Garbage In, Gorilla Out- An Agile Business Planning methodology

© 2012 J Bancroft-Connors

Hogarth

Garbage In

Gorilla Out

Start with knowingBefore doing




FORD Edsel






RMS Titanic


N e w C o k e

Bic

Co

lga

te

P e t


Garbage In

Garbage Out


"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”

- Isaac Newton


Mike Cohn, Mountain Goat Software

3.4) The product shall have a gasoline-powered engine.3.5) The product shall have four wheels.

3.5.1) The product shall have a rubber tire mounted to each wheel.

3.6) The product shall have a steering wheel.3.7) The product shall have a steel body.3.8) The product shall be red




What Do We Do?



1- Define

2- Outline

3- Stories

Release Planning

Iteration Planning

Daily Stand Ups

4- Estimate

6- Reflect

5- Order

GiGo Planning Loop


Stage 0- Prologue

Point A Point Z


The Product Owner


The Cast & Crew


The Agile Business Team


TheAgile Business Team

Product Sponsor Customer (or voice of)

Related Product Managers Customer Support

Technical Experts (Architects/Developers)

Marketing

Agile Coach/Facilitator Sales


Stage 1- Defining the Product




Elevator Test FormatFor (target customer)Who (statement of need or opportunity)The (product name) is a (product category)That (key benefit, compelling reason to buy)Unlike (primary competitive alternative)Our product (statement of primary differentiation)

For midsized companies’ distribution warehouses who need advanced carton movement functionality, the Supply-Robot is a robotically controlled system that provivides dynamic warehouse reallocation and truck loading of multisized cartons that reduces distribution costs and loading time. Unlike competitive product, our product is a highly automated and aggressively priced.


Stage 2- Layout the Outline


User Identification


Funchal

Forest Starr & Kim Starr

Story Brainstorming


Activity Timeline


Vertical Decomposition


Stage 3- The Stories“Promise for a future conversation.”

- Ron Jeffries, Co-Founder of XP


You have to INVEST in your user stories.

What makes a Best Seller?

Independent

Negotiable

Valuable

Estimable

Sized right

Testable


What is a Story not?

Stories are not:…“mini” Use Cases…a complete specification…a contract…intended to be interpreted without a Product Owner

Manager

EPICS: One SIZE DOESN’T

Are usually compound Stories, that can be broken down into several smaller, more focused storiesMay encompass enough work for several Sprints (iterations)

VisionUse CasesEpicsUser StoriesDeveloper StoriesTasks


Epic Breakdown

“I’m not sure I understand this, can you be more specific?” “That’s awfully fuzzy, I’m not sure what to do.” “This is at least three months of work!”“We can’t make this smaller, it won’t fit in the sprint.”


Epic Breakdown

Find the Conjunctions- At every “and”, “or,” “before,” etc., you make a new story.Generic Words- Narrow the ambiguity of ‘fuzzy’ words to create many stories. (I.E. log into PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad)Reverse the Acceptance- Your acceptance criteria can become stories. (I.E. Must have room service in a hotel becomes a story)Time Line- How does done look, in order? Do we have all the pieces? “And then what happens?”



Is it Cooked Yet?If you can’t measure it, how do you know if it is Rare or Well Done?

NEVER TOO EARLY:As a meat lover I want variety so that I will keep coming back to my favorite restaurant.

- Provides meat from many (5+) global locations- Kitchen equipped with grills, stoves, ovens for various cooking methods- Comfortable dining conditions- Complimentary extras

Bev Sykes

http://flickr.com/photos/11399912@N00


Stage 4- Estimating


Story Point Estimating

=

= =

=3

8

8

13


Not just for Engineers


Everything is a P0

=

= =

=P1

P0

P0

P0


Business Value

=

= =

=


Business Value Estimating

=

= =

=v?c3

v?c8

v?c8

v?c13


Say No to Planning Poker


Focus is on each individual Story.Unconscious value is nearly impossible to not assign.Can easily dive into the implementation details.


Team Estimation Game

Fully team interactive- there are no silent riders

Relativistic Estimating- each story is compared to those around it

Focuses on complexity- is the DB harder or easier to code than the UI




Easy Hard

See? No Story Points yet.


Easy Hard


Easy Hard


Easy Hard

Nope, still no Story Points.


Easy Hard


Easy Hard


1 212 3 5 8 13


Low Value

HighValue

FlickrLickr`carpetcleaninglosangeles.net/ Ildar Sagdejev Citizen D

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:FlickrLickr

http://carpetcleaninglosangeles.net/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Specious



http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Citizen_D&action=edit&redlink=1

Stage 5- Order- One Backlog to Rule Them All -


• As a stressed traveler, I want to have my body relaxed, so that I can enjoy the rest of my trip.

The Final User Story

V

13C

5E

1


1- Define

2- Outline

3- Stories

Release Planning

Iteration Planning

Daily Stand Ups

4- Estimate

6- Reflect

5- Order

GiGo Planning Loop


1- Define

2- Outline

3- Stories

Design

Develop

Test

4- Estimate

6- Reflect

5- Order

GiGo Waterfall

Ship It


1- Define

2- Outline

3- Stories

Release Planning

Iteration Planning

Daily Stand Ups

4- Estimate

6- Reflect

5- Order

Agile BusinessPlanning


REFERENCES:“Users Stories Applied”, Mike Cohen

“Agile Estimating and Planning”, Mike Cohen“Agile Project Management”, Jim Highsmith

User Stories:http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/user-storieshttp://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/userStory.htm http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/27-advantages-of-user-stories-for-requirements

Personas: http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/personas.htm Other: http://www.agilelearninglabs.com

Joel and Hogarth can be found at: http://thegorillacoach.com [email protected]

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/user-stories

http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/userStory.htm

http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/userStory.htm

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/27-advantages-of-user-stories-for-requirements

http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/27-advantages-of-user-stories-for-requirements

http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/personas.htm

http://www.agilelearninglabs.com/

http://thegorillacoach.com/

mailto:[email protected]

Garbage In, Gorilla Out- An Agile Business Planning methodology

Technology

rubber tire

daily stand

bad clip art

agile learning

externally

gigo planning

tropical beach

detailed user