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:
- Write User Stories. Or Epic Stories
- Make up estimates in Ideal Time / Story Points
- Determine Velocity. Possibly, but not advisable, per story
- Determine #pairs. Consider project elapse time, max = 6
- Determine #FTE for umbrella tasks. Upon #pairs and complexity
- Set daily rates
- Set slack, holiday percentage and coach development
- Assess result & iterate using other parameters
- 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
