There are work items that will give the team an operational boost and perhaps avoid a crisis, but that never make it to the top of the priority list—like build and deployment improvements, or paying down technical debt. For enabling work that is valuable but too invisible to be a priority, consider breaking it down.

Agile projects focus on very lightweight, simple requirements embodied in user stories. However, there are some problems with relying solely on user stories. They often don't contain enough accuracy for development, testing, or industry regulations. There's a better way to write detailed requirements that are still agile.

Creating comprehensive automated tests within a sprint can be a challenge. If the testers don't finish the automation and the rest of the team moves on, testers get left behind and can't catch up. You need some techniques to keep everyone together and ensure that all essential work is accomplished—including test automation.