Agile Estimating and Planning

The Problem and The Goal......Page 5
The Purpose of Planning......Page 7
Why Do It?......Page 8
What Makes a Good Plan?......Page 12
What Makes Planning Agile?......Page 13
Discussion Questions......Page 14
Why Planning Fails......Page 15
Planning Is By Activity Rather Than Feature......Page 16
Multitasking Causes Further Delays......Page 19
Features Are Not Developed By Priority......Page 20
Estimates Become Commitments......Page 21
Summary......Page 22
Discussion Questions......Page 23
An Agile Approach......Page 25
An Agile Approach To Projects......Page 26
An Agile Approach to Planning......Page 30
Summary......Page 35
Discussion Questions......Page 36
Estimating Size......Page 37
Estimating Size with Story Points......Page 39
Story Points Are Relative......Page 40
Velocity......Page 42
Summary......Page 44
Discussion Questions......Page 45
Estimating In Ideal Days......Page 47
Ideal Time and Software Development......Page 48
Ideal Days As A Measure of Size......Page 49
One Estimate, Not Many......Page 50
Discussion Questions......Page 51
Techniques for Estimating......Page 53
Estimates Are Shared......Page 55
The Estimation Scale......Page 56
Deriving An Estimate......Page 58
Planning Poker......Page 60
Why Planning Poker Works......Page 62
Discussion Questions......Page 63
Introducing the SwimStats Website......Page 65
When Not To Re-Estimate......Page 66
When To Re-Estimate......Page 68
Re-Estimating Partially Completed Stories......Page 69
Discussion Questions......Page 71
Considerations Favoring Story Points......Page 73
Considerations Favoring Ideal Days......Page 76
Recommendation......Page 77
Summary......Page 78
Discussion Questions......Page 79
Planning For Value......Page 81
Prioritizing Themes......Page 83
Factors In Prioritization......Page 84
Combining The Four Factors......Page 89
Some Examples......Page 90
Discussion Questions......Page 92
Financial Prioritization......Page 93
Sources of Return......Page 95
An Example: WebPayroll......Page 97
Financial Measures......Page 103
Comparing Returns......Page 109
Summary......Page 110
Discussion Questions......Page 111
Prioritizing Desirability......Page 113
Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction......Page 114
Relative Weighting: Another Approach......Page 119
Discussion Questions......Page 121
When To Split A User Story......Page 123
Splitting Across Data Boundaries......Page 124
Splitting On Operational Boundaries......Page 126
Removing Cross-Cutting Concerns......Page 127
Split Stories Of Mixed Priority......Page 128
Don’t Split A Story Into Tasks......Page 129
Combining Stories......Page 130
Discussion Questions......Page 131
Scheduling......Page 133
Release Planning Essentials......Page 135
The Release Plan......Page 136
An Example......Page 140
Summary......Page 143
Discussion Questions......Page 144
Iteration Planning......Page 147
Tasks Are Not Allocated During Iteration Planning......Page 149
How Iteration Planning Differs From Release Planning......Page 150
Velocity-Driven Iteration Planning......Page 152
Commitment-Driven Iteration Planning......Page 160
My Recommendation......Page 164
Relating Task Estimates to Story Points......Page 165
Discussion Questions......Page 167
Factors In Selecting An Iteration Length......Page 169
Making A Decision......Page 173
Two Case Studies......Page 175
Summary......Page 176
Discussion Questions......Page 178
Estimating Velocity......Page 179
Use Historical Values......Page 180
Run An Iteration......Page 181
Make a Forecast......Page 183
Which Approach Should I Use?......Page 187
Discussion Questions......Page 188
Buffering Plans for Uncertainty......Page 189
Feature Buffers......Page 190
Schedule Buffers......Page 191
Combining Buffers......Page 199
Some Caveats......Page 201
Discussion Questions......Page 202
Planning the Multi-Team Project......Page 203
Establishing a Common Basis For Estimates......Page 204
Lookahead Planning......Page 205
Incorporating Feeding Buffers Into The Plan......Page 207
But This Is So Much Work......Page 209
Discussion Questions......Page 210
Tracking and Communicating......Page 211
Monitoring The Release Plan......Page 213
Tracking The Release......Page 214
Release Burndown Charts......Page 216
Summary......Page 222
Discussion Questions......Page 223
The Task Board......Page 225
Iteration Burndown Charts......Page 228
Tracking Effort Expended......Page 229
Summary......Page 230
Discussion Questions......Page 231
Communicating About Plans......Page 233
Communicating the Plan......Page 234
Communicating Progress......Page 236
An End of Iteration Summary......Page 238
Metrics......Page 240
Summary......Page 242
Discussion Questions......Page 243
Why Agile Planning Works......Page 245
Re-planning Occurs Frequently......Page 247
Estimates Of Size and Duration Are Separated......Page 248
Plans Are Based On Features, Not Tasks......Page 249
Work In Process Is Eliminated Every Iteration......Page 250
Uncertainty Is Acknowledged And Planned For......Page 251
A Dozen Guidelines for Agile Estimating and Planning......Page 252
Discussion Questions......Page 254
A Case Study......Page 255
A Case Study: Bomb Shelter Studios......Page 257
Day 1-Monday Morning......Page 258
Estimating The User Stories......Page 267
Preparing For Product Research......Page 277
Iteration and Release Planning, Round 1......Page 280
Two Weeks Later......Page 296
Revising The Release Plan......Page 299
Presenting The Revised Plan to Phil......Page 302
Eighteen Weeks Later......Page 306