PMI ACP V4 - KnowledgeHut PDF
PMI ACP V4 - KnowledgeHut PDF
Module - 1
Introduction
PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Certification
Agenda
About PMI
Certification Programs offered by PMI
PMI-ACP Certification Overview
PMI-ACP Eligibility Requirements
PMI-ACP Application Process
PMI-ACP Certification Fees
PMI-ACP Exam Information
PMI-ACP Exam Blueprint
Reference Books
Maintain your PMI-ACP
PMI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
PMI Contact Information
Course Structure
Summary
About PMI
The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® formally recognizes your knowledge of
agile principles and your skill with agile techniques.
The PMI-ACP® is our fastest growing certification.
Organizations that are highly agile and responsive to market dynamics complete more
of their projects successfully than their slower-moving counterparts — 75 percent
versus 56 percent — as shown in our 2015 Pulse of the Profession® report.
The PMI-ACP spans many approaches to agile such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, extreme
programming (XP) and test-driven development (TDD.)
It will increase your versatility, wherever your projects may take you.
Following are the educational and professional experience requirements (all mandatory)
Educational Background – Secondary degree (high school diploma/associate’s
degree/global equivalent
General Project Experience – 2,000 hours(12 months) on project teams in last 5
years
Agile Project Experience – 1,500 (8 months) working on project teams using Agile in
last 3 years
Training in Agile Practices– 21 contact hours in Agile Project Management topics
For Certified PMP: Only the last 2 items are necessary.
Application submission: You have 90 days to complete the application, once you start
filling application.
Application completeness review: 5 Days when submitted online.
Application processing timelines: 10 Days when submitted online.
You will receive an email, once application is review is completed. Proceed for the
payment of certification fee.
You have 90 days to submit the material, If your application is selected for audit. PMI
processes audit material in 5 to 7 days.
Examination eligibility: 1 year from the date of acceptance of application. You can take
up to 3 exams in one year.
Exam Administration Type Member (In USD) Non Member (In USD)
Domain Description
I Agile Principles and Explore, embrace, and apply agile principles and mindset within the context of the project team and
Mindset organization.
II Value-driven Delivery Deliver valuable results by producing high-value increments for review, early and often, based on
stakeholder priorities. Have the stakeholders provide feedback on these increments, and use this
feedback to prioritize and improve future increments.
III Stakeholder Engagement Engage current and future interested parties by building a trusting environment that aligns their needs
and expectations and balances their requests with an understanding of the cost/effort involved.
Promote participation and collaboration throughout the project life cycle and provide the tools for
effective and informed decision making.
IV Team Performance Create an environment of trust, learning, collaboration, and conflict resolution that promotes team
self-organization, enhances relationships among team members, and cultivates a culture of high
performance.
V Adaptive Planning Produce and maintain an evolving plan, from initiation to closure, based on goals, values, risks,
constraints, stakeholder feedback, and review findings.
VI Problem Detection and Continuously identify problems, impediments, and risks; prioritize and resolve in a timely manner;
Resolution monitor and communicate the problem resolution status; and implement process improvements to
prevent them from occurring again.
VI Continuous Improvement Continuously improve the quality, effectiveness, and value of the product, the process, and the team.
(Product, Process, People)
Toolkit
Reference Books
Book Name / Author(s) Book Name / Author(s)
Agile Retrospectives Esther Derby, User Stories Applied Mike Cohn
Making Good Teams Great Diana Larsen For Agile Software Development
Ken Schwaber
Agile Software Development Alistair Cockburn Coaching Agile Teams Lyssa Adkins
The Cooperative Game – 2nd Edition A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile
Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition
The Software Project Manager’s Michelle Sliger, Effective Project Management Robert K. Wysocki
Bridge to Agility Staica Broderick Traditional, Agile Extreme
Lean Agile Software Development Allan Shalloway, Exploring Scrum Dan Rawsthorne with
Achieving Enterprise Agility Guy Beaver, The Fundamentals Doug Shimp
James R. Trott
Agile Project Management Jim Highsmith Kanban In Action Marcus Hammarberg,
Creating Innovative Products – 2nd Edition Joakim Sunden
Agile Estimating and Planning MikeCohn Kanban: Successful Evolutionary Change for David J. Anderson
your Technology Business
Together, the Books have 10 T&T and 32 K&S and condensed in this course in line with
PMI-ACP Exam Blue Print.
AMERICA
Project Management Institute — Headquarters
14 Campus Boulevard , Newtown Square, PA 19073-3299 USA
E-mail: [email protected]
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Toll number: +31-320-239-539 (Middle East and Africa) Customer Care Details: Tel: +91-124-4517 140;
E-mail: [email protected]
ASIA PACIFIC CHINA
PMI's Asia Pacific Service Centre PMI China
20, Bendemeer Road PMI (Beijing) Project Management Institute., Ltd.
Cyberhub, #04-02 Rm. 1604-1605A, 16/F, Ideal International Plaza
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Tel: +65 6496 5501; Fax: +65 6496 5599 Haidian District, Beijing 100080, China
E-mail: [email protected] Tel : +86-10-8260 7906; Fax: +86-10-8260 7907
E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.china.pmi.org
Course Structure
Module
1. Introduction PMI – ACP Certification 8. Continuous Improvement
4. Stakeholder Engagement
5. Team Performance
6. Adaptive Planning
Summary
End of Module -1
Module - 2
Agile Principles and Mindset
Explore, embrace, and apply agile principles and mindset within the
context of the project team and organization.
Agenda
Agile evolution
Manifesto for Agile Software Development
Key Values for Agile Leaders
The Agile Triangle
Agile Methodologies
Agile Project Management
Agile Hybrid Model
Agile Process Tailoring
Applying new agile practices
Summary
Agile evolution
What is Agility?
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Hirotaka Takeuchi
DSDN Consortium
Taiichi Ohno & Ikujiro Nonaka
The New New Product
Dynamic System
Toyota Production Jeff de Luca Robert Charette
Development Game Development
System Feature Driven Lean Development
Kanban
Method
Development
USAF & NASA 1990 - Sutherland & 1996 - Beck, Alistair Cockburn
X-15 hypersonic jet Schwaber Cunningham, Jeffries Crystal Methodologies
Iterative Incremental Scrum Framework Extreme
Delivery Programming
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:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
Source: Agilemanifesto.org
1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous deliver of
software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness
change for customer’s competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently from a couple of weeks to couple of months, with
preference to shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developer must work daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them environment and support they
need and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and with a
development team is face-to-face conversation
In 2005, Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN), now known as Agile Leadership Network
(ALN), created Declaration of Interdependence(DOI) for agile project management.
We increase return on investment by making continuous flow of value our focus
We deliver reliable results by engaging customers in frequent interactions and shared
ownership.
We expect uncertainty and manage for it through iterations, anticipation and adaptation.
We unleash creativity and innovation by recognizing that individuals are the ultimate
source of value, and creating an environment where they can make a difference.
We boost performance through group accountability for results and shared responsibility
for team effectiveness
We improve effectiveness and reliability through situationally specific strategies,
processes and practices.
Agile triangle
Plan driven approach Features (Scope) remain fixed where as Resources (Cost) and
Schedule (Time) adjusted
Agile shifts this approach
– Features can be changed as agile is about responding to changes
– Resources and Schedule can be fixed
Change Driven
Plan Driven
Agile methodologies
Agile Methodologies
Scrum
Scrum
Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively
and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.
Scrum is:
Lightweight
Simple to understand
Difficult to master
Scrum is a process framework to manage complex product development.
Scrum is not a process or a technique for building products; rather, it is a framework within which you can
employ various processes and techniques.
Scrum makes clear the relative efficacy of your product management and development practices so that
you can improve.
The Scrum framework consists of Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts, and rules.
Implementing only parts of Scrum is possible, the result is not Scrum. Scrum exists only in its entirety and
functions well as a container for other techniques, methodologies, and practices.
Scrum Values
Scrum Team
Product Owner
The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the
work of the Development Team.
The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog.
Development Team
The Development Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a
potentially releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint.
Only members of the Development Team create the Increment.
Development Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize
and manage their own work.
Scrum Master
The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted.
The Scrum Master is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team
Scrum Events
The Sprint: The heart of Scrum is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which
a “Done”, useable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created
Sprint Planning: The work to be performed in the Sprint is planned at the Sprint
Planning. Sprint Planning is time-boxed to a maximum of eight hours for a one-month
Sprint
Daily Scrum: The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute time-boxed event for the Development
Team to synchronize activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.
Sprint Review: A Sprint Review is held at the end of the Sprint to inspect the Increment
and adapt the Product Backlog if needed. This is a four-hour time-boxed meeting for
one-month Sprints.
• Sprint Retrospective: The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to
inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.
