Frequent questions about Clarity

Can I modify Clarity? Some of it does not fit with my use case.

You absolutely can. In fact, we expect you to do so. No methodology can cover every use case and account for all the diversity in organizations.

You are free to experiment and adjust Clarity to fit your specific use case as needed. Remember to keep your adjustments well-documented and evaluate the impact of your changes. What might work on paper might not work in practice, so measure and analyze your changes.

Great working environments and processes to support them are built and devised based on empirical evidence, trial and error, and consistent application of objective measurement. Therefore, a Clarity implementation prescribes setting goals for the implementation and measuring the impact once implemented during the pilot. Without this, how can you know?

As far as Clarity is concerned, the framework is supposed to provide a starting point. Where it leads eventually is entirely up to you and your team.

Reach out with your particular use case; I would be happy to hear about it!

Is Clarity based on Scrum?

No. Fundamentally, Clarity and Scrum are two completely different frameworks, with a different set of goals and approaches to achieving said goals. While the two might look similar at first glance, Clarity is designed to serve as a general work management framework, while Scrum is generally product and software development oriented.

For example, in Scrum, a Sprint (delivery cycle in Clarity) should normally result in a deliverable or an increment to a product. This is not the case in Clarity - a delivery cycle is a unit of planning and does not forecast a deliverable result explicitly - this is what Goals are used for. There are many such differences, explicit and implied.

Clarity is designed with a focus on Teams with significant to total ownership in the work being performed - usually self-managed, cross-functional product, services, delivery and other teams.

It is best to avoid a general comparison between the two. Both Scrum and Clarity are sufficiently different to cover distinct use cases and different organizational goals.

Is Clarity an Agile framework?

The answer to this question depends heavily on the definition of Agile, but yes. Clarity enables an impressive deal of agility in execution and delivery. In software development specifically, Clarity enables the twelve principles of Agile software development. Consider however that Clarity is explicitly not limited to the software development industry. As far as Clarity is concerned, the focus of this framework is clarity of process, the ability to respond to change, delivery efficiency and the facilitation of communication.

Is there task delivery forecasting?

Clarity provides strong forecasting for up to two delivery cycles - Now and Next. Both should contain as much work as could be expected to be completed during these two cycles at any given time.

It is possible to forecast a delivery timeline based on an average throughput of previous delivery cycles, provided that a sizing estimate is used and is fairly linear.

Where are the task types?

Clarity is a generic work management framework and does not define task types as often seen in information-technology-related frameworks and tools.

Besides, task types rarely, if ever, bring any actual value to work organization - they are just one more metadata item the team needs to fill and consider. Task types are sometimes used as a performance metric - how many bugs do we have, how many stories, etc. Categorizing tasks like this serves only to provide some analytical insight, nothing more.

What you should consider is whether it ever makes sense to prioritize using task types. Is a Bug more valuable than a Feature because it is a Bug? Would it not make more sense to prioritize by the intrinsic value of a task to the stakeholders instead?

In Clarity, this problem is solved by both Rank and CaPRICE. You prioritize tasks relative to their absolute impact on stakeholders - users, customers, consumers. A highly valuable task is highly valuable regardless of whether it is a bug or a feature.

Clarity also does not forbid anyone from having more metadata attached to tasks. You can if you need to.

Can I use Kanban boards to illustrate task status within a stage?

You can use Kanban boards to illustrate task status when using Clarity, but doing so is not recommended.

Kanban has a significant drawback when used with Clarity - the loss of priority perception - a very important base concept of the Clarity framework.

In Kanban, each, or nearly each, status has a different column on a Kanban board - and there is no actual way of visualizing priority between tasks once they are separated into different columns without resorting to swimlanes.

This is not an enormous problem if we assume tasks always travel “in front” of other tasks, from commitment to the delivery point on a Kanban board. In Clarity that is not the case - tasks can travel freely between statuses and even stages at ANY given time.

Having such freedom comes at a price - maintaining priority between items within the same level of priority, especially when technological aids to do so are not available. Top-down task lists are the preferred method of task presentation in Clarity because, regardless of the task status, the absolute priority of a task (or its value if you wish) does not change - and it is not supposed to.

Delivering status information is still a very important part of the Clarity methodology. See here for how to visualize task status in Clarity.

There are technological workarounds for this problem, for example, maintaining the backlog as both a list and a Kanban board where task order in the Kanban board depends on and is linked to the backlog. This allows using a Kanban board for status visualization while priorities and priority visualization are delegated to the Backlog.

Is Clarity suitable for a team of one?

Yes, absolutely. Clarity is about providing structure, and nothing prevents you from using Clarity to organize independent work. You can adjust Clarity to work with a team of one perfectly well.

For personal task management you might want to use Clarity Express instead.

Is Clarity complete?

Clarity is ready to use and implement, but it will never be “complete”. As recent trends and novel ways to organize work are discovered, changes to the framework will be made and the framework will improve and develop along the way.

What organization sizes is Clarity best suited for?

Clarity is designed to be very scalable and can be implemented by organizations ranging anywhere from a team of one to hundreds or thousands of teams. There are no scalability limitations on how many teams there can be.

What’s with the unusual License?

Whether your organization is commercial or not-for-profit, using and implementing Clarity internally is free of charge and always will remain free.

Clarity is free to learn. The framework documentation and official learning resources are available free of charge, and the resources for learning the framework itself will remain free.

We do not want Clarity surrounded by a sprawl of opportunistic consultants, low-quality paid courses, or mediocre “certifications.” Selling repackaged public material or implying authority over the framework is a predatory practice. It creates confusion and makes it harder for people to identify reliable resources. For that reason, the License does not give third parties blanket permission to sell Clarity courses, training, consulting, examinations, credentials, or certifications.

This does not prevent legitimate education. Schools, colleges, universities, and recognized vocational institutions may teach Clarity to enrolled students as part of their ordinary programs, including online. Ordinary tuition or institutional fees for the broader program do not by themselves prohibit that use.

This policy is not aimed at developers. There is no separate approval requirement for building or selling tools, integrations, custom software implementations, or other software based on Clarity, provided the License terms are followed. Organizations may also use Clarity commercially to manage their own work or work they perform for clients.

Consultants and training providers who want to produce serious, high-quality Clarity material or services may contact us for a quality review. If approved, we may grant explicit written permission. Without that permission, a provider must not suggest endorsement or imply endorsement, authorization, affiliation, official status, or certification by the Clarity project or the Licensor. The exact terms in the License control.