Definition of… Agile Planning

In The adoption of Agile I stated that ‘Agile’ is not one method, but a set of common principles and practices. The same goes for ‘Agile Planning’.

I created my My.Fragility framework iteratively over the various software development projects I mastered, all serving to realize a (negotiable) scope within a certain timeframe.

The included Product Backlog Estimation model allows to:

1. Write User Stories. Or Epic Stories
2. Make up estimates in Ideal Time / Story Points
3. Determine Velocity. Possibly, but not advisable, per story
4. Determine #pairs. Consider project elapse time, max = 6
5. Determine #FTE for umbrella tasks. Upon #pairs and complexity
6. Set daily rates
7. Set slack, holiday percentage and coach development
8. Assess result & iterate using other parameters
   
9. Set Value of Stories. Total to be 100 (for relative tracking)
   

The Product Backlog Tracking model implements my Tracking Loops:

This assures a continuous image of spent and expected progress, effort, budget and delivered value, at Product and at Sprint level.

The book User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn was a great source of inspiration. Essentials I still use are:

• User Stories, Epic Stories and micro (tiny) Stories
• The INVEST acronym
• Complexity scaling. I use ‘1-2-5’ (over Fibonacci)

Mike’s publisher (Prentice Hall) has made 2 chapters of his second book Agile Estimating and Planning available, for F R E E:

• Chapter 1: The purpose of planning
• Chapter 3: An agile approach to estimating and planning