my top ten agile planning tips mike kuphal pmp, csp j.j. keller & associates, inc. twitter:...

My Top Ten Agile Planning Tips

Mike Kuphal PMP, CSPJ.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

Twitter: @mkuphalmkuphal@jjkeller.com

Welcome! Enjoy the Food – Session Starts at 6 pm

September 22, 2011

Sponsors

Fox Valley Technical College - Facilities

Skyline Technologies, Inc – Food, Web-site

Thank You!

Agenda

• IntroductionsIntroductions• My Top Ten Agile Planning Tips• Additional Planning Tips

Who am I?

• Sr. Software Development Manager of commercial software based SaaS and mobile product team at J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

• Been working with Agile techniques as a Project Manager for over 9 years

• Currently leading two 7-9 person Scrum teams in parallel• Certifications:

– Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP)– Certified Scrum Master (CSM)– Project Management Professional (PMP)

• Still a Developer at heart

Introductions• Name• Typical Role (Dev/Manager/PM/QA)• Agile Experience (months/years)• Scrum, XP, KanBan, Waterfall, ??• Anything in particular you would like

to have addressed tonight?

Agenda

• Introductions• My Top Ten Agile Planning TipsMy Top Ten Agile Planning Tips• Additional Planning Tips

Agile Manifesto

“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

www.agilemanifesto.org

Individuals and interactions over … processes and tools.

Working software over … comprehensive documentation.

Customer collaboration over … contract negotiation.

Responding to change over … following a plan.

The Scrum Framework

Potential Deployment

Sprint Review

Product & Team Backlog Formation

Sprint Planning

2 Parts: Selection and Decomp

Daily Scrum

Sprint 2-4 Weeks

Team Retrospective

Image © 2007–2010 ABC Television/ABC Studios

Who are these guys? What could they possibly have to do with Agile planning?

http://www.blackfive.net/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/26/scrum_hires_090115f8164z138a.jpg

How about these guys? What could they possibly have to do with Agile planning?

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 1. Plan/Estimate as a group

What is a Story point?

What is a Story point?

Image from http://blogs.agilefaqs.com/2010/12/04/story-points-relative-complexity-estimate/

Lets estimate the following User Stories:

1. As a tax professional, I want to be able to electronically submit a 1040ez tax return for my clients so they are compliant with tax law.

2.As a accountant, I want to be able to enter in receipt information so I can track my expenses for tax purposes.

3.As a IRS agent, I want to audit one out of every 10 electronically submitted tax forms so that I can ensure they are following the tax code.

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 1. Plan/Estimate as a group• 2. Use ‘Ideal Day’ Metric for User Story Estimation

Agile Planning Tips/InsightsBonus Tip: •Best Practice:

– User stories are estimated via a relative unit (Story points/Ideal Days/Gummy Bears/etc) in release planning.

– Tasks are estimated via hours in sprint planning.

How many gumballs are in this jar?

How many gumballs are in this jar?

a)50b)125c)250d)400e)I need coffee!

How many gumballs are in this jar?

a)50b)125c)250d)400e)I need coffee!

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/planning-poker

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 1. Plan/Estimate as a group• 2. Use ‘Ideal Day’ Metric for User Story Estimation• 3. Use Planning poker to group estimate

= ?

How would you go about solving this problem?

Of course! Break it down intosmaller units of work that can be evaluated individually.

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 1. Plan/Estimate as a group• 2. Use ‘Ideal Day’ Metric for User Story Estimation• 3. Use Planning poker to group estimate• 4. Decompose User Stories into tasks that produce

deliverable units of work in ½ to 3 day timeframes

Jigsaw Puzzle problemAssumptions:

• Team of 5 members• 100 piece puzzle• 5 min to complete puzzle

Possible methods to solve:1. Method 1

– Assign each member 20 pieces– Each person works with their own

pieces

2. Method 2– Dump the puzzle in middle of group– Each person picks one tile, places it

and picks another

http://www.brothersoft.com/mobile/17979.html

Jigsaw Puzzle problemAssumptions:

• Team of 5 members (team)• 100 piece puzzle (sprint backlog)• 5 min to complete puzzle (sprint timebox)

Possible methods to solve:1. Method 1 (Individual work queues)

– Assign each member 20 pieces– Each person works with their own

pieces

2. Method 2 (Group work queue)– Dump the puzzle in middle of group– Each person picks one tile, places it

and picks another

http://www.brothersoft.com/mobile/17979.html

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 1. Plan/Estimate as a group• 2. Use ‘Ideal Day’ Metric for User Story Estimation• 3. Use Planning poker to group estimate• 4. Decompose User Stories into tasks that produce

deliverable units of work in ½ to 3 day timeframes• 5. Practice JIT task picking during the sprint

What same piece of information does each of these try to demonstrate?

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 6. Track Remaining work not Completed work

How many of you have participated in planning meetings that look similar to this?

http://www.eims.com.au/Images/Planning%20meeting.jpg

How about this?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3032/2559915475_0c69b22ec3.jpg

The ability to see and interact with the backlog as a group is vital.

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 6. Track Remaining work not Completed work• 7. Visually plan

Agile Planning Tips/InsightsSome common questions we ran into: •How long should we expect each group planning session to last?•How do we account for bug/defect fixing time?•When should a sprint start? What is the optimal time frame to set for a sprint?

Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 6. Track Remaining work not Completed work• 7. Visually plan• 8. Time box 1-2 hours of project planning per week in

Sprint• 9. Track Bug/Defect Remaining Work hours only when

it will take more than a few hours to address the item• 10. Start your Sprints on Tues/Wed/Thursday

Recap: Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 1. Plan/Estimate as a group• 2. Use ‘Ideal Day’ Metric for User Story Estimation• 3. Use Planning poker to group estimate• 4. Decompose User Stories into tasks that produce

deliverable units of work in ½ to 3 day timeframes• 5. Practice JIT task picking during the sprint

Recap: Agile Planning Tips/Insights• 6. Track Remaining work not Completed work• 7. Visually plan• 8. Time box 1-2 hours of project planning per week in

Sprint• 9. Track Bug/Defect Remaining Work hours only when

it will take more than a few hours to address the item• 10. Start your Sprints on Tues/Wed/Thursday

Additional Planning Tips/InsightsYour turn to express any tips/insights you may have experienced that you feel might be helpful to the group.

http://www.harmonywishes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/lightbulb-idea.png

Agile Resources

• Web Sites– www.agilealliance.org– www.scrumalliance.org– www.newagile.org

• Books– “Agile Estimating and Planning” by Mike Cohn– “Agile Project Management with Scrum” by Ken Schwaber– “Agile and Iterative Development: A Manager’s Guide” by

Craig Larman

Questions?

Thanks for coming! Next meeting

– November 16, 2011 5:30 pm (Wednesday) – Fox Valley Technical College: Room B141

Mike Kuphal PMP, CSP

J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

Twitter: @mkuphal

mkuphal@jjkeller.com