2. Agile - Project
proj·ect
präjˌekt
noun
an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully
planned and designed to achieve a particular aim.
Charter : Confidential 2
3. Agile - Project
Intersection with Agile
• Agile doesn’t specifically handle Projects
• Agile doesn’t exclude Projects
• Projects have a scope, timeline, budget; Agile doesn’t
• The intersection is where…
• a Project is translated into Work Items
• the Backlog is translated into a Road Map
Charter : Confidential 3
4. Agile - Project
Road Map
• Doesn’t commit to a timeline, predicts a timeline
• Shows order of Feature delivery
• Based on known facts; backlog size and historical velocity
• Tool for Product Owner – Stakeholder conversations
Charter : Confidential 4
5. Agile - Project
Velocity / Cycle Time
• Both metrics indicate how fast the team gets work done
• Based on history, not a guess
• Team level measurement, not individual
• Velocity is used when an Iteration is defined (Scrum)
• Cycle Time is used without Iterations (Kanban)
Velocity = Story Points per Iteration (e.g. the team finishes 74 points per sprint)
Cycle Time = average time between work items being finished (e.g. the team
finishes a work item every 1.5 days)
Lead Time = average time to finish a work item (e.g. the team will take 7 days
to finish your user story)
Charter : Confidential 5
6. Agile - Project
Backlog
• Refined & Sized, otherwise the backlog is useless for predicting
• A Feature is done when the last User Story in the backlog finishes
• The team probably does work not related to this project, source of error
• This means the Velocity includes this other work
• When slicing the backlog up into your Road Map, don’t remove this
other work
Charter : Confidential 6
7. Agile - Project
Project External Dependencies
• Road Map helps with timing external dependencies
• Marketing materials
• Online Help
• Tech support
• Broadcast announcement email
• Advertising channels
• Legal review
• Security audit
• Goal is to keep external dependencies from interrupting the team
• Classis issue is screen shots of the new software
Charter : Confidential 7