• This is a three-hour time-boxed meeting for one-month Sprints
Scrum Artifacts
Product Backlog: The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that might be
needed in the product and is the single source of requirements for any changes to be
made to the product
Sprint Backlog : The Sprint Backlog is the set of Product Backlog items selected for the
Sprint, plus a plan for delivering the product Increment and realizing the Sprint Goal
Increment : The Increment is the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during
a Sprint and the value of the increments of all previous Sprints.
Definition of Done (DoD): Definition of “Done” for the Scrum Team is used to assess
when work is complete on the product Increment. It’s a shared understanding of what it
means for work to be complete, to ensure transparency.
Organization
Team
Individual
Eliminate
Waste
Amplify Empower
Learning the Team
Defer
Lean Deliver
Decision Fast
Optimize
Build
the
Quality In
Whole
Principles of kanban
Kanban board
Open Kanban Agile and Lean heritage is reflected in its core values:
Respect for people, Courage, Focus on Value, Communication-Collaboration, and a Systemic Approach
to Change
Four key practices:
1. Visualize the workflow: You cannot improve what you cannot see. Kanban boards are one of the ways to
display progress.
2. Lead using a team approach: Without a team and leadership, nothing of significant value can be created
or improved.
3. Reduce the Batch Size of your Efforts. Science and the work from Donald G. Reinertsen has shown that
when the batch unit of work is decreased, more can be accomplished. This principle goes beyond simply
limiting Work In Progress (WIP).
4. Learn and improve continuously: This practice implies reflecting so that one can learn from experience,
and it aligns with performing retrospectives and embracing Kaizen.
Crystal
Crystal
Crystal
First defined by Jim Highsmith in his book, Agile Project Management (APM) - Creating
Innovative Products
5 phases: Envision, Speculate, Explore, Adapt and Close
Envision and Close occur only once where as Speculate, Explore, Adapt will repeat
iteratively till a complete product is built with value to the customer
Image Credit – Jim Highsmith book, Agile Project Management-Creating Innovative products
APM Phases
Envision: Determine the product vision and scope, the project community and how the
team will work together
Speculate: Develop a feature based release, milestone, and iteration plan to develop on
the vision
Explore: Deliver tested features in a short timeframe, constantly seeking to reduce the
risk and uncertainty of the project
Adapt: Review delivered results, the current situation, and the team’s performance, and
adapt as necessary
Close: Conclude the project, pass along key learning and celebrate
Note: Envision & Explore replaces the Plan & Do of Demming’s cycle. All the phases are
very similar to process groups - PMBOK 5th edition.
What is Vision?
Image Credit – Jim Highsmith book, Agile Project Management-Creating Innovative products
Product Vision
Image Credit – Jim Highsmith book, Agile Project Management-Creating Innovative products
Project Scope
Project Scope:
Explains how a project will deliver on the
product vision
Mostly in the format of a Project Data Sheet
Single page summary of key business and
quality objectives, product capabilities, project
management info.
Simple document whose condensed format
reminds of the strategic aspects of the project
Image Credit – Jim Highsmith book, Agile Project Management-Creating Innovative products
Project Data Sheet (PDS) might contain some combination of the following depending
on org/project
Speculate phase:
Translates product vision into backlog requirements (stories)
Finds the overall approach to meet the requirements (architecture/design
characteristics)
Presents a high level Release Plan for the product
Two Primary Activities:
Vision of the Product is translated into specific desired features. Each feature broken
down to stories.
High level planning to deliver those features
Release Level (all the planned features)
Wave Level (subset of planned features)
Iteration Level (short, time boxed duration to address subset of features)
Explore phase:
Team starts delivering the working, tested and accepted features in the form of
stories
Product vision which has been translated into Release Plans and Iteration plans, are
executed to give project deliverables meeting the overall vision and mission
Practices followed are:
Deliver on Vision and Objectives with Workload Management
Technical Practices with Low-cost change
Project Community involving Coaching & Team Development
Daily Integration Meetings
Interactions with Customer team
Adapt Phase:
Project team constantly evaluates and make appropriate adaptive actions
Following four areas are focused:
Product functionality, primarily from the customer team’s perspective
Product quality, primarily from the technical team’s perspective
Team Performance
Project Status
Close Phase:
Project is closed in an orderly manner
Key learning/lessons captured, Celebration of Project closures
Hybrid model refers to combination of more than one framework with another
framework or methodologies. Hybrid model can have combination of following
framework and methodologies:
Scrum
XP
Kanban
Lean
FDD (Feature Driven development)
Crystal
DSDM
Process Tailoring:
Involves tailoring the Agile processes to cater to a situation.
It is about roles and procedures
Examples of Project Specific Tailoring:
Adding or removing work products and tasks
Changing milestones and what work products will be made available at each
milestone and their state of completion
Responsibilities for review and approval (RACI / RAM chart can be used)
Detailed procedure for reporting progress, performance measurements, managing
requirements, managing changes
1. Advocate for agile principles by modeling those principles and discussing agile values in
order to develop a shared mindset across the team as well as between the customer
and the team.
2. Help ensure that everyone has a common understanding of the values and principles
of agile and a common knowledge around the agile practices and terminology being
used in order to work effectively
3. Support change at the system or organization level by educating the organization and
influencing processes, behaviours, and people in order to make the organization more
effective and efficient.
4. Practice visualization by maintaining highly visible information radiators showing real
progress and real team performance in order to enhance transparency and trust.
Summary
Quiz Questions
(Module – 2)
Quiz Questions
Question – 1 – Which of the following is correct in Agile Project Management Framework?
A) Preventive Action is preferred over Corrective Action
B) Corrective Action is preferred over Preventive Action
C) Adaptive Action takes place over Corrective Action
D) Adaptive Action takes place over Preventive Action
Question – 2 – Risk and Uncertainties of the project in APM mode is measured in a scale of 1 to 10 by:
A) Exploration Factor
B) Delay Cost
C) Tradeoff Matrix
D) POS
Quiz Questions
Quiz Questions
Question – 5 – Which Agile methodology has “Planning Game” practice in its core?
A) Scrum
B) Extreme Programming
C) Crystal
D) Kanban
Question – 6 – The role of Scrum Master in Scrum methodology is typically played by whom in XP?
A) Scrum Master
B) Project Manager
C) Product Owner
D) XP Coach
Quiz Questions
Question – 7 : Which one of the following is not value defined Agile Scrum methodology?
A) Focus
B) Generic
C) Commitment
D) Respect
End of Module -2
Module - 3
Value Driven Delivery
Agenda
Define Positive Value
NPV, ROI, IRR, Payback Period
Avoid Potential Downsides
Chartering and Agile Compliance
Minimum Marketable Feature
Prioritization
Customer valued prioritization
Relative prioritization / Ranking
Incremental Development
Kanban board and WIP Limit
Feedback technique
Risk Management
Risk Adjusted Backlog
Earned Value Management (EVM) for agile
Agile Contract
FV Calculation:
FV (n) = PV * (1 + i) to “nth power” = PV * (1 + i) n
n = time period in years and i = interest rate
Example:
If you have $1000 today and you wish to invest for a period of 5 years with interest
rate 10%
FV = 1000 (1 + 0.10) to 5th power = 1000 * 1.61051 = 1610.51
FV is calculated at a Compound Value
PV Calculation:
PV (n) = FV / (1 + i) to “nth power” = FV / (1 + I ) n
Present Value (PV) and Net Present Value (NPV) both are based on “time value of
money” concepts
In PV, the approach is to take time out of the equation and evaluate how much a project
is worth right now?
Example:
If a project is expected to give an annual return of $100,000 USD for next five years,
than PV will be less than $500,000
If $500,000 is taken as whole and put into bank it will be more at the end of 5yr due
to interest
Higher the PV the better.
Among projects, project with higher PV will be chosen
IRR measure how quickly money invested in a project will increase in value
IRR is essentially equal to the (annualized) interest rate a bank would have to pay you, to
match the performance of your portfolio
IRR is typically expressed as a percentage per year
If bank interest is 5% and you are forecasting a 10% return, you are doing well!
Example: Say two project – Project P and Project Q
For P, investment is $200,000 and return is 29%. For Q, investment is $100,000 and
return is 41%
Project Q will be selected over Project P
Payback Period
Opportunity Cost (OC) is based on the theory that certain amount money of
organization can only be invested at one place at a time
Asks “What is the cost other opportunity that is missed by investing money in this
project”
Example:
Project A will have a benefit of $200,000 USD and Project B will have a benefit of
$250,000 USD.
If company invests on Project B, the opportunity cost will be $200,000 USD (as
Project A will be left out)
Lower the OC, the better. Among projects, project with lowest OC is selected.
