This webinar discusses practical techniques for estimating time/cost for software development in Agile. This method will include consideration for the business strategic value, the consumer readiness, and the relative complexity creating a formula that is easy to remember and apply at various levels of Agile Planning. Read more at https://www.synerzip.com/webinar/agile-estimation-webinar-december-2013/

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Agile Estimation
V. Lee Henson CST

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Founded in 2007 - Salt Lake City, UT
Personally Trained, Coached, and or Mentored at 41 of the Fortune
100 Companies
Deep understanding of Agile & Traditional Project Management,
(PMP), RUP, Lean, Kanban, Scrum, (CST), XP, & PMI-ACP
Proven Applied Agile Principles in Software, Hardware, Financial,
Insurance, Construction, Medical, Marketing, Legal, Entertainment,
Research, Military, Government, Retail, Education, Law
Enforcement, and many more...
Website: http://www.AgileDad.Com
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V. Lee Henson CST
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Certified Scrum Trainer
Project Management Professional
PMI- Agile Certified Practitioner
Certified Lean Agile Professional
Motivational Speaker & Executive Coach
Author of The Definitive Agile Checklist
Inventor of Rapid Release Planning
Information Technology / Psychology
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Objectives:
✤ What am I going to get?
✤ When am I going to get it?
✤ How much is it going to cost?
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Agile vs. Plan Driven
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Executive Project Dashboard
Will Be Done At Risk Will Not Be Done
Backlog Item #1 Backlog Item #11 Backlog Item #21
Backlog Item #2 Backlog Item #12 Backlog Item #22
Backlog Item #3 Backlog Item #13 Backlog Item #23
Backlog Item #4 Backlog Item #14 Backlog Item #24
Backlog Item #5 Backlog Item #15 Backlog Item #25
Backlog Item #6 Backlog Item #16 Backlog Item #26
Backlog Item #7 Backlog Item #17 Backlog Item #27
Backlog Item #8 Backlog Item #18 Backlog Item #28
Backlog Item #9 Backlog Item #19 Backlog Item #29
Backlog Item #10 Backlog Item #20 Backlog Item #30
60 % WBD 40 % AT risk Will Not Be Done
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Scrum vs. Waterfall
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The 3 C’s of a Good User Story:
✤ 1) The Card - The topic of the backlog item, the high level description of the
desired system behavior.
✤ 2) The Conversation - Detailed requirements are only discovered after the
backlog item has been pulled into a sprint. This is a dialog between the
product owner and the development team.
✤ 3) The Confirmation - Criteria that insures the backlog item was completed
to the specifications of the product owner. The customer will evaluate the
competed backlog item against the acceptance criteria, and if all tests pass,
approve the backlog item by the end of the sprint.
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The Index Card - Overview:
Title - The title should be 10 words or less.
Description- As a ________
I would like to ______________________________
so that ______________________________.
Business Priority
H-M-L
T-Shirt Size
XS - S- M
- L - XL
MoSCoW
M-S-C-W
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Writing a Good User Story
Description Template:
✤ As a _________________________ I would like to __________________ so
that ________________________________.
✤ Example: As a (role or persona), I would like to (execute an activity), so that
I can (see or achieve a value or benefit).
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Product Backlog Design:
✤ All possible system features are
captured in a stack rank ordered
list called the product backlog.
✤ New features can be added to the
backlog at any time.
✤ Features in the backlog have a
gross estimate of effort and or
value.
Each Sprint implements
The highest priority features
High
Low
Features
Each new feature is
Prioritized & added to the stack
Features may be reprioritized
At any time
Features may be removed
At any time
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Breaking Down The Work:
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What About Business Priority?
✤ We all know the business has a 3 point
ranking scale for priority of backlog
items: High, Really High, or Really
Really High.
✤ The business needs to use tools to
help them understand that not
everything can be of the highest
priority.
✤ With the understanding that we would
not be doing the work if it were not
important, which items have the
greatest urgency? Can we arrange
them into High, Medium, and Low
categories?
