agile tools & techniques in 59 minutes with …...agile tools in 59 minutes version 1.4 2019...

Agile Tools in 59 Minutes Version 1.4 2019

Algonquin College Corporate

Training 1

[email protected]

Version 1.4 Sep 2019

AGILE TOOLS & TECHNIQUESIN 59 MINUTES

with Peter Paul

Presentation Objectives

In 59 minutes, you will learn about some commonly used techniques in

Agile:

• Sprint / Iteration planning: Planning Poker, T-shirt sizing, and Bucketing

• Release Map / Product Backlog sizing: Themes, Epics, and User

Stories

Caution: techniques for estimating and planning

are very inter-linked and overlapping!

2

mailto:[email protected]



Training 2

Recap: Agile Life Cycle

3

Iteration backlog

Product Owner and

delivery team select

items for iteration

(fixed) Interval

Iteration

Delivery team

implements

selected items

potentially shippable

product increment

Delivery team

demonstrates business

value; product owner

provides feedback

Backlog

Product Owner

prioritizes items to

be done

Recap: Agile Iterations

• Iterations (sprints in Scrum) are used

• Each is planned and filled with sustainable and valuable effort

4

Iteration 1 Iteration / Sprint 2 . . . Iteration n



Training 3

Recap: Scrum (Agile Variant)

5

sprint planning

Product

Backlog (PBL)

sprint backlog

2-4 week sprint

daily scrum


product increment

The Challenge (Agile Manifesto)

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working solution over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

6

Estimating isn’t considered value add work if it

reinforces the red behaviours over the green behaviours



Training 4

Meanwhile in the real world…

• How do I actually get going on the project?

• Know if there’s too much (or too little) work to fill a sprint?

• Provide initial estimates on time, cost, scope, or budget?

• Gain and maintain team consensus and collaboration?

7

Some Agile Estimating Techniques

• Planning Poker

• Bucketing

• Big / Uncertain / Small

• TFB / NFC / 1

• Dot Voting / Ordering Protocol

• T-Shirt sizing

• Affinity Mapping

8

https://www.berteig.com/how-to-apply-agile/9-agile-estimation-techniques/

https://www.berteig.com/how-to-apply-agile/9-agile-estimation-techniques/



Training 5

Fibonacci Sequence

• Foundation for Planning Poker and T-shirt sizing

• A Fibonacci series is the sum of the previous two numbers

• Also called bucketing

• Bucketing can help reduce overthinking, fence-sitting, and promotes consensus

9

1 2 3 5 8 130 1

Small Medium Large eXtra Large XXL

Planning Poker

Team members—

• Receive a prepared deck of cards with numbers

representing estimated hours

• Discuss the feature under consideration and provide the

best estimate for completing the feature

• Must justify their estimates to the entire team (This is the

real value of Planning Poker.)

• Repeat this process until the team comes to a consensus

on an estimate1

10

1Grenning, James W. “Planning Poker.” Renaissance Software Consulting Website, 2002. http://www.renaissancesoftware.net/files/articles/PlanningPoker-v1.1.pdf.



Training 6

T-Shirt Sizing

• Another technique that compares

relative effort complexity of user

stories using an easy-to-grasp scaling

• Does it feel like a (S)mall, (M)edium,

(L)arge, or e(X)tra-(L)arge

• Allow those with diverse opinions

(e.g., S vs. XL) to justify their size

choice to the team

• Repeat this process until the team

comes to a consensus on an estimate

11

Small

Medium

Large

eXtra Large

(Optional) Organize into teams

An opportunity to meet others and to sample Agile techniques in action!

• Pull a card from the deck

• Go to those with the same colour card (red or black)

• If there’s more than 7 people divide by suit (diamonds, hearts, clubs, spades)

• If there’s still more than 7 people divide into numbers <=7, 8 plus face cards

12



Training 7

Scenario

The “honey dew” jar is full. The people at your table are your delivery

team. The items in the jar are (in no particular order):

A. Repair two rotted out posts on backyard fence,

B. Can 3 bushels of tomatoes,

C. Drain and winterize the above-ground pool,

D. Repaint the 30’ x 40’ master bedroom,

E. Decorate the 30’ x 30’ dining room (wall panels, paint, wallpaper, trim),

F. Install 24 LED pot lights (new fixtures) throughout the main floor,

G. Declutter 5 years worth of stuff stored in the basement,

H. Install natural gas pipes for both stove (currently electric) and outside

BBQ (no line) from existing line for water heater in basement

13

Planning Poker

Using only the 4 sizes on the right estimate

the effort needed by your team to do each

item.

• On the count of 3, everyone at the table

shows their post-it note.

• Outliers get a chance to talk but no more

than 15 seconds.

• Re-vote and tally. Size appearing most

often is the size assigned to the item.

• Size ALL 8 items in the time allotted.

1414



Training 8

Exercise

15

Item Effort

Repair Fence

Can Tomatoes

Winterize Pool

Repaint master bdrm.

Decorate dining room

LED pot lights

Declutter basement

Natural gas pipes

Debrief

• What did we learn?