Chartering
Chartering
In traditional project, a “Project Charter” formally authorized a project manager to
manage the project
In Agile, we have chartering process
A session that helps the team to understand the parameters of its work and its
context within the project, preparing them to make informed decisions going forward
Helps in identifying the value of the project and develops trust and confidence that
the project is needed
Formally authorizes the team to start working on the project
Chartering helps in answering:
(1) Why are we building the product?
(2) How to know if it is successful?
(3) Who is the project community?
Agile compliance
Agile Compliance
Feature - A Feature - A
Minimally Minimally
Marketable Marketable
Feature - B Feature - B
Product Product
Feature - C Feature - C
Feature - D Feature - D
Schedule /
Budget Contingency
Feature - E Feature - E
Cut Off
Feature - F
Schedule /
Budget
Feature - G Cut Off
Step – 1: Define Minimally Marketable Product, absolute min. features (JBSF) that you are
prepared to launch with
Step – 2: Introduce some slack depending on ability to deliver products on schedule/cost,
organization culture etc.
Feature - A Feature - A
Minimally Minimally
Marketable Marketable
Feature - B New Feature
Product Product
Feature - D Feature - C
Contingency
Feature - E Feature - D
Contingency
Feature - F Feature - E
Schedule /
Schedule / Budget
Feature - G Budget Feature - F Cut Off
Cut Off
Prioritization
Prioritization
Prioritization:
Required to enable flexing of scope to meet the budget or timeline objectives while
retaining a useful set of functionality
Needed for Release Planning, Iteration Planning and for Insertion of new
requirements
Takes into consideration the Minimally Marketable Features (MMF) Minimum
features to create customer value
Typical in agile, as the planning are time-boxed – Iteration or Release planning
A prioritized list of requirements act as input to Iteration Planning and Release
planning from Product Backlog
Prioritization Factors
Simple Scheme
Labeling of items as “Priority 1”, “Priority 2”, “Priority 3” and so on or “High”,
“Medium”, “Low”
Drawback: Business executives want everything to be P1 or High priority types!
MoSCoW:
Popularized technique from DSDM
Must Have: Are fundamental to system and without them system will not work
Should Have: Features are important by definition and we should have them for the
system to work properly
Could Have: Useful net additions that add tangible value
Wont Have (In this release, but Would Like): Nice to have ones.
Monopoly Money:
Given to sponsors equalling the amount of the project budget& asking them to
distribute amongst system features
Effective when limited to prioritizing business features
100 Point Method:
Each stakeholder is given 100 points and he can use to vote for the most important
requirements
How they distribute is up to them – 30 here, 15 there or even all 100 in a single
requirement
Kano Analysis:
By Noriaki Kano, where 3 separate categorization happens
Threshold, or Must-have Features: (1st emphasis for prioritization)
Must be present in the features to be successful
Improving performance on them has little impact on satisfaction of customer
Linear Features (2nd emphasis for prioritization)
The more, the better! The better one these features perform, more satisfied the
customers will be
Product price is often related to linear features
Exciters and Delighters (3rd emphasis for prioritization)
Features that provide great satisfaction, often adding a premium prices to the
product
Kano Analysis:
For Must-have beyond a certain point,
customer satisfaction does not
increase
Customer satisfaction is linearly
related to ‘Linear Features’
Customer satisfaction rises
dramatically with implementation of
‘Exciter’ and ‘Delighter’
Other than these variations of Kano
model has two more categories
‘indifferent’ and ‘reverse’
Incremental Delivery
Incremental Delivery
Incremental delivery:
One of the core principles of agile: early and continuous delivery to the business for
benefit of the business
Increment development means that the product can be deployed at the end of each
iteration
Characteristics:
Helps realize the value of the system to the customer early, planning such that at the
end of iteration the product is potentially shippable
Benefits:
Early feedback to the project
Provides early return on investment and facilitates moving of product into service
Task board makes it highly visible for everyone to see which tasks are being worked on
and which tasks are available to sign up for
Work In Progress (WIP) is the term given to work that has been started but has not yet
been completed.
Excessive level of WIP is associated with number of problems
WIP hides bottleneck in process and slow overall workflow.
WIP represents risk in the form of potential rework, since there may be still changes
until accepted.
WIP consumes investment capital and delivers no return on the investment.
Agile approaches aim to limit WIP.
Kanban boards with WIP limits helps identify and remove bottlenecks.
Without WIP limits, team may be tempted to understand too many different work at
once.
Very low WIP limit means some people might be idle and slow workflow.
The aim of WIP limit is to optimize throughput of work, not to optimize resource
utilization.
Feedback techniques
Feedback Techniques
Feedback:
A process control technique, where O/P is fed back as a I/P to the process, in order
to tune the process to move closer to O/P.
A team is also a system and needs feedback
Feedback Techniques:
Prototype
Simulation
Demonstration
Evaluation
Example:
Daily feedback (Stand up meeting), Product feedback or process feedback on the last
day of sprint in Scrum methodology
Risk Management
Risk Management
After the risks are identified, team must access the probability (P), impact (I), frequency
and urgency of the risks to assess
Responses are determined after assessment and mitigation plan is put in.
Finally risks must be continuously reviewed / updated.
Done in Risk Assessment: Risk census describes each risk, provides an estimate of how
likely the risk is to occur (Probability - P), the impact to the project (I).
If the risk did occur and then the expected exposure to the risk, which is the probability
multiplied by the size of the loss
Risk burn-down chart is a simple graphical indicator of the risk trends of the project
The trend indicates whether the project is more or less risky
Ideally it should be downward trend.
Part of the “Respond” phase in the Agile Risk Management, which are:
Avoid: Attempt to not encounter the risk condition. The PO will often remove an
User Story or amend a requirement to eliminate the risk
Mitigate: Make plans to minimize the impact of the risk, should the risk occur. Best
example is employing “Velocity” as the way to reduce estimation uncertainty
Transfer: Transferring the risk to a 3rd party, e.g., asking another company with
expertise to develop wireframes. However, some “residual risks” still remain.
Accept: Simply accepting that it is going to happen. Normally it is employed if the
risk impact is small.
APC Actual Percent Complete Story points completed / Total planned story
points
Product Backlog Points: What is the total scope of development for this project,
presented as a number of points
Baseline Velocity: Planned value of the total number of points to be delivered /
complete during each iteration
Cost Per Point: An estimated cost for delivering a single point – normally based on past
performance
Baseline Metrics:
(1) Number of planned iterations in the release (2) Length of each iteration in the
release (3) Number of story points planned for the release (4) Budget planned for
the release (5) Start date of the project
Example:
Project information:
Product Backlog = 200 story points
Velocity = 25 points per iteration
Cost per point = $1600
At the end of 1st iteration, Actual cost incurred was $30,000
Points completed were 20 Story points
Find out:
Budget At Completion
Number of Iterations
Planned percent complete per iteration
Planned value per iteration
Earned value, Cost and Schedule Performance Index
Solution:
Budget At Completion ( BAC):
Cost per point * Number of Story points = $1600 * 200 = $320,000
Number of Iterations:
Story points in PB/ Velocity = 200 / 25 = 8
Planned percent complete per iteration:
Story points in PB / No. of Iterations = 200 / 8 = 12.5%
Planned value per iteration:
Planned Percent complete*BAC = 12.5%*$320,000 = $40,000
Earned Value: Completed Story point /Total story point = (20/200) * $320,000 = $32,000
Cost Performance Index (CPI): EV/AC = $32,000/$30,000 =1.07
Schedule Performance Index (SPI): EV/PV = $32,000/$40,000=0.8
Agile contracts
DSDM Contract:
Commissioned by DSDM Consortium and focuses on work being “Fit for business
purpose” and passing tests rather than matching specification
Primarily used in UK and Europe
DSDM manual first inverted the traditional iron triangle and made Resources (Cost)
and Time to be fixed, but Scope/Functionality to vary
Money for Nothing, Change for Free
Promoted by one of the Scrum pioneers – Jeff Sutherland
Starts with a Fixed price contract that includes time and material for additional work.
In addition a “Change for Free” option clause is inserted
New features can be added for free if lower priority items that require equal or greater
amount of time are removed
Customer gets best 80%
Projects are done early
Supplier gets 20%
Business Value
Business Value
New Item
Required Avoid code bloat
Avoid unnecessary features
ROI cut-off
Time Time
Customer can terminate the project early if they no longer feel sufficient ROI in the
backlog- at any time for 20% of the remaining contract value
In both the cases – customer should ready to work with the team on every iteration
10. Conduct operational reviews and/or periodic checkpoints with stakeholders in order to obtain feedback
and corrections to the work in progress and planned work.
11. Balance development of deliverable units and risk reduction efforts by incorporating both value
producing and risk reducing work into the backlog in order to maximize the total value proposition over
time.
