Agile Estimating and Planning

The first step to project success is accurate estimating and realistic planning.

Projects with unrealistic expectations affixed to them are likely to derail at an

early stage. This book shows the software practitioner how to effectively

estimate and properly plan a project within an agile context. The book's

content is suitable for projects using any agile or semi-agile process (such as

Extreme Programming, Scrum, Feature Driven Development, Crystal,

Adaptive Software Development, DSDM or even the IBM Rational Unified

Process). The ideas in this book will work with any iterative development

process, which greatly broadens the target audience beyond the traditional agile

community. Each chapter is supported by a summary and a set of questions

that allows readers to assess their ability to estimate and plan a project. The

result is an engaging read with pearls of wisdom that can be applied to the

reader's next project.

Detailed, Proven Techniques for Estimating and Planning Any Agile Project 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.

Autorentext

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).

Zusammenfassung

Detailed, Proven Techniques for Estimating and Planning Any Agile Project

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.

Inhalt
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 1Chapter 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 33Chapter 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 77Chapter 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 T…