1. 1. Keep Planning Tools Out ofPlanning MeetingsGeorge PaciSanteon
2. 2. Who Am I Agile Coach with Santeon Technical Coaching Process Coaching Environments: Government Startups Medium-sized Businesses Extreme Programming since 2001, Scrum later
3. 3. Overview Focus on Sprint planning Vitamin Y: Ask Why to Find the valuable parts Drop the rest Applies to process, not just features Use tools, but know why
4. 4. OverviewHas it got any rant in it?A little.How much?
5. 5. Six1. In the Beginning: Cards and a Wall2. The Rise of Software Planning Tools3. Swiss-Army Hammers4. Illusory Efficiencies5. Breaking Bad Habits6. Bringing Physical and Virtual Together
6. 6. In the Beginning....User Stories on Cards on a Wall
7. 7. Why? Why are we in a planning meetingin the first place? One answer:To come up with a plan. But it's the wrong answer.
8. 8. Plans vs. PlanningI have always found thatplans are useless, butplanning isindispensable.Dwight D. Eisenhower
9. 9. PlanningThe Conversation is Key: Spread information around the group Not just Business-Technical Estimate/Prioritize split Check decisions as they're being made
10. 10. PlanningInvolvement has many benefits: Everyone can see the alternatives Why are we doing it this way? Something to fall back on if things change Everyone feels heard Increases motivation, teamworkThe tactile, rough nature of cardsencourages involvement
11. 11. Cards and a WallChief artifacts: Plan wall radiates like crazy Cards (both on and off the wall)
12. 12. A Word about ValuesBeck's XP Values: Communication Simplicity Feedback Courage Respect
13. 13. 2. The Rise of Software Planning ToolsWe can write a tool to do that!... better!These things started out as a way to help us.
14. 14. 2. The Rise ofR2. The Rise of Software Planning ToolsSoftware Planning Tools
15. 15. The Rise of Software Planning ToolsWhy? Calculate and chart with ease Easy backup Radiate to people not physically present Track entire history MOAR DATA! Just plain looks more professional
16. 16. 3. Swiss-Army Hammers+
17. 17. How are software tools really usedin planning meetings? One person is driving Worse resolution of a screen vs. CoaW Bound to how the tool chooses to present140 Assignment as the default Permissions get in the way
18. 18. Software Tool ArtifactsWhat are you left with?Not a radiator.Often excessive or uneven detail.Premature assignments.
19. 19. 4. Illusory Efficiencies We have to use the tool anyway. Why not use it in the planning meeting? Then the SM/PO/BA don't have to entereverything in the tool afterwards.
20. 20. The Math One person saving one hour= 1 person-hour gained Ten people wasting six minutes= 10 * 0.1= 1 person-hour lost In a three-hour planning meeting,six minutes is only6 / 180 = 1/30, or 3.33%
21. 21. Tool FumblingWait, how do I do that? Go up; no, up more; now right:click that...No, spell it out. It doesn't fit in the field.We have to put something for Acceptance Criteria or itshows up on the report; just put placeholder text fornow.Can you sort it so the UI stuff is together?Scroll down for a second so we can see the last few.Wait, go back so I can see that estimate.Let's type all the Acceptance Criteria into thedescription field now.
22. 22. Loss of Parallelism Everyone has to focus on the Driver at all times No other information is visible We're not in cyberspace:we're looking through a window at it. What about everyone bringing a laptop? Can't have some of the team look over UI-relatedstories while the rest do something else Tend to try to put everything in the virtual card,and to do it now
23. 23. Loss of Parallelism Even worse for the Driver: Pay attention to the tool Pay attention to requests from the room Less attention left for the actual content of planning If the Driver is your ScrumMaster orProduct Owner, you're hosed
24. 24. Loss of Intuitiveness With cards on a wall, if you can imagine it anddescribe it, you can do itintuitively. Arrange Group Sort Overlap Annotate Sometimes the tool will do it, sometimes itwon't, but it's always a distraction.
25. 25. Manual Overload?"But we have too many items to use ourhands!"Then you have too many items to use youreyes (or brains), too!Simplify: Make larger chunks of work. Have shorter Sprints.
26. 26. 5. Breaking Bad HabitsHow do we get there from here? It starts before the planning meeting Pitch it as an experiment Or dictate it Explain why you're going analog:
27. 27. Why Analog Engagement Conversation, especially Value/Delivery Simpler and more direct in the meeting Puts focus on planning, not creating a slick plan Can see results of decisions more clearly Can see what's going on an engage gut Respects the time of everyone in the room bybeing more efficient & effective
28. 28. Start Small Go analog for the first time in your BacklogRefinement (or Grooming) session Participants get positive experience Use as seeds in larger planning meeting
29. 29. RetrospectMaybe it won't work, at least immediately. Bring up the change in your SprintRetrospective Ask for feedback in the last few minutes of theplanning session (but point out the team won'tbe making any decisions just then)
30. 30. 6. Bringing Physical andVirtual Together1. Before the meeting2. During the meeting3. After the meeting
31. 31. 6.1 Before the meeting Make cards physical tokens Printed: Make estimate prominent : >= 1/2 Make title / slug prominent; drop boilerplate Make each card clearly unique Hand-Written: Title / slug and estimate ID from tool if helpful Too many to write? May be too many to plan
32. 32. 6.2 During the meeting Have Scribe designated to make note of anychanges to existing cards: estimates,acceptance criteria, etc. Note any contortions you'll have to do whenentering into the tool later
33. 33. 6.3 After the meeting Immediately after the meeting, have someonego through the additions, changes, anddeletions and make them in the tool Important: have others available to answer anyquestions that come up (What did we decideon this? or How are these two different?) Update the team's card wall Use the cards from the meeting, or regenerate Remember to retrospect
34. 34. Summary Software tools are goodat what they're good at. There are better tools for some situations,including planning meetings. Planning is the important thing. Look beyond narrow optimizations. You can get there from here, and it's worth it.