12. Re-prioritize requirements periodically in order to reflect changes in the environment and stakeholder
needs or preferences in order to maximize the value.
13. Elicit and prioritize relevant non-functional requirements (such as operations and security) by
considering the environment in which the solution will be used in order to minimize the probability of
failure.
14. Conduct frequent reviews of work products by performing inspections, reviews, and/or testing in order
to identify and incorporate improvements into the overall process and product/service.
Summary
Define Positive Value - NPV, ROI, IRR, Payback Period and Opportunity cost
Avoid Potential Downsides
Chartering and Agile Compliance
Minimum Marketable Feature
Prioritization
Customer valued prioritization
Relative prioritization / Ranking
Incremental Development
Kanban board and WIP Limit
Feedback technique
Risk Management and Risk Adjusted Backlog
Earned Value Management (EVM) for agile
Agile Contracts
Value Driven Delivery Task Review
Quiz Questions
(Module – 3)
Quiz Questions
Question – 1 – You have $100 today and want to invest for 3 years at an interest of 12% per annum. What is
money earned at the end of 2nd year?
A) 140.49
B) 125.44
C) 112.00
D) 150.23
Question – 2 – Which prioritization scheme consider the present of some features some exponentially
increase the satisfaction of customers?
A) MoSCoW model
B) Kano model
C) Relative Weighting model
D) Monopoly money model
Quiz Questions
Question – 3 – You have two features – Feature A and Feature B. Feature A will have ROI of $1,200 and B to
have $2,000. Which one should be selected?
A) Feature A
B) Feature B
C) Both Feature A and Feature B
D) None of the above
Question – 4 – Which one of the following is not a Prioritization factor in value based prioritization?
A) Cost of developing the feature
B) Financial value of the feature
C) Wish of the project manager
D) Compliance
Quiz Questions
Question – 5 – There are many Agile contracting methods. Few of them are mentioned below. All of them are
agile contracting methods: EXCEPT?
A) Time and Material
B) Fixed Price
C) Money for Nothing, Change for Free
D) DSDM Atern
Question – 6 – If the risk probability is 25% and size loss is 7 days, what is the risk census?
A) 1.75
B) 1
C) 2.5
D) 5
Quiz Questions
Question – 7 – If the earned value is 100 and actual cost is 150, what is the CPI?
A) 0.67
B) 1
C) 1.5
D) 0.8
Question – 8 – Which one of the following EVM metrics inform on value that the team got from the actual
work done?
A) Earned value
B) Planned value
C) Schedule performance index
D) Cost performance index
Quiz Questions
Question – 9 – During prioritization of the product backlog items, which one of the following items should
be taken last?
A) High risk, High value
B) High risk, Low value
C) Low Risk, High Value
D) Low Risk, Low value
Question – 10 –Which one of the following is not a phase in Agile Risk Management?
A) Identify
B) Explore
C) Respond
D) Review
1 B Recheck the question. It is asking value at the end of 2 years! Hence it will
be 100 (1 + 0.12) ^ 2 = 125.44
4 C All are factors during agile prioritization other than the wish of Project
Manager. Choice C is the correct answer.
8 A The value that the team got is by performing actual work done is Earned
value. The value that the team is planning to get is known as Planned value.
9 D Trick question! Mark again that is asked which will be taken last. It will be
low risk and low value. High risk and low value items are avoided.
10 B There are four phases, which are – Identify, Assess, Respond and Review.
Explore is not a phase defined.
End of Module - 3
Module - 4
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder Engagement
Agenda
Stakeholder Management
Vendor Management
Community and Stakeholder values
Wireframes
Personas
User Story
Product Backlog
Agile communication
Information Radiators
Agile Modeling
Soft Skills
Key stakeholders:
End users, Business, Customer,
Domain Experts, Developer, etc.
Stakeholder Analysis – Interest Vs
Influence
Stakeholder Management strategies are
developed to engage stakeholders.
Stakeholder engagement levels: Unaware,
Resistant, Neutral, Supportive, Leading
Vendor Management
Wireframes
Wireframe:
A prototyping tool
A low-fidelity prototype
Non-graphical artifact showing skeleton
of the screen and representing its
structure and basic layout
Personas
In order to have a deep understanding of the requirement, it helps to add some more
details to Agile Personas:
Likes and Dislikes: One user like to have Javadoc's for every program written in Java
When, Where and Why: Explains the context in which the persona is expressing
requirement, e.g., John at the teller counter likes to greet each customer personally
Model and Make: Dave, as a venture agent invests in certain green centric cars
Job: Jasmine is a florist at Mountain Heights shop
Goals: Ravi is a customer of the bank and want a personal loan for his house
renovation
Use Story
Card:
Typically written on an index card of 4” by 6” size
The idea of card as it helps to limit the size of each story
Represents the Customer Requirement rather than the Documentation
Card – Text of the story; Details are in Conversation and Recorded in Confirmation
Conversation:
Starting point of conversation between the Agile Team and the PO
Confirmation:
Acceptance criteria of the story and typically written on back of the card
Independent:
As much as possible avoid introducing dependencies between stories (prioritization
and planning problems)
If dependencies can not be sorted out:
Combine dependent ones to a larger story
Find a different way to spilt the story
Negotiable:
Stories are negotiable, Not written contracts that the software must implement
Details already determined through “Conversation” become tests and noted on back
of the Story
Valuable:
Valuable to the Users, as well as Purchasers
Best way to be Valuable – Customer writes the stories!
Estimable:
Developer should be able to estimate the size of the story or amount of time to be
taken into working code
Stories not Estimable – Due to Lack of Domain Knowledge, Technical Knowledge or
Too Big size
Small:
Stories should be small, but not too big or too small
Epics should be broken down. Smaller ones are combined.
Testable:
Passing a test means story successfully developed.
Non-testable stories show up as Non-Functional Requirements
As a <role> As a
Who wants this piece of functionality
I want <goal/desire> I want
What the User wants
so that <benefit> So that
Why the user wants it
Example: As a book buyer, I want search for a book by ISBN, so that I can find the right
book quickly
Takes a Just-in-Time (JIT) approach
A user story will be typically be assigned a priority (by the PO) and a size estimate (by
the team) in the story card
We have come up with an idea for building a website where users can swap books
(books sharing)
(10 mins) In groups, write some user stories for this website
Tips:
Define personas
Remember INVEST principals
Can use the format –
As <user> I want <feature> so that <benefits>
Don’t worry about acceptance criteria or estimations at this stage
Theme:
A set of related user stories that may be combined together and treated as a single
entity for either estimating or release planning
A Theme is kept for ease of estimation and planning
Example: Support for Database Will involve defining schema, migrating existing
data, creating reports and so on
Epics:
Large user stories with low priority and too big to implement on one iteration
Broken down further into smaller user stories and the lower level child stories are
assigned priorities for planning
An Epic, by its very size alone, is often a Theme!
Product Backlog
Agile communication
Agile Communication
Agile Communication
An information radiator displays information in a place where passers by can see it. With
information radiators, the passers by don’t need to ask any question, the information
simply hits them
Invented and described by Alistair Cockburn
Team members can view the current state of the project: schedule, risk, tasks,
progress and issues
Public display and idea is as much as people can see
Popular information radiators:
Task boards, Big Visible Charts (Burn down chart, Burn up Chart etc.), Continuous
Integration build health indicators (with lamps, signal etc.)
Characteristics:
Simple: Should be brief and concise
Stark: Should display the progress and expose problems. Errors should not be
masked, rather used to improve the work and performance
Current: Information display should be current
Transient: The problems and errors should not be there in the chart for long. Once
the problem has been rectified, it should be taken off
Influential: Influences the team members and management. Empowers the whole
team to take decisions
Highly visible: Should be put at a place where it visible to most
Minimal in Number
Just like the Release Burndown chart, Iteration Burndown chart can also be drawn
X – axis days and Y-axis sum of task hours as shown
Slope of the line is an important indicator about progress
Burnup Chart
Agile modeling
Agile Modeling is a collection of values, principles and practices for modeling software
that can be applied on a software development project in an effective and light weight
manner.
Agile modeling is instantiation of the modeling process for an Agile project
Process of creating high level design, architecture and framework for a project
Purpose is to guide the development process and enforce some design best practices
Though applied in a light weight manner, it is still effective in achieving its purpose
Myth - Agile methodologies does not allow enough time for modeling and design
Fact – Just enough to give a starting framework and guidance and then evolves as we
add on new features
Just Barely Good Enough (JBGE) Artifacts: A model or document need to sufficient for
the situation at hand, no more
Look Ahead Modeling: Requirements at top of priority stack are fairly complex,
motivating to invest some effort to explore
Model Storming: Throughout iteration you model storm on JIT basis for a few minutes
to explore details and think through
Prioritized Requirements: Creating initial prioritized req. list
Single Source Information: Strive to capture information in one place and one place
only
Test Driven Design: Write a single test, either at the requirements or design level, and
then just enough code to fulfill that test. Test Driven Design is a JIT approach to detailed
requirement specification and a confirmatory approach to testing.
