2. Standing on the Shoulders
Presented by Lee Henson
Part of his CSM training
http://blog.agiledad.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/agiledad/rapid-release-plannin
I have tweaked Lee’s methods some, but the
underlying concepts remain the same.
3. The 5 Things I Need to Know
Time
Capacity/Velocity
Size
Priority
Dependencies
4. The Order to Do Things
Figure out timeframe
“Right-size” the backlog – make sure all stories are
there (including technical debt, defects, etc.) and
remove what does not need to be there
Figure out capacity from velocity
Assign every story a relative size
Assign every story a relative priority
Figure out dependencies among stories
6. “Right-size” the backlog
If you haven’t done the work in the last ____ months,
should it still be on the active backlog?
Make sure that known defects are included
Solicit stories for technical debt
7. Figure out capacity from velocity
Velocity – past, Capacity – future
Need to have a quick way to size stories –
representative stories (S, M, L, XL – 1 each that
everyone can agree on).
Use the representative stories to use past history to
determine past velocity and extrapolate future
capacity
8. Figure out capacity from velocity
Send out spreadsheet of past stories and have team
members assign sizes based on representative story
sizes
Knee jerk reaction (100 stories – 15-20 minutes – XS,
S, M, L, XL, XXL, XXXL)
Stories with agreement are assigned numbers based
on the results
Any major disagreements will be hashed out in a
meeting
9. Figure out capacity from velocity
Team gives you sizes (easier than planning poker),
you convert to points
Take all their responses and add to a spreadsheet
XS – 1, S – 2, M – 3, L – 5, XL – 8, XXL – 13, XXXL – 20
From these you will get velocity – project that
forward for future sprint capacity
10. Assign every story a relative size
Do the same thing with future backlog items that you
did with past backlog items
One exception- any story that is given XXL needs to
be broken down into stories that fit into XS-XL.
Send out spreadsheet and only discuss those items
where there is disagreement
11. Assign every story a relative priority
Once information on relative sizing has been
completed, all the information needed for relative
priority should be complete
Every story should have a priority – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … 100
12. Generate release schedule
You will want to plan as if dependencies do not
matter
In the real world they do so realign your plan as
necessary to adjust for such things
Make sure that dependent stories are scheduled with
or after the stories they depend on
13. Moving Forward
Once you have release plan then the rule is “one in –
one out”
You can handle any new story or story change as long
as the story has priority, size and dependency (time
and capacity should have been previously
determined)
Keep in mind that capacity can change as well –
determine a rough points/person and use it to
estimate increases/decreases in team size
