Rapid Release Planning

1. Rapid Release Planning Larry Apke Agile Expert www.agile-doctor.com larry@agile-doctor.com

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-planning • 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

5. Figure out timeframe • Sprint? • Release? • Plan Window? For example, 2 week sprints, 3 month release. Or 2 week sprints, 4 month “rolling release” plan, release every month.

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

14. Questions