Agile Estimating and Planning

Agile Estimating and Planning is the definitive, practical guide to estimating and planning agile projects. In this book, Agile Alliance cofounder Mike Cohn discusses the philosophy of agile estimating and planning and shows you exactly how to get the job done, with real-world examples and case studies. Concepts are clearly illustrated and readers are guided, step by step, toward how to answer the following questions: What will we build? How big will it be? When must it be done? How much can I really complete by then? You will first learn what makes a good plan-and then what makes it agile.   Using the techniques in Agile Estimating and Planning, you can stay agile from start to finish, saving time, conserving resources, and accomplishing more. Highlights include: Why conventional prescriptive planning fails and why agile planning works How to estimate feature size using story points and ideal days–and when to use each How and when to re-estimate How to prioritize features using both financial and nonfinancial approaches How to split large features into smaller, more manageable ones How to plan iterations and predict your team's initial rate of progress How to schedule projects that have unusually high uncertainty or schedule-related risk How to estimate projects that will be worked on by multiple teams Agile Estimating and Planning supports any agile, semiagile, or iterative process, including Scrum, XP, Feature-Driven Development, Crystal, Adaptive Software Development, DSDM, Unified Process, and many more. It will be an indispensable resource for every development manager, team leader, and team member.

Table of Contents:
About the Author xvii Foreword by Robert C. Martin xix Foreword by Jim Highsmith xxi Foreword by Gabrielle Benefield xxv Acknowledgments xxvii Introduction xxix Part I: The Problem and the Goal 1 Chapter 1: The Purpose of Planning 3 Why Do It? 5 What Makes a Good Plan? 8 What Makes Planning Agile? 9 Summary 10 Discussion Questions 10 Chapter 2: Why Planning Fails 11 Planning Is by Activity Rather Than Feature 12 Multitasking Causes Further Delays 15 Features Are Not Developed by Priority 17 We Ignore Uncertainty 17 Estimates Become Commitments 18 Summary 18 Discussion Questions 19 Chapter 3: An Agile Approach 21 An Agile Approach to Projects 23 An Agile Approach to Planning 27 Summary 31 Discussion Questions 32 Part II: Estimating Size 33 Chapter 4: Estimating Size with Story Points 35 Story Points Are Relative 36 Velocity 38 Summary 40 Discussion Questions 41 Chapter 5: Estimating in Ideal Days 43 Ideal Time and Software Development 44 Ideal Days as a Measure of Size 46 One Estimate, Not Many 46 Summary 47 Discussion Questions 47 Chapter 6: Techniques for Estimating 49 Estimates Are Shared 51 The Estimation Scale 52 Deriving an Estimate 54 Planning Poker 56 Why Planning Poker Works 59 Summary 60 Discussion Questions 60 Chapter 7: Re-Estimating 61 Introducing the SwimStats Website 61 When Not to Re-Estimate 62 When to Re-Estimate 64 Re-Estimating Partially Completed Stories 66 The Purpose of Re-Estimating 67 Summary 67 Discussion Questions 67 Chapter 8: Choosing between Story Points and Ideal Days 69 Considerations Favoring Story Points 69 Considerations Favoring Ideal Days 72 Recommendation 73 Summary 74 Discussion Questions 75 Part III: Planning for Value 77 Chapter 9: Prioritizing Themes 79 Factors in Prioritization 80 Combining the Four Factors 86 Some Examples 86 Summary 88 Discussion Questions 89 Chapter 10: Financial Prioritization 91 Sources of Return 93 An Example: WebPayroll 96 Financial Measures 102 Comparing Returns 108 Summary 109 Discussion Questions 109 Chapter 11: Prioritizing Desirability 111 Kano Model of Customer Satisfaction 112 Relative Weighting: Another Approach 117 Summary 119 Discussion Questions 120 Chapter 12: Splitting User Stories 121 When to Split a User Story 121 Splitting across Data Boundaries 122 Splitting on Operational Boundaries 124 Removing Cross-Cutting Concerns 125 Don't Meet Performance Constraints 126 Split Stories of Mixed Priority 127 Don't Split a Story into Tasks 127 Avoid the Temptation of Related Changes 128 Combining Stories 128 Summary 129 Discussion Questions 129 Part IV: Scheduling 131 Chapter 13: Release Planning Essentials 133 The Release Plan 134 Updating the Release Plan 138 An Example 139 Summary 142 Discussion Questions 143 Chapter 14: Iteration Planning 145 Tasks Are Not Allocated During Iteration Planning 147 How Iteration and Release Planning Differ 148 Velocity-Driven Iteration Planning 149 Commitment-Driven Iteration Planning 158 My Recommendation 162 Relating Task Estimates to Story Points 163 Summary 165 Discussion Questions 166 Chapter 15: Selecting an Iteration Length 167 Factors in Selecting an Iteration Length 167 Making a Decision 171 Two Case Studies 173 Summary 175 Discussion Questions 176 Chapter 16: Estimating Velocity 177 Use Historical Values 178 Run an Iteration 179 Make a Forecast 181 Which Approach Should I Use? 185 Summary 186 Discussion Questions 186 Chapter 17: Buffering Plans for Uncertainty 187 Feature Buffers 188 Schedule Buffers 189 Combining Buffers 198 A Schedule Buffer Is Not Padding 199 Some Caveats 199 Summary 200 Discussion Questions 201 Chapter 18: Planning the Multiple-Team Project 203 Establishing a Common Basis for Estimates 204 Adding Detail to User Stories Sooner 205 Lookahead Planning 206 Incorporating Feeding Buffers into the Plan 208 But This Is So Much Work 210 Summary 210 Discussion Questions 211 Part V: Tracking and Communicating 213 Chapter 19: Monitoring the Release Plan 215 Tracking the Release 216 Release Burndown Charts 219 A Parking-Lot Chart 224 Summary 225 Discussion Questions 226 Chapter 20: Monitoring the Iteration Plan 227 The Task Board 227 Iteration Burndown Charts 230 Tracking Effort Expended 231 Individual Velocity 232 Summary 232 Discussion Questions 233 Chapter 21: Communicating about Plans 235 Communicating the Plan 237 Communicating Progress 238 An End-of-Iteration Summary 241 Summary 244 Discussion Questions 245 Part VI: Why Agile Planning Works 247 Chapter 22: Why Agile Planning Works 249 Replanning Occurs Frequently 249 Estimates of Size and Duration Are Separated 250 Plans Are Made at Different Levels 251 Plans Are Based on Features, Not Tasks 252 Small Stories Keep Work Flowing 252 Work in Process Is Eliminated Every Iteration 252 Tracking Is at the Team Level 253 Uncertainty Is Acknowledged and Planned For 253 A Dozen Guidelines for Agile Estimating and Planning 254 Summary 256 Discussion Questions 257 Part VII: A Case Study 259 Chapter 23: A Case Study: Bomb Shelter Studios 261 Day 1—Monday Morning 262 Estimating the User Stories 270 Preparing for Product Research 281 Iteration and Release Planning, Round 1 284 Two Weeks Later 302 Planning the Second Iteration 303 Two Weeks Later 305 Revising the Release Plan 305 Presenting the Revised Plan to Phil 308 Eighteen Weeks Later 312 Reference List 313 Index 319

About the Author :
Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, a process and project management consultancy and training firm. With more than twenty years of experience, Mike has been a technology executive in companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 40s, and is a founding member of the Agile Alliance. He frequently contributes to industry-related magazines and presents regularly at conferences. He is the author of User Stories Applied (Addison-Wesley, 2004).