The quiet moment before the sprint

It was the Monday before sprint planning, and the question was already hanging in the air. I had everyone's schedules open on my screen, a mosaic of vacations and personal commitments. I just needed a way to answer it without being the one to decide.

Looking at the calendar first

I always check the team calendar before anything else. Seeing that Sarah was out the following week and Mark had his kid's recital made the usual 'who's available' question feel loaded. It wasn't about finding the most convenient person, but the least disruptive one.The old method of just asking for volunteers had started to create a subtle tension. The same few reliable people would quietly raise their hands, and you could see the relief on others' faces. It felt unfair, even if no one said it out loud.

Letting the wheel choose

So I built a simple wheel with just the names of those who were actually available that cycle. It felt less like an assignment from me and more like a neutral process. I shared my screen and gave it a spin.The click of the wheel was almost comical in its tension. When it landed, there was a collective nod, not of resignation, but of acceptance. The decision was made, and it was clean. It removed that awkward moment of me looking around the virtual room, waiting for someone to speak up.

What it solved

It took the personal bias, real or perceived, completely out of my hands. The team saw the available names, they saw the spin, and that was that.

The unexpected part

The person it landed on just said 'Alright, I'm up,' and we moved on. The meeting's energy didn't dip into that slight dread; it just flowed into planning the work.