• How did it feel?

• What can we take away from this and apply right away?

16



Training 9

Release Plan or Map

The Release Map is a rough, initial response for

organizations still plan-based or risk averse:

• If Minimum Viable / Shippable Product is achievable:

– How many sprints does the PBL indicate if

mandate is scope driven?

– How many (realistic) sprints are possible if

mandate is deadline driven?

• How many demos will be needed to validate MVP?

• How flexible are we to change?

• What is our initial resource plan, budget, schedule?

18

Preliminary Release Map

19

Sprint / Iteration

Tasks / Items /

User Stories

Zero One ThreeTwo Four …n Last

Delete accountAssessVelocity and

Estimate accuracy

Suspend account

Verify order

EstimateAll-in costs

Process payment

Provide receipt

Establish rituals and ceremonies

Punch

Artboarddesign

Establish roles and

responsibilities

Architectural assessment

Release Plan



Training 10

Exercise: Release Map

21√

Working with what you did in the last exercise, develop a Release Map that

shows how you would do or “roll out” your honey dew list:

1. How much time (overall) do you need?

2. What items will you be working on and in which order?

3. Assumptions:

– The team is doing the work (not just the home owner)

– Use a 1 week sprint / iteration

– Fill each sprint with available work

Debrief

• What did we learn?

• How did it feel?

• What can we take away from this and apply right away?

22



Training 11

Release Map - Risks

Q: How do you know your Release Map

is realistic or not?

A: you don’t. You learn from work

actually done i.e., 1-3 sprints under your

team’s belt.

Based on real experience, we can better

estimate (reassess) future work / effort to

finish the remaining items.

Release Maps can become obsolete or

inaccurate very quickly – use them

accordingly.

Uncertainty

Low Medium High

Themes, Epics, Use Cases

Estimating user stories will uncover various levels of

difficulty and complexity within each user story. We can

use a classification system of:

• Themes: valuable features or capabilities that might

be difficult to articulate or complex to deliver

• Theme examples: increased customer satisfaction,

creating customer delight, “fun”, “exciting”, “intuitive”

• Epics: complex or complicated use cases that may

need to be elaborated / decomposed to fit within a

sprint or managed across many sprints

• Use Cases may need to be deconstructed or

elaborated further when acceptance criteria is

complex or difficult to determine (where it starts and

ends)

The User story is a way to elaborate or deconstruct

Themes, Epics, and even User stories themselves as

needed.

24



Training 12

Sprint Planning

Product Backlog Planned Doing Done

25

User Stories must provide enough context and details to

support the Solutioner in developing and the user to agree

it’s working (3 C’s, INVEST, Cards, Acceptance Criteria).

Delivery Requestor

Prepare Package

Confirm Delivery

Pay for Delivery One or more Stakeholders can be represented through

Actors and the features or capabilities they need (Use

Cases)

Stakeholder Requirements are captured as Themes,

Epics, Features, or User Stories

They are often deconstructed even further e.g.,

One Theme { Epics { Features { User Stories

Exercise (time allowing)

• Decompose one of your XL or L items into

smaller pieces

• Assign the appropriate classification

(Theme, Epic, Use Case, User Story) to

the original item and to the items that it

has been broken down into

eXtra LargeDelivery Requestor

Prepare Package

Confirm Delivery

Pay for Delivery



Training 13

Exercise

27

Item Effort

Repair Fence

Can Tomatoes

Winterize Pool

Repaint master bdrm.

Decorate dining room

LED pot lights

Declutter basement

Natural gas pipes

Sprint Planning

28

sprint planning

product backlog

sprint backlog

2-4 week sprint

daily scrum


product increment

• A groomed backlog drives the next

detailed sprint plan and sprints remaining

within anticipated schedule

• The ultimate decision-maker should be

the Product Owner / Proxy

• Significant input is required from the

Scrum team to strike a suitable balance

of business value, technical complexity,

and sprint forecasting



Training 14

Sprint Planning (cont.)

• The amount of work that can be

accomplished in a sprint can be initially

difficult to determine

• We want to spend more time “doing” and

less “planning” so estimating techniques

are light but effective

• It’s all relative (trust, hand-offs, overlaps,

gaps) so estimating is relative

• Our end goal: a high performance team

29

SPRINT PLANNING

Sprint Planning (cont.)

• The Scrum Master may need to facilitate

communication between Product Owner

and Solution Lead during the initial sprints

• Front-end or back-end loading sprints

with technically complex work should be

intentional and not accidental

• If Minimal Shippable Product will be

almost non-existent for sprints that are

technically complex, how do we

demonstrate the sprint’s value?

30

SPRINT PLANNING



Training 15

Learning for Performance™

Algonquin College

Corporate Training Centre

340 Albert Street, 11th Floor

Constitution Square

Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7Y6

Telephone: (613) 727-7729

[email protected]

www.algonquincollege.com/corporate

THANK YOU!

mailto:[email protected]

agile tools & techniques in 59 minutes with …...agile tools in 59 minutes version 1.4 2019...

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