Rapid Release Planning

Larry Apke Agile Expert

www.agile-doctor.comlarry@agile-doctor.com

Standing on the ShouldersPresented by Lee Henson Part of his CSM traininghttp://blog.agiledad.com/http://www.slideshare.net/agiledad/rapid-rele

ase-planningI have tweaked Lee’s methods some, but the

underlying concepts remain the same.

The 5 Things I Need to KnowTimeCapacity/VelocitySizePriorityDependencies

The Order to Do ThingsFigure 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 velocityAssign every story a relative sizeAssign every story a relative priorityFigure out dependencies among stories

Figure out timeframeSprint?Release?Plan Window?

For example, 2 week sprints, 3 month release. Or 2 week sprints, 4 month “rolling release” plan, release every month.

“Right-size” the backlogIf you haven’t done the work in the last ____

months, should it still be on the active backlog?

Make sure that known defects are includedSolicit stories for technical debt

Figure out capacity from velocityVelocity – past, Capacity – futureNeed 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

Figure out capacity from velocitySend 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

Figure out capacity from velocityTeam gives you sizes (easier than planning

poker), you convert to pointsTake all their responses and add to a

spreadsheetXS – 1, S – 2, M – 3, L – 5, XL – 8, XXL – 13,

XXXL – 20From these you will get velocity – project that

forward for future sprint capacity

Assign every story a relative sizeDo the same thing with future backlog items

that you did with past backlog itemsOne 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

Assign every story a relative priorityOnce 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

Generate release scheduleYou will want to plan as if dependencies do

not matterIn the real world they do so realign your plan

as necessary to adjust for such thingsMake sure that dependent stories are

scheduled with or after the stories they depend on

Moving ForwardOnce 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

Questions