Soft skills
Negotiation
Negotiation:
Discussion between conflicting parties intended to produce agreement
A process in which two or more entities in conflict to embark on a dialogue to reach a
mutually agreeable resolution to the conflict
Final aim – To be considered fair and respectable to all
Key Elements in Negotiation:
Separate People from Problem
Focus on Interests, Not Positions
Invent Options for Mutual Gain
Use Objective Criteria
Facilitation
Facilitation Method:
In an ideal Agile team, it is a productive discussion resulting in team-based decisions
Process of Facilitation
Conducted by a Facilitator who is a Agile consultant
Starts with team interviews / individual interviews to better understand the
objectives and obstacles
The facilitator prepares the agenda, make clear the goal of the event, get the meeting
started and provide guidance needed to keep the meeting on track and focused on
goal
Assessment of the tools and collaborative patterns
Start the transition to agile
Level – 2: Team members distance themselves from one another to Support: Empowering others to resolve the
Disagreement ensure that they come out OK in the end or establish a problem
position for compromise they assume will come
Level – 3: Contest Aim is to win. A compounding effect occurs as prior Get Factual: Data to establish facts.
conflicts and problems remain. People begin to align Accommodate: Short term. Yielding to other
themselves with one side or other. point of view.
Negotiate: Will not work around people’s
values!
Level – 4: Crusade Resolving situation is not good enough. Team member Shuttle Diplomacy: Carrying thoughts from one
believe the people on the “other side” of the issues will group to another until they are able to de-
not change. The attitude is righteous and punitive. escalate.
Level – 5: World War It is not enough that one wins; others must loose. No Do whatever is necessary in hurting people from
constructive outcome can be had. each other.
Agile Leadership
Leadership – Doing the right things whereas management is “Doing things right”
Leadership Techniques:
Modeling Desired Behavior: People will not willingly follow those they do not respect.
The 4 most highly valued leader characteristics are – Honesty, Forwarding Looking,
Competent and Inspiring
Creating and Communicating a Vision: Define a clear vision in accordance with the
organizational aims
Enabling others to Act: Foster collaboration, build trust
Leader Practices:
Willingness to change the Status Quo
Getting the right people involved
Encouraging each other
Adaptive Leadership:
A practical leadership framework that helps individual and organizations adapt and
thrive challenging environments
Two important themes in Agile – Inspect and Adapt
Adaptive leadership can accelerate and sustain the organizational agility
Adaptive Leadership is two dimensional
Being Agile: Responsible and Flexible
Doing Agile: Leaders understand the strategic agility from a business perspective and
specific principles and practices that help build an Agile organization
Agile leaders should use the following tools to achieve business goals
Doing Agile Tools:
Quality: One of the quality aspects is managing the technical debt which, if not
addressed correctly, would lead to high cost and high risk
Doing Less: Do the simplest thing possible that delights the customer.
Engage / Inspire: Encourage and promote the concept of self organizing teams that
have autonomy, mastery and purpose
Speed – to – value: Three components of Agile triangle need to be managed properly
to realize value
Servant Leadership
Servant Leadership:
New term – Philosophy and practice of leadership
Coined by Robert Greenleaf – “Leader as the Enabler”
Associated with Participative management style: one who helps the team, removes
obstacles, givens them needed tools, train for skills and protect them from
disturbances
Listening: One needs to be a good listener and understand what the team need.
Empathy: Getting into the shoes of the team members to really understand the issue,
even if they do not readily bring to you
Healing: Ability to help team members recover from a traumatic situation – unsuccessful
iteration, bruising conflict with other team members etc.
Awareness: Being aware of oneself and the team’s predicament
Persuasion: Able to persuade the team members to consider other point of view,
encouraging them to voice their issues or even to let others help them
Conceptualization: Being able to paraphrase and break down the issues into parts and
deal with them
Foresight: Being able to forecast and predict issues even before they arise, so as to nip
them in the bud
Summary
Quiz Questions
(Module – 4)
Quiz Questions
Question – 1 – Which one of the following is an extension of the user/role, but not the user?
A) Use Case
B) Persona
C) Wireframes
D) Use Story
Question – 2 : Which one of the following is not a level of Listening in Active Listening?
A) Focused Listening
B) Deep Listening
C) Internal Listening
D) Global Listening
Quiz Questions
Question – 3 – There are many best practices defined in Agile modeling. Which one of the following is not a
practice defined?
A) Document Early
B) Document Late
C) Document Continuously
D) Look-ahead Modeling
Question – 4 – Adaptive leadership in Agile is two dimensional. What are they?
A) Being Agile and Following Agile
B) Being Agile and Performing Agile
C) Being Agile and Doing Agile
D) Planning Agile and Doing Agile
Quiz Questions
Question – 5 – Which one of the following is least desired one in Modeling option?
A) Video conference
B) Phone
C) Face to Face
D) Email
Question – 6 – Which one of the following is not a characteristics of an ideal Information Radiator?
A) Current
B) Permanent
C) Simple
D) Highly Visible
Quiz Questions
Question – 7 – Which response strategy will be used at disagreement Level-2 in conflict resolution?
A) Collaborate
B) Shuttle Diplomacy
C) Support
D) Accommodate
Question – 8 : Which one of the following is not used as an representative position in Agile Participatory
decision model.
A) Input based
B) Shared collaboration
C) Command and control
D) Brainstorming
End of Module - 4
Module – 5
Team Performance
Team Performance
Agenda
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
EI and Agile Manager
EISA Framework
Goleman Emotional Intelligence Model
Building empowered team
Building High Performance Team
Team motivation
Skills for agile coaches
Agile coaching and mentoring
Team space
Collocated and Distributed team
Osmotic Communication
Collaboration
Agile Tools
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
Improved Leadership: Helps to be better leader and team always warms up to leaders
who understand.
More effective handling and resolution of Disputes: Will be in a better position to
analyze, empathize and influence
More effective development of team working: Team environment becomes more
effective
Improved Negotiations: Helps in difficult negotiations with the project stakeholders
More cost-effective decision making: Make decisions more easily
Better Problem-solving & decision-making: Improve the quality of decision making,
hence problem solving success
Characteristics of HPT
They are self organizing, rather than role based or title based
They are empowered to make decisions
They truly believe that as a team they can solve any problem
They are committed to team success vs success at any cost
The team owns its decisions and commitments
Trust vs fear or anger motivates them
They are consensus-driven, with full divergence and then convergence
They live in world of constructive disagreement
Team motivation
Contingency Theory:
Based on 2 set of factors: 1st set of factors measure whether the leader is task
oriented or relationship oriented.
2nd Set of factors evaluates situations factors in workplace
Finally it is informed that in stressful times task-oriented managers will be more
effective and during calm times a relationship oriented manager will be more
effective
Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory:
Both motivation and hygiene factors must be present
Hygiene factors such as working conditions, paycheck, work life balance etc. do not
motivate themselves. And motivation factors such as promotion, recognition will not
work without hygiene factors put in place.
Agile coaching
Coaching at Levels
Agile teams
Team Space
Getting the entire team together in one room and working on factors that foster
communication and motivation, that leads to higher productivity
Ideal Team Space:
Minimize Distractions: Reduce the distraction such as phone calls, IM, extensive foot
traffic
Improve the hygiene factors: Ensure good lighting, decent air, comfortable seating
arrangement, sufficient food and drink
Information Radiators: Big and Visible
Necessary Space: Should have small/large meeting areas, lounge, daily stand-ups
Everyone vital to the project or direct contributors should be confined to the room
Meeting used for strategic discussions Explicit role definition via tasks
Collocated: Team members are seated together in a room, creating a “War Room”
Distributed teams are global or local teams distributed geographically and do not have
a fixed division of responsibilities between locations. Work goes to the team member
who is best able to do it.
Collocated Team:
Crystal: Requires team members to be seated in a single room (war room) so that
they can overhear useful information and get answers quickly
XP: “Caves and Commons” concept – a place where team members go to unwind and
get a bit of relief from project pressure (Cave – Private space)
Distributed Team:
Live Video Conferencing: Sight of other team members bring a more interactive touch
Group Chat, IM, Social Network
Email and cc to needed rest of the team members
Collaboration
Collaboration:
Act of bringing together the collective knowledge, skills and experience of the team
to contribute to the project
Team working collaboratively achieves more than individual team members
performing narrow tasks for the product
Stimulating exchange of ideas and feeding off each others strengths
Collaboration Vs Co-ordination:
Collaboration: Working together to jointly produce a deliverable/make decision;
Coordination: Sharing info.
