ │
│ SCENARIO 1: QUESTION ANSWERED │
│ Great! Document findings, close spike │
│ Estimate follow-on story │
│ │
│ SCENARIO 2: NEED MORE TIME │
│ ❌ DON'T: Just keep going │
│ ✅ DO: Report what you learned │
│ ✅ DO: Decide if more time is worth it │
│ ✅ DO: Re-scope if continuing │
│ │
│ SCENARIO 3: ANSWER IS "NO" │
│ This is still valuable! │
│ "We learned this approach won't work" │
│ Document why, explore alternatives │
│ │
│ SPIKE OUTCOME TASK: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ SPIKE-456: PDF Generation Approach (COMPLETE) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ TIME USED: 1.5 days (of 2 day box) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ FINDINGS: ││
│ │ Recommend Puppeteer for PDF generation ││
│ │ • Best quality ││
│ │ • Meets performance requirements ││
│ │ • Team has JS experience ││
│ │ ││
│ │ POC: Created sample invoice in /spikes/pdf-gen ││
│ │ Perf: 1.2 seconds per document ✅ ││
│ │ ││
│ │ FOLLOW-ON ESTIMATE: ││
│ │ Full implementation: 5 points ││
│ │ ││
│ │ NEXT: Create story STORY-789 for implementation ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Documenting Results
Capturing Learnings
SPIKE DOCUMENTATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ SPIKE OUTPUT TEMPLATE: │
│ │
│ # PDF Generation Spike - Findings │
│ │
│ ## Question │
│ Which PDF library should we use for invoice generation? │
│ │
│ ## Options Evaluated │
│ │
│ | Library | Performance | Quality | RTL | Complexity | │
│ |------------|-------------|---------|-----|------------| │
│ | PDFKit | Fast | Medium | ❌ | Low | │
│ | Puppeteer | Medium | High | ✅ | Medium | │
│ | WeasyPrint | Slow | High | ✅ | Low | │
│ | wkhtmltopdf| Medium | Medium | ✅ | Low | │
│ │
│ ## Recommendation │
│ **Puppeteer** - Best balance of quality and performance │
│ │
│ ### Rationale │
│ - Best visual quality (uses Chrome rendering) │
│ - Meets performance SLA (1.2s per doc) │
│ - Team familiar with JavaScript │
│ - Active community and maintenance │
│ │
│ ## Proof of Concept │
│ Location: `/spikes/pdf-generation/` │
│ Sample output: `/spikes/pdf-generation/sample-invoice.pdf`│
│ │
│ ## Risks │
│ - Chrome dependency adds memory overhead │
│ - Need to manage Chrome process lifecycle │
│ │
│ ## Implementation Estimate │
│ - Setup Puppeteer: 1 point │
│ - Invoice template: 2 points │
│ - Testing + edge cases: 2 points │
│ **Total: 5 points** │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ LINK: Attach document to spike task │
│ Future teams can reference this research │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Spike in Workflow
Planning for Spikes
SPIKES IN SPRINT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ BEFORE SPRINT: │
│ ────────────── │
│ In refinement, identify stories with uncertainty │
│ "We can't estimate STORY-456 - need spike first" │
│ │
│ DURING PLANNING: │
│ ──────────────── │
│ Include spike in sprint backlog │
│ Time-box is the "estimate" │
│ Story that depends on spike goes to next sprint │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ SPRINT BACKLOG: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ Sprint 14 Backlog ││
│ │ ││
│ │ STORIES: ││
│ │ • STORY-789: User login (5 pts) ││
│ │ • STORY-790: Password reset (3 pts) ││
│ │ • STORY-791: Dashboard widgets (8 pts) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ SPIKES: ││
│ │ • SPIKE-456: PDF generation approach (2 days) ││
│ │ • SPIKE-457: SSO integration feasibility (1 day) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ NOTE: PDF story (STORY-792) planned for Sprint 15 ││
│ │ pending spike results ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ AFTER SPIKE: │
│ ──────────── │
│ 1. Document findings │
│ 2. Create/refine follow-on story │
│ 3. Estimate based on learnings │
│ 4. Add to backlog for next sprint │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