Two websites to assist with priority:
http://dotmocracy.org
http://www.innovationgames.com
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Time vs. Relative Complexity:
✤ Let’s paint the room!
✤ How many hours will it take?
✤ Why all of the different answers?
✤ Have any of you painted before?
✤ Compared to something else you
have painted, would it be easier to
determine how difficult it would be
to paint the room?
✤ Is it easier to reach consensus?
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Planning Poker - Does It Work?
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Let’s Use a T-Shirt Size...
✤ Smaller Than XS = a Task.
✤ Extra Small = 1
✤ Small = 2
✤ Medium = 3
✤ Large = 5
✤ Extra Large = 8
✤ Larger than XL = an Epic
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Understanding MoSCoW:
✤ MoSCoW = more than a Russian Capital
✤ Must Have
✤ Should Have
✤ Could Have
✤ Would Like
✤ Every iteration should have a mix of the
above types of items.
✤ Stake holders LOVE the Would Likes.
✤ The Product Owner drives the product
backlog and creates the rank order based
heavily on the MoSCoW ratings.
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Understanding Velocity:
The rate at which a team can produce working software
Measured in non-time-referent terms (e.g., Story Points) per Sprint
More accurately stated, it is measured in terms of the stabilized number of Story
Points a team can deliver per sprint of a given length, and with a given definition of
Done.
Used for estimation and planning
Can be artificially increased by cutting corners on quality
Must have stabilized to be reliable
Should not be used as a measure of comparison across teams
Lean concept of Limiting Work to Capacity
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Velocity - An Example:
Example: Team A is working in 2-week sprints on work
that it has estimated together. Team A has been
working together for several sprints, and consistently
delivers between 18 and 23 points of working software
every sprint.
We could reasonably expect Team A to deliver roughly
20 points per 2-week sprint, and so we consider that
to be the team’s velocity for planning purposes.
If there are eight 2-week sprints in a release, we can
extrapolate that Team A has the capability to deliver
160 points in a release.
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Connecting The Dots:
Size (complexity) is estimated
A story is estimated to be 3 story points in relative complexity
Velocity is measured
“Team A can deliver 20 story points in a 3-week sprint”
Duration is derived
- “Based on Team A’s measured velocity of 20 story points per
sprint, it will take Team A 3 sprints to deliver 60 story points.”
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In Other Words...
Backlog Item estimates answer the question
“how big?”, rather than “how long?”
Size estimates and observed Velocity, used
together, are answer the question “how long?”
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The Five Levels of Agile Planning
Agile teams plan their projects at 5 levels:
Product Vision
T-365
Product Roadmap
T-365 to T-90
Release Planning
T-60 to T-45
Iteration Planning
T-0
Daily Planning
T+1 to T+14
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http://www.agiledad.com/
Questions?
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Thank You!
Lee@AgileDad.Com- Twitter @AgileDad - LinkedIn leehenson@gmail.com
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Hemant Elhence
hemant@synerzip.com
469.322.0349
Questions?
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1. Software product development partner for small/mid-sized technology
companies
Exclusive focus on small/mid-sized technology companies, typically
venture-backed companies in growth phase
By definition, all Synerzip work is the IP of its respective clients
Deep experience in full SDLC – design, dev, QA/testing, deployment
2. Dedicated team of high caliber software professionals for each client
Seamlessly extends client’s local team, offering full transparency
Stable teams with very low turn-over
NOT just “staff augmentation”, but provide full mgmt support
3. Actually reduces risk of development/delivery
Experienced team - uses appropriate level of engineering discipline
Practices Agile development – responsive, yet disciplined
4. Reduces cost – dual-shore team, 50% cost advantage
5. Offers long term flexibility – allows (facilitates) taking offshore team
captive – aka “BOT” option
Synerzip in a Nut-shell
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Our Clients
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Call Us for a Free Consultation!
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Hemant Elhence
hemant@synerzip.com
469.322.0349
Thanks!
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