Agile Estimating and Planning Luca Grulla ESSAP Varese,Italy, 4/7/2008

Luca Grulla

ESSAP

Varese,Italy, 4/7/2008

Why planning and not plan ?

Why planning and not plan ?

But what do we really want ? Reduce the risk Reduce uncertainty Support better decision making Establishing trust Conveying information

Reduce the risk

Reduce uncertainty

Support better decision making

Establishing trust

Conveying information

Problems with traditional planning Traditional plans are created with the assumptions that all the identified activities will be completed. This means that work is typically prioritized and sequenced for the convenience of the dev team. The work is not prioritized by the value to the customers.

Traditional plans are created with the assumptions that all the identified activities will be completed. This means that work is typically prioritized and sequenced for the convenience of the dev team.

The work is not prioritized by the value to the customers.

Project phases Inception Release Planning Iteration Planning

Inception

Release Planning

Iteration Planning

Bank CMS: Story #1 As a Customer Relationship Manager I want to be able to send a welcome mail to every new customers in order to welcome them to our bank

As a Customer Relationship Manager

I want to be able to send a welcome mail to every new customers

in order to welcome them to our bank

Ideal Days Easy to communicate Don’t require bootstrapping But… Can be subjective Leads to questioning team’s productivity

Easy to communicate

Don’t require bootstrapping

But…

Can be subjective

Leads to questioning team’s productivity

Story Points Arbitrary unit that quantifies the 'difficulty' of a Story Story points encourage cross-functional behavior The conversion between Story Points and real time will change over time as the team become more familiar the project (Velocity) But… Difficult to get started Estimated Velocity as part of release planning has to be boot strapped in circumstances (at the start of projects) where there is nothing to use to judge the mapping between Story Points and effort

Arbitrary unit that quantifies the 'difficulty' of a Story

Story points encourage cross-functional behavior

The conversion between Story Points and real time will change over time as the team become more familiar the project (Velocity)

But…

Difficult to get started

Estimated Velocity as part of release planning has to be boot strapped in circumstances (at the start of projects) where there is nothing to use to judge the mapping between Story Points and effort

Velocity Number of story points completed per iteration Define the actual capacity of delivering of the team It’s the link between the size and the length of a project

Number of story points completed per iteration

Define the actual capacity of delivering of the team

It’s the link between the size and the length of a project

Agile estimation techniques separate size from duration

Agile estimation techniques separate size from duration

Consistency vs Accuracy

Consistency vs Accuracy

Scale Powers of 2 (1, 2, 4, 8, 16…) Fibonacci (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…) T-Shirt size (S, M, L, XL)

Powers of 2 (1, 2, 4, 8, 16…)

Fibonacci (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…)

T-Shirt size (S, M, L, XL)

Bank CMS: Story #1 As a Customer Relationship Manager I want to be able to send a welcome mail to every new customers in order to welcome them to our bank

As a Customer Relationship Manager

I want to be able to send a welcome mail to every new customers

in order to welcome them to our bank

How to estimate The BA reads the story The team makes questions to understand the story better Every team member decides privately his estimate All the member show the estimate at the same time The higher and the lower discuss the reasons behind their decision Repeat until the estimate converge

The BA reads the story

The team makes questions to understand the story better

Every team member decides privately his estimate

All the member show the estimate at the same time

The higher and the lower discuss the reasons behind their decision

Repeat until the estimate converge

What are we also doing ? Exploring the technical solution space Defining constraints Discussing the requirements Sharing different views of the problem

Exploring the technical solution space

Defining constraints

Discussing the requirements

Sharing different views of the problem

Iteration Planning According to the recent velocity (yesterday weather), the customer takes stories until the team bandwidth is full

According to the recent velocity (yesterday weather), the customer takes stories until the team bandwidth is full

Risk and Value Risk Value Low Risk High Value High Risk High Value Low Risk Low Value High Risk Low Value

Release Planning Can be feature-driven or time-driven Based on the requested approach, you define your velocity and then either your forecast the number of points (for a time-driven plan) or the length of the project (for a feature-driven plan)

Can be feature-driven or time-driven

Based on the requested approach, you define your velocity and then either your forecast the number of points (for a time-driven plan) or the length of the project (for a feature-driven plan)

Questions ?

References “Agile Estimating and Planning”, Mike Cohn

“Agile Estimating and Planning”, Mike Cohn