This document outlines an agenda for a requirements and estimating workshop. The agenda covers intent driven design and user stories, techniques for estimating scope and duration like story points and velocity, managing risks like technical risks, and approaches for making commitments like fixed duration and fixed price contracts while breaking the traditional scope-time-cost "iron triangle". The workshop will provide ideas and get feedback from attendees on their practices for requirements, estimation, and managing commitments on projects.

1. Requirements
& Estimating
Scotch on the Rocks
Edinburgh, March 3-4 2011
Peter Bell
Railo

2. Agenda
• Requirements
• Intent Driven Design
• User stories 201
• Estimation
• How much?
• Estimating scope • Managing commitments
• Estimating duration • Fixed duration
• Managing risk • Fixed price
• Four types of features • Breaking the iron triangle
• Dealing with dark matter

3. Division of Labor
• My Job:
• Present ideas
• Your Job:
• Discriminate, select, adapt, experiment

4. About you
• Consultant/in-house/product
development?
• Team size?
• Number of projects/year?
• Agile?
• User stories?
• Estimates required?
• Fixed bid required?

5. Requirements

6. Before user stories . . .
What should we build?

7. Intent Driven Design
• Business intent
• Audiences
• Objectives
• User stories (tasks)

8. User stories (1)
• INVEST
• Independent
• Negotiable
• Valuable
• Estimable
• Small
• Testable

9. User stories (2)
• Tracer bullets, not tasks
• Splitting stories by ...
• Data
• Validation
• Paths
• Edge cases
• Isolate cross cutting concerns
• Make it work, then pretty/fast

10. Estimation

11. Why estimate?

12. Why estimate?
• Good reasons to estimate:
• Go/no go based on cost
• Market window
• ROI comparison

13. Why estimate?
• Good reasons to estimate:
• Go/no go based on cost
• Market window
• ROI comparison
• Bad reasons to estimate
• Because . . .

14. Why estimate?
• Good reasons to estimate:
• Go/no go based on cost
• Market window
• ROI comparison
• Bad reasons to estimate
• Because . . .
• Ask whether:
• Time, price or both?
• Will estimate matter?
• Accuracy required?

15. Estimating scope
• Ideal days (load factor)
• Story points
• 1,2,3,5,8
• 0?
• 10,20,30,51?
• T-shirt sizes
• Story count

16. Estimating scope
• Planning poker
• Keys:
• Delphi technique
• Independent estimates
• 1-3 hours, 1-3 sessions
• 2-6 people

17. Estimating scope
• Magic/Affinity Estimating
• Large number of stories
• Experienced team

18. Estimating time
• Estimating velocity
• Historic rate
• Run iterations
• Make forecasts
• Burn down charts

19. Managing risk

20. Four types of feature
• Rocket science
• Lab experiment
• New to you
• with a twist

21. Dealing with dark matter
• What you don’t know does hurt you ...
• But obviously . . .
• The dreaded API and technical risk
• Well, that’s almost right . . .
• Now that I see it . . .
• Mitigate:
• Set expectations
• Technical spikes
• Track and refine

22. Making commitments

23. Fixed duration
• Optional features
• Team size
• Real options
• Schedule buffer

24. Fixed price
• Optional features
• Price buffer
• Scheduling flexibility?

25. Breaking the iron triangle

26. Breaking the iron triangle
Requirements are never fixed!

27. Q&A Twitter: peterbell
• Requirements Email: peter@pbell.com
• Intent Driven Design
• User stories 201
• Estimation
• How much?
• Estimating scope • Managing commitments
• Estimating duration • Fixed duration
• Managing risk • Fixed price
• Four types of features • Breaking the iron triangle
• Dealing with dark matter