Release planning, iteration planning – collaborative work
Daily stand up meeting – coordination work
Collaboration Types
Collaboration Types:
Synchronous: Participants meet each at the same time, view information and give
feedback
Asynchronous: View information and give feedback at different points of time
Examples:
Email exchange of drawings, model (Asynchronous)
Teleconferencing and Video Conf (Synchronous)
Drawing viewing sites– intranet/web based (Asynchronous)
CAD collaboration sessions (Synchronous)
Product Data Mgmt, Product Info Mgmt., Collaborative Product Commerce (generally
Asynchronous)
Agile tools
Agile Tools
1. Cooperate with the other team members to devise ground rules and internal processes
in order to foster team coherence and strengthen team members’ commitment to
shared outcomes.
2. Help create a team that has the interpersonal and technical skills needed to achieve
all known project objectives in order to create business value with minimal delay.
6. Facilitate close communication within the team and with appropriate external
stakeholders through co-location or the use of collaboration tools in order to reduce
miscommunication and rework.
7. Reduce distractions in order to establish a predictable outcome and optimize the value
delivered.
8. Participate in aligning project and team goals by sharing project vision in order to
ensure the team understands how their objectives fit into the overall goals of the
project.
9. Encourage the team to measure its velocity by tracking and measuring actual
performance in previous iterations or releases in order, for members to gain a better
understanding of their capacity and create more accurate forecasts.
Summary
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
EI and Agile Manager
EISA Framework
Goleman Emotional Intelligence Model
Building empowered team
Building High Performance Team
Team motivation
Skills for agile coaches
Agile coaching and mentoring
Team space and Signs of bad team space
Collocated and Distributed team
Osmotic Communication
Collaboration and Co-ordination
Agile Tools
Team Performance Task Review
Quiz Questions
(Module – 5)
Quiz Questions
Question – 1 : Which theory states that people by nature are selfish, unmotivated, do not want to do
work, and they have to be constantly managed?
A) Theory X
B) Theory Y
C) Both
D) None of the above
Question – 2 : Followings are the characteristics of a High Performance Team: EXCEPT?
A) Team is self organized
B) Stays in disagreement mode
C) Committed to team success
D) Empowered to make decisions
Quiz Questions
Question – 3 : For an Agile Coach, coaching happens at two levels. What are they?
A) Group Level, Organizational Level
B) Team Level, Group Level
C) Individual Level, Group Level
D) Individual Level, Team Level
Question – 4 : Which one of the following can not be considered to part of building an empowered team?
A) Responsibility and Ownership
B) Working independently towards common objective
C) Making more trade offs, not less
D) Doing the fun part of some else’s job
Quiz Questions
Question – 5 : XP is decided as the development methods and you want have a High performance team
(HPT). Which one of the below can not act as a root for the HPT tree ?
A) Simplicity
B) Feedback
C) Humility
D) Courage
Question – 6 – Which one of the following qualities best describes – “Understanding emotion of self, others
and group, and acting accordingly”?
A) Servant Leadership
B) Conflict Resolution
C) Emotional Intelligence
D) Adaptive Leadership
Quiz Questions
Question – 7 – Caves and Common is a practice used in which methodology and which team?
A) XP and Distributed Team
B) XP and Collocated Team
C) Crystal and Collocated Team
D) Scrum and Collocated Team
Question – 8 – Which of the following is sign of bad team space in Agile communications?
A) Team members wearing headphones
B) Big and visible information radiator
C) Hum of activity in the team
D) Sufficient team space for design discussions
Quiz Questions
Question – 9 – You have prepared the Iteration plan and sent it across email to the team members? What type
of collaboration technology did you use?
A) Synchronous
B) Asynchronous
C) Semi-synchronous
D) Depends on the format
4 D Doing fun part of some else’s job can not be considered to part
of building an empowered team in agile.
5 C Humility is not a value defined in Extreme Programming. The
value in an Agile methodology can act as roots for the Agile
High Performance tree
End of Module -5
Module - 6
Adaptive Planning
Adaptive Planning
Agenda
Time-Boxing
Business Case Development
Agile project charter
Product roadmaps
Story map
Agile approach to projects
Multiple Levels of Planning
Release Planning
Iteration Planning
Release Plan Vs Iteration Plan
Daily plan
Monitoring plan
Estimation
Concept of time-boxing
Time Boxing is setting a fixed time limit or deadline to overall effort and letting other
characteristics such as scope very
As deadline is fixed time boxing is dependent on prioritization, like MoSCoW
Can be of any length/duration – 15 minutes, 1 hr, 1 day etc
Control is achieved at the lowest level of time boxing
If behind schedule, postpone to next timebox
After fixing the length of the iteration or release, the agile team decides how much
can be delivered in that timeframe
Closely related to “Pomodoro Technique” – Focus on one thing at a time
Timebox 1 is first be filled with only “Must” requirements and a few “Should” and
“Could” are thrown in to stretch goals inplace of filling up only with “Must”
As Timebox 1 is coming to an end, hopefully team would at least complete all the Musts
in that time-box and left over ones will be should be could
For TimeBox 2, again first plan the “Must” requirements and thrown in “Should” and
“Coulds” including any left over from the Timebox 1
Cost and Time are kept fixed and what scope/features can fit into the plan, without
compromising quality
Philosophy is extended to all the time-boxes within the release, while relentlessly
focusing on MoSCoW Priorization
DSDM: 80% of the value is generated by 20% of the features and hence focusing on the
20% is always a good idea
Business case:
Meant to justify a Project/Features to be included from the business point of view
Involves Benefit, Cost and a Compelling argument
Product Owner is accountable for producing and presenting a business case
Created collaboratively by the team (Customer, Developer, Project Manager, Tester
etc)
All for One, One for All principle
Risk/Costs etc come from the Agile Team
Chartering
In traditional project, a “Project Charter” formally authorized a project manager to
manage the project
In Agile, we have chartering process
A session that helps the team to understand the parameters of its work and its
context within the project, preparing them to make informed decisions going forward
Helps in identifying the value of the project and develops trust and confidence that
the project is needed
Formally authorizes the team to start working on the project
Chartering helps in answering:
(1) Why are we building the product?
(2) How to know if it is successful?
(3) Who is the project community?
Project Charter:
Most important document that is created for the project and it is essential that all
stakeholders participate in the creation
Balances intention, aligns stakeholders and provides agreed upon definition of what
success is like.
Components of Project Charter:
Vision
Purpose
Values
Milestones
Release Plan
IR - 1 IR - 2 IR - 3
Product Roadmap:
A product roadmap is a collection of features or themes that would form the main
area of focus for next few months
May define for a period, no more than 2 years into future
Story Map
Story Map:
An arrangement of the story cards
which represents the sequence in
which the stories will be needed by
the business (X-axis)
Priority (in Y- Axis)
Release Planning:
Considers user stories or themes that is to be developed
As updated throughput the project, it reflects the current expectations that will be
included in
Typically done with a 3months to 6 months horizon
Iteration Planning:
Tasks are prioritized and executed to transform the feature requests into working and
tested software
Typically done with a 2 weeks to 4 weeks horizon
Daily Planning:
Team meets-up daily, e.g., in Scrum for 15 minutes to synchronize their work
Agile games
Planning Games
Collaborative Games
Remember the future: This game may be used for a vision setting and requirements
elicitation
Prune / Shape the product tree: This game may helps gather and shape requirements.
Speedboat / Sailboat: This game may helps in identifying threat and opportunity for the
project.
Buy a feature: This game may be used for prioritization.
Bang for the buck: This game looks at value versus cost ranking.
