Agenda
Scrum framework overview
Agile manifesto
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Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
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Working software over comprehensive documentation
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Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
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Responding to change over following a plan
Why Scrum?
- Faster time to Market (Release Early & Often)
- Respond and Encourage Change
- Smaller, Faster Failures
- Higher Stakeholder Engagement
- Higher Employee Engagement
- Higher Quality
- Higher Productivity
- Manages Risk & Change Effectively
Scrum Framework
Roles
ScrumMaster
- Responsible for 'How'
- Owns Committed Sprint Backlog
Product Owner
- Responsible for 'What'
- Owns Product Backlog
Team
- 7+-2
- Cross-functional
Product Backlog
Sprint Backlog
Burndown Chart
Definition of Done (DoD)
- A checklist of activities that add value to the product
- Determine the workflow the team uses for the project
- DoD varies by team
Example DOD
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Story is developed/coded
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Story passed peer review
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Story tested by QA engineer
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Acceptance criteria are met and approved by product owner
- Code is promoted to staging environment and ready for demo
Sprint Length
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Ideal sprint length is 2 - 4 weeks
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We've found the best length is 2 weeks
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1 week is too short; too many meetings and not enough development time
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How long are your sprints?
Scrum Meetings
Planning Meeting
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Core scrum team attends this meeting
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Stories are ready before the meeting
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Product owner reviews goals and introduces each story
- Development team commits to story points to complete over the sprint
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Stories are moved to the sprint backlog
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Team discusses how to complete each story
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Each user story is estimated in points
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Subtasks are estimated in hours
Daily Standup
- View the scrum board
- Only 15 minutes long
- What did you do yesterday?
- What are you planning to do today?
- Do you have any blockers?
- Scrum master notes any blockers and works to resolve them
Backlog grooming
- The core team attends
- Stories are prepared for future sprints
- New epics and stories might be added
- Acceptance criteria are written
- Initial pass at estimation before planning
- Outstanding questions or missing requirements addressed and documented
Demos (sprint reviews)
- All stakeholders attend
- Demo length is 1 hr. per each week of development
- Product owner introduces the stories the team worked on during the sprint (if PO is involved)
- A key person presents the work
- Schedule a pre-demo review the day before to walk through the presentation
- What challenges do you face with demos?
Example Demo Script
Sprint Retrospective
- Scheduled after the demo
- Team walks through the sprint and discusses what went well, what needs improvement, and what the team should continue doing
- Feedback is captured in a template with clear action items
- Open issues are addressed and solved in the next sprint
- Review previous retro at the next one
Agile Requirements
User Stories
- Description of a feature, told from the perspective of the person or user that desires that feature.
- As a [type of user], I [want/need to/etc.] so that [some reason or benefit].
- As a project manager, I want monthly invoices to include weekly hours so that I can quickly reconcile them against my own records.
Why User Stories?
User stories break large requirements into bite-sized pieces that are easier to digest, understand and build against.
- Written in plain english
- Demonstrates the value being added, but allows room to improve and iterate over time
- Small enough to allow for easier estimation and prioritization
Epics
Epics are generally just large user stories!
- Broad in scope
- Light on details
- Commonly split into multiple, smaller stories
As a registered user, I want to be able to manage my login credentials so that I can keep my account both secure and easy to remember.
Estimation
Estimation in Agile:
- Is a collaborative, team effort.
- Does not quantify work in terms of time.
- Uses relative effort and complexity to size stories.
Planning Poker:
- The product owner presents a short overview of the story. The team asks questions.
- Every participant selects an estimate.
- High/low estimates give their reasoning.
- Repeat the process until a consensus is reached!
Common Headaches
Subtitle
Scrum + Fixed Price?
Scrum typically works best in a time and materials model, but can still be used for projects with fixed price and fixed scope.
How do we manage this?
Fixed-bid induces headaches
- High risk for all parties regardless of methodology
- But...
- Agile focuses on highest value delivery
- Agile provides earlier insight than Waterfall
- Resulting in more options and friendlier "uh oh" conversation
- Retain better client relationship
Agile/FP Best Practices
- Really, really set client expectations
- Have a Discovery Phase
- Have a Sprint 0
- Build out Product Backlog
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Have all of the requirements for a user story ready
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Swap out stories of equal value
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Negotiate change requests
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Run a tight ship
The Deal with Defects
- If acceptance criteria are not met, then those bugs must be closed during the current sprint in order for the story to be “done”
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Adding bugs into the current sprint without sizing them is the cleanest and most efficient approach
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The context is fresh so they’ll be quicker to fix
Handling Bugs
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Continuous focus on backlog economics
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Bugs are prioritized in the product backlog
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Minor bugs can be moved to the backlog to be prioritized and estimated for future sprints
What do your teams do?
What challenges do you have?
Q&A
Agile Training Session
By Jenna Terry-Warren
Agile Training Session
- 915