Synopsis

Delve deeper into Agile estimating and planning at the Release and Program Management levels. This course is designed to give students a more complete and in-depth understanding of Agile project planning and estimating topics that are commonly a source of struggle and frustration within project teams.

Specifically, this course addresses what constitutes "just enough" when it comes to upfront requirements, upfront sizing and design, and planning. By incorporating real-world examples and approaches into the curriculum students are able to think practically about these issues.

Participants will learn the six levels of planning which include: Strategic, Portfolio, Roadmap, Release, Iteration, and Daily.

To take this course you should have basic Agile knowledge and experience, this is not a beginner level course.

Learn

• Address challenges with traditional planning and estimating
• Define what Agile is and why it is used
• Implement Agile estimating and planning principles
• Implement the six levels of planning
• Use the Agile Lifecycle Diagram and know what happens when
• Write stories and break down EPICs
• Implement Agile sizing methods and know when to use what
• Implement Affinity Sizing, Poker Planning, Complexity Buckets, and Ideal days
• Explain velocity and capacity and estimate initial velocity
• Implement planning and release
• Plan for fixed date and fixed scope
• Implement multi-team program release planning
• Use EPIC sizing buckets and re-estimation and calibration
• Implement distributed teams release planning
• Describe Agile metrics- what is measured

This course uses digital materials.

Topics

• Agile Estimating and Planning
  • Agile Estimating and Planning
  • Organizing Tools
  • About Me
  • About YOU!
  • Purpose of This Course
  • Agenda
• The Problems with Planning and Estimating
  • The Problems with Planning and Estimating
  • Top Challenges with Planning & Estimation
  • The Problem We’re Trying to Solve
  • It’s No Wonder…
  • Feature Usage
  • Project Failure Rates
  • Comparing Success Factors by Method
  • Questionable strategies applied by IT project teams to stay “out of trouble”
  • Why 37% of Projects Fail?
  • Agile Planning
  • Agenda
• Agile Planning and Estimating Principles
  • Agile Planning and Estimating Principles
  • The Agile Manifesto – 2001
  • Agile Principles
  • Agile Planning is Value Driven
  • Agile Planning
  • The Cone of Uncertainty
  • Agile Estimation vs. Traditional
  • Great Plans Should…
  • PRECISION vs. ESTIMATE
  • Agile Planning & Estimating Principles
  • Accuracy Evolves with Data
  • Providing a Range Estimate
  • Who Should Estimate?
  • Value- Based Decomposition
  • 6 Planning Levels
  • The Agile Lifecycle
  • Agenda
• Writing User Stories and Breaking Down EPICs
  • Writing User Stories
  • What is a Story?
  • User Stories: Examples
  • Example Backlog
  • Sample Stories for Process Improvement
  • Guidelines for User Stories
  • Levels of Agile Requirements
  • Sample Requirements Breakdown
  • Non-User Stories
  • Story Writing Workshops
  • Sample Story Map
  • Techniques for Slicing Stories
  • VIDEO: Story Slicing Techniques
  • Agenda
• Estimation and Sizing Methods
  • Estimation and Sizing Methods
  • Estimating
  • The ‘Right Method’ for the ‘Right Time’
  • Agile Estimation Techniques
  • Affinity Estimating
  • Methods for Deriving an Estimate
  • Common Sizing Units
  • Why Story Points?
  • Story Points – Fibonacci Scale
  • Planning Poker for Story Sizing
  • The Complexity Bucket Method
  • VIDEO: Story Sizing
  • Workshop – Relative Sizing
  • Agenda
• Understanding Velocity and Capacity
  • Understanding Velocity
  • What is Velocity?
  • Velocity and Points
  • Measuring Velocity
  • Sample Point and Cost Burn Up Chart
  • EVM-Value Cost Burn-up
  • How Velocity Helps with Planning
  • Estimating Initial Velocity
  • Capacity Planning
  • Iteration Capacity Map
  • Comparing Team Velocities
  • Factors Affecting Team Velocity
  • How You Can Influence Velocity
  • Agenda
• Building a Release Plan
  • Building a Release Plan
  • What is Release Planning?
  • Release Planning Session
  • Release Planning Sample Agenda
  • Sample Iteration and Release Plan
  • How Long Should My Iteration Be?
  • Fixed Time…Fixed Scope
  • Steps for Planning Fixed Scope
  • Example – Planning for Fixed Scope
  • Steps for Planning Fixed Date
  • Planning for Additional Iterations
  • Schedule Buffering Methods
  • Example: Estimating release with Buffers
  • Sample Release Planning Wall
  • VIDEO: Release Planning
  • Re-Estimation and Calibration
  • Course Check-Point – Your Takeaways
  • Agenda
• Multi-Team Program Planning
  • Multi-team Program planning
  • What is an Agile Program?
  • Single Team Program
  • Multi-team Program
  • Top Challenges with Multi-team Planning
  • Steps for Multi-Team Planning
  • Building a Product Roadmap
  • Roadmap Sample
  • Multi-team Release Planning Session
  • Tips for the Planning Session
  • Multi-team Release Planning Sample Agenda