Velocity
Velocity (1/2)
What it is:
Measure of team’s rate of progress per iteration
Empirical observation of the team’s capacity to complete work per iteration
Based on team’s own sizing of work items
Comparable across items for a given team on a given project
What it is not:
Not an estimate or target to aim for
Not based on estimated or actual time dictated or imposed by anyone other than
team member
Not comparable across teams or across projects
Velocity (2/2)
Velocity Chart
40 Mean (Best 3) = 37
Mean (Last 8) = 33
30 Mean (Worst 3) = 28
20
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Estimating Velocity
Release Planning
Release Plan:
Presents a roadmap of how the team intends to achieve the project vision within the
project objectives and constraints identified in the project data sheet
Helps the PO and whole team decide how much must be developed and how long
that will take before they have a releasable product
Conveys expectations about what is likely to be developed and in what timeframe
Serves as a guidepost towards which the team can progress
Can be “Featured Based” or “Date-based” depending on the project
Do in Any Sequence
Estimate Velocity
Iterate until the Condition of
Satisfactions for the
Release can be met
Prioritize User Stories
Iteration Planning
Iteration Planning is a low level view of the product where the team takes more focused,
detailed look at what will be necessary to implement only those user stories, that have
been selected for iteration
Focuses on the time box of the iteration
Kicks off with Iteration Planning Meeting attended by PO, Developers, Agile Manager or
SM and so on
Prioritized stories from the Release Plan is taken up and put into an iteration of 2 to 4
weeks long
Stories are broken into tasks and assigned
One Release can have 3 to 12 iterations
Velocity Driven:
Priorities are adjusted collaboratively& a target velocity identified
Iteration goal – general description of what they wish to accomplish during the
iteration
Top priority use stories are selected, which are split into tasks and the assigned
Commitment Driven:
Team is asked to add stories to the iteration one by one until they commit to
completing no more
Below are the primary differences between Release Plan and Iteration Plan
Typically the iterations are 2 to 4 weeks. But in some cases, such as XP it can be of
1 week
Daily Planning
Daily Stand Up
Used across various Agile methodologies
Scrum: Daily Scrum Meeting of 15 minutes
XP: Daily Meeting of 5 to 15 minutes
3 Questions:
What did I do yesterday that helped the Development Team meet the Sprint Goal?
What will I do today to help the Development Team meet the Sprint Goal?
Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the Development Team from meeting
the Sprint Goal?
Characteristics:
No conversations or other discussions
Not a status meeting for the manager.
It is for the team to report to each other and get in sync with each other.
Monitoring Plan
Monitoring Plans
Planning:
Performed by Envision and Speculate part in Agile project management life cycle
Executing, Monitoring and Adapting
Performed continuously by Speculate, Explore and Adapt phases of Agile project life
cycle
Tracking by “Dead Reckoning”:
Dead reckoning considered to be deduced from “Deduced reckoning” used by sailors
on ships
How far east or west the ship has sailed and then adjusting
Tracking of progress in a software team is alike to Dead Reckoning
Agile Estimation
Estimation
Count/Compute/Judge
Calibrate & Historical Data
Individual Expert Judgement
Decomposition & Recomposition
Estimation by Analogy
Expert Judgement in Groups: eg Wideband Delphi
Schedule
Features
Challenges
Features
Challenges
Features
Challenges
eg: 6 months
eg: 10 staff Schedule
eg: 10K LOC duration
months
Size Effort Cost
Features
• Need to cater for many overheads eg: holidays, full time/part time,
dependencies
Challenges
eg: 6 months
duration
Features
Impossible Zone:
Nominal Estimated Schedule can not
be compressed to less than 75%.
Shortening the nominal schedule also
increases overall effort!
Schedule
Features
Measure of Complexity A simple way to estimate level of effort expected for a Story
based on size and complexity
Estimate of Size, not Duration Estimates are based on size, not duration (derived
empirically once Iterations have started)
Relative Weighting Story points are a relative measure (research has shown humans are
better at this)
Additive Puts estimates in units that can be added together (unlike time-based
estimates!)
Constrained to Set of Values often scored on a scale based on Fibonacci Numbers (0, 1,
2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 20, 40, 100)
Story Points
Estimation Scale
Planning Poker:
An iterative approach
A fun way to arrive at fairly accurate and quick estimates
Steps Involved:
Each practitioner is given a deck of cards, each card has a valid estimate written on
it
Customer/Product Owner reads a story and it is discussed briefly
Each estimator selects a Card that is his/her estimate
Cards are turned over, so that all can see them
Discuss differences, especially for the outliers
Repeat till agreement is reach on the differences
Martha 8 5
5
Eric 2 5
8
13
John 5 5
Hari 13 8
Planning Poker:
Is actually a combination of “Expert Opinion”, “Analogy” and “Disaggregation”
PO participates in the discussion, but does not estimate
A moderator reads the description and can help on “Right amount of Discussion”
with “2 Minute Sand Timer”
When to Play Planning Poker:
Reason – 1: An effort is needed to estimate large number of items before the project
begins or during 1st iteration
Reason – 2: Team will need to put some ongoing effort to estimate new stories that
are identified during an iteration
Why Planning Poker Works:
(1) Multiple experts brought in
(2) Averaging individual estimate lead to better results
(3) Fun
Estimation Session
Series of Iterative steps to gain consensus on estimates
Estimates are charted out on the whiteboard to show the range of estimates
Cycle repeats until no estimator wants to change his estimate or the time elapses
Assemble Tasks
PM collects the estimates from the team members
Compiles the final task list, estimates and assumptions
Review Results
PM reviews the final task list with the estimation team
Affinity Estimation is a technique many teams use to quickly and easily estimate, in Story
Points, for a large number of stories
Affinity Estimation:
Quick and Easy
Decision Making process is visible
Creates a positive experience rather than a confrontational one
Can be used just before release planning or budgeting process to quickly arrive at
coarse level but fairly reliable estimates
Exercise - Estimation
Starting point
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???
??? ???
???
Consider
• Risk (sharp knife, spiky/slippery skin)
• Effort (size of fruit)
• Complexity (cutting difficulty)
• Relativity (to existing estimates)
???
???
??? ???
1. Plan at multiple levels (strategic, release, iteration, daily) creating appropriate detail by
using rolling wave planning and progressive elaboration to balance predictability of
outcomes with ability to exploit opportunities.
2. Make planning activities visible and transparent by encouraging participation of key
stakeholders and publishing planning results in order to increase commitment level and
reduce uncertainty.
3. As the project unfolds, set and manage stakeholder expectations by making
increasingly specific levels of commitments in order to ensure common understanding
of the expected deliverables
4. Adapt the cadence and the planning process based on results of periodic
retrospectives about characteristics and/or the size/complexity/criticality of the project
deliverables in order to maximize the value.
5. Inspect and adapt the project plan to reflect changes in requirements, schedule,
budget, and shifting priorities based on team learning, delivery experience, stakeholder
feedback, and defects in order to maximize business value delivered.
Summary
Time-Boxing
Business Case Development
Agile project charter
Product roadmaps and Story map
Agile approach to projects
Multiple Levels of Planning
Agile Games
Velocity
Release and Iteration Planning
Release Plan Vs Iteration Plan
Daily plan
Monitoring plan
Estimation
Adaptive Planning Task Review
Quiz Questions
(Module – 6)
Quiz Questions
Quiz Questions
Quiz Questions
Quiz Questions
Question – 7 – Which one the following is not a key element in the project charter for an Agile project?
A) Mission
B) Vision
C) Success Criteria
D) Failure Mode Analysis Details
Question – 8 – Which authorizes the team to start working on the project?
A) Product Backlog
B) Release Plan
C) Project Charter
D) Iteration Plan
End of Module - 6
Module - 7
Problem Detection and Resolution
Agenda
Agile metrics
Cycle Time and Lead Time
Escaped defects
Agile failure modes
Variance and trend analysis
Control limits for agile projects
Cumulative flow diagram
Problem solving
Brainstorming
Agile metrics
Metrics (1/2)
Cycle time:
In Lean, it is the average time between delivery of completed work items
In Agile, this concept is applied. It represents the amount of time for the delivery of
two successive work items
Example: Story 24 entered deployed stage on Day 15. Next Story 27 enters deployed
stage on Day 18.
Cycle time is Day 18 – Day 15 = 3 days
Lead Time
The time between initiation and delivery of a User Story
Example: Story 12 entered the PB on Day 5 and enters the deployed stage on Day 10.
Lead time = Day 10 – Day 5 = 5
Escaped Defects
Escaped Defect:
A defect that was not found by, or any that escaped from the quality team is called an
Escaped Defect.
Issues found by end users in the released version
The metrics Escaped Defect Found counts the number of new escaped defects found
over a period of time (day, week, months).
Calculation of Escaped Defect:
Identify the number of released versions of software over a period of time
For each released version, count the number of defects reported by end users
The Sum of them is the number of escaped defects
Problem detection
Control charts are used to determine whether the process is stable or has predictable
performance
UCL and LCL are set at +3σ & -3σ from the Mean
Process is considered to be out of control when a data point exceeds a control limit
or 7 consecutive points above/below mean
Mean
Observed
Data
Process
Out of Control
Time Sequence
CFD is one visibility report providing insight into Burnup, Cycle time, WIP and bottlenecks
Taken from Lean methods and used for tracking purpose
Problem Solving
Ask probing questions: To see if deeper understanding prevails when the team
members have taken a decision.
Use Reflecting Listening:
A communication technique where you repeat back a summary of what the other
person just said – just to confirm your understanding.
Another benefit in this situation is that having the person hear their own ideas in
another person’s voice or word make it easier for them to be objective
Avoid Injecting your own ideas: You may have a great idea at some point, but a better
approach is to avoid injecting them
Lead them to Answer: If they are not simply making progress and you know the answer,
lead them into it
Brainstorming
Brainstorming:
A technique to generate ideas from a selected audience to solve a problem and
stimulate creativity. Other use are in Inventing New Products, Solving inter-group
Communication Problems, Improving Customer Service etc.
