Follow the pain to understand the system. Look for unexplained trends, then look outside the team for possible explanations. Find out who is actually communicating with whom. Measure everything you can to detect changes, or impacts from others outside the system. Then sit back and see the big picture.
About Tim Bourguignon
Tim likes to describe himself as a full time geek, agile developer and BS hunter. He was born in France, raised as a European child and currently lives in Germany where he juggles with software development and Scrum Mastering. When he's not in front of a computer, you'll find him behind a camera, in his running shoes or with his wife & son... of course never in that order!
You can connect with Tim Bourguignon on twitter or visit Tim Bourguignon’s website to see what he is up to.