Note:
Experience brainstorming facilitator
Provide background ahead of time
Diverse group of people
Creative warm up
Establish the ground rules
Postpone criticism
1. Create an open and safe environment by encouraging conversation and experimentation, in order to
surface problems and impediments that are slowing the team down or preventing its ability to deliver
value.
2. Identify threats and issues by educating and engaging the team at various points in the project in order
to resolve them at the appropriate time and improve processes that caused issues.
3. Ensure issues are resolved by appropriate team members and/or reset expectations in light of issues
that cannot be resolved in order to maximize the value delivered.
4. Maintain a visible, monitored, and prioritized list of threats and issues in order to elevate
accountability, encourage action, and track ownership and resolution status.
5. Communicate status of threats and issues by maintaining threat list and incorporating activities into
backlog of work in order to provide transparency.
Summary
Agile metrics
Cycle Time and Lead Time
Escaped defects
Agile failure modes
Variance and trend analysis
Control limits for agile projects
Cumulative flow diagram
Problem solving
Brainstorming
Problem Detection and Resolution task review
Quiz Questions
(Module – 7)
Quiz Questions
Quiz Questions
Question – 3 – Which one of the following is the principle in Agile Project Management Framework?
A) Inspect and Adapt
B) Plan and Do
C) Speculate, Explore and Adapt
D) Plan-Do-Check-Act
Question – 4 – The primary difference between Test First Development and Test Driven Development is?
A) Continuous Integration
B) Continuous Refactoring
C) Testing first and then Coding
D) Pair Programming
Quiz Questions
Question – 5 – In Agile control limits, the Upper Control Limit and Lower Control limit are separated from the
mean by how many deviations?
A) 1 standard deviation
B) 2 standard deviations
C) 3 standard deviations
D) 4 standard deviations
Question – 6 – Which one of the following diagrams informs on the bottleneck in the system?
A) Burn up chart
B) Burn down chart
C) Cumulative Flow Diagram
D) Burn Up Bar Chart
Quiz Questions
Question – 7 – Story 10 entered the deployment stage on Day 11. Next story 14 entered deployment stage on
Day 14. What is the cycle time?
A) 4
B) 11
C) 14
D) 3
End of Module - 7
Module - 8
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement
Agenda
Quality in agile
Agile testing quadrants
Test First Development (TFD) / Test Driven Development (TDD)
Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD)
Refactoring
Continuous Integration
Technical Debt
Definition of Done / Checklist for Story completion
Retrospective
Frequent verification and validation
Value stream mapping
Knowledge Sharing
Collective Code Ownership
Process Analysis
Self Assessment
Principle of System Thinking
Quality in Agile
XP suggests a well defined Coding Standard and enforce the adherence to the coding
standard
A set of guidelines developed by the Agile team
All developers or programmers adhere to it
Code will be rejected in review if fails to adhere to the standard
Standards go beyond and not restricted to coding alone
Go beyond mere formatting, indenting, commenting etc.
Should focus on consistency and consensus rather than perfection
Often a bare minimum set that the team has to follow
Automated Tools
Technology Facing
Agile Testing Quadrant from Agile Testing (Crispin, 2009)
Forces developers to detailed design Just in Time (JIT) before writing the code
Ensures that agile developers have testing code available to validate their work
Test often and test early principle
Gives the developer the courage to re-factor their code to keep the highest quality
possible, because test suite is available to know if anything is “broken”
Research shows TDD/TFD substantially reduces the incidences of defects
Helps to improve design, document public interfaces and guards against future mistakes
ATDD Cycle
Refactoring
A process of changing the design of the code without changing its behavior.
Principle: “If it ain’t broken, why fix it”
Refactored Code: Change to its internal structure, but does not change the Observable
behavior
When to Use:
Code is unreadable
Hard to modify
Duplicated code is hard to modify
Complex code is hard to modify
Refactored code is easy to understand
Cheaper to modify
Some tools
Cruise Control
TFS
Hudson
Key Points
Integrate code every few hours
Keep your build, tests,
and other release
infrastructure up-to-date.
Single integration environment
Technical Debt
Definition of Done
Retrospectives
Retrospective:
A meeting where team looks back on the past period of work, reflects upon and
learn from that experience so that it can be applied in future
Agenda in a Retrospective:
What works well?
What does not work well?
What do we need to start doing?
A Retrospective is not a:
Post-Mortem meeting
Witch-Hunt meeting
Types: Iteration, Release and Project retrospectives
Customer gets to review, test and accept/reject the implemented features every
iteration
Iteration Demo at end of iteration cycle as in various agile methodologies like XP and
Scrum
Frequent Verification and Validation of features is accomplished within the iteration
Code reviews, Unit Testing and Functional Testing helps
Principles:
APM framework – Explore, Inspect and Adapt or
Scrum Principle, Inspect and Adapt
Verification
“Am I building the right product”
Looking for defects in the product where it differs from intended functionality.
Perform inspection of Product as well as peer review
Unit test, System test help in removing the defects
Validation
“Am I building the product right”
Selected user perform Acceptance testing of ready components or UI prototypes that
wire together before writing the pieces
Agile methodology enforces frequent validation of the end product with the
customer
Total Cycle Time = Value-add time + Non-value-add time Value-add time = 49.5 days
Process Cycle Efficiency = Value-add time / Total Cycle Time Non-value-add time = 31.5 days
Knowledge Sharing
Knowledge Sharing
Important for scaling of Agile projects as well vital for large and mission critical
projects
Knowledge sharing in agile happens at various levels:
Release and iteration planning
Pair programming and iteration planning
On-site customers like in the case of XP
Daily Scrum Meeting or Standup meeting (XP)
Cross functional teams
Project retrospectives
Process Analysis
Process Analysis:
Performed by the PO or BA or anyone working on understanding the system, coming
up with requirements or solutions to a problem related to business or process
Steps Involved:
Identify the users of the system
Define goals of the main users
Define the usage pattern of the systems
Prepare the functional solution to meet the users needs and their usage pattern
Define main navigation paths in the system
Create mockup UI
Polish the UI elements with user inputs
Process improvements
Recommended tool and technique to know about the real root causes and then brain
storm to identify solutions
Five Why
Fishbone
Self Assessment
Self Assessment:
Process in which an individual or team or organization conducts a comprehensive
review of oneself to understand the main strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to
improve
Characteristics:
To stimulate learning and change as well enthusiasm for self development
To commit to key people in an organization to identify and inspire positive change
Identify opportunities for improvement, which generates requirements for the
improvement or development of the project
1. Tailor and adapt the project process by periodically reviewing and integrating team practices,
organizational culture, and delivery goals in order to ensure team effectiveness within established
organizational guidelines and norms.
2. Improve team processes by conducting frequent retrospectives and improvement experiments in order
to continually enhance the effectiveness of the team, project, and organization.
3. Seek feedback on the product by incremental delivery and frequent demonstrations in order to improve
the value of the product.
4. Create an environment of continued learning by providing opportunities for people to develop their
skills in order to develop a more productive team of generalizing specialists.
5. Challenge existing process elements by performing a value stream analysis and removing waste in order
to increase individual efficiency and team effectiveness.
6. Create systemic improvements by disseminating knowledge and practices across projects and
organizational boundaries in order to avoid re-occurrence of identified problems and improve the
effectiveness of the organization as a whole
Summary
Quality in agile, Project and quality standard in agile
Agile testing quadrants
Test First Development (TFD) / Test Driven Development (TDD)
Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD)
Refactoring
Continuous Integration
Technical Debt
Definition of Done / Checklist for Story completion
Retrospective
Frequent verification and validation
Value stream mapping
Knowledge Sharing, Collective Code Ownership
Process Analysis
Self Assessment
Principle of System Thinking
Continuous improvement task review
Quiz Questions
(Module – 8)
Quiz Questions
Question – 1 – Which one of the following is not one of the steps mentioned in Acceptance Test Driven
Development (ATDD)?
A) Distill
B) Develop
C) Demo
D) Deploy
Question – 2 – The primary difference between Test First Development and Test Driven Development is?
A) Continuous Integration
B) Continuous Refactoring
C) Testing first and then Coding
D) Pair Programming
Quiz Questions
Question – 3 – Which one of the following is a not a step for conducting project retrospective?
A) Gather Data
B) Inspect and Monitor Data
C) Decide what to do
D) Generate Insights
Question – 4 – Which one of the following is one of the continuous integration tool?
A) Cruise Control
B) Cucumber
C) Selenium
D) Codeship
End of Module - 8
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