Why Agile Works

Your Estimates Are Always Wrong

Why Estimates Are Wrong

• An estimate is just our best guess, therefore it is always going to be wrong.
• How much it is wrong will depend on how early in the project we are performing the estimates and how high our knowledge of the project's Scope and other constraints are.

Imrpoving Estimates

Improving Estimates

• Estimate an activity as close as possible to when it will be done
• Involve as many subject matter experts in the estimating process as much as possible
• Break work activity down into smaller bits for easier estimating
• Have a clear understanding of what needs to be done and the deliverables

Why Agile Works When Estimating

• Agile projects are only planned and estimated in detail as the task is coming in the next few weeks (high level estimates can still be done earlier)
• What this does is actually apply a form of rolling wave planning and reduces the wasted effort by detailed estimating too early in the project

My Tips For Applying Agile For Estimating

Estimate Shorter Horizons

• Agile projects are only planned and estimated in detail as the task is coming in the next few weeks (high level estimates can still be done earlier). What this does is actually apply a form of rolling wave planning and reduces the wasted effort by detailed estimating too early in the project

Involve More Experts

• Agile projects are planned and estimated by the project team (who would of thought that including more people than just the Project Manager would be a good idea?). This means that we take the aggregated estimates of the whole team as the basis for the estimate, which means we have an improved chance of a higher quality estimate because the team of experts has agreed a reasonable estimate

Reduce Estimating Unkwowns

• Agile planning sessions break work down into short bursts, usually 2 weeks. This means that an activity can’t be more than 2 weeks worth of effort, thus reduces the horizon in which we are trying to forecast

Clear Definition of Done

• Agile approaches to estimating also place a high importance of understanding the “Definition of Done” (DoD), which is a really simple what of saying, “what does this piece of work need to do in order to be accepted”? It also means that each piece of work is broken down to a small enough activity that this DoD can be easily articulated

Project Scope Will Always Change

Why Scope Changes

• This all comes down to the fact that we generally don’t know what we don’t know and a project plan is full of assumptions, risks and constraints that are largely unknown.
• Add this to a long list of changing requirements from the business or customers and we have a huge amount of potential changes

Reducing Scope Change Impact

Involve You Customer

• Work closely with your sponsors and customers to understand their needs firsthand, even better, let the project team work with the customer as well

Restrict Detailed Planning

• Don’t plan in detail too far in advance, otherwise when things change, there is less wasted effort

Make Change Easy

• Adopt a process that makes changes fluid and easy, reduce the need for length project change documentation and monthly meetings

Why Agile Works For Managing Change

• The reason why Agile works for managing change, is because change is built right in to the framework
• Change is assumed and embraced. This is because a key driver for Agile is putting the customer first

My Tips For Scope Change In Agile

Prioritise Work Around Value

• When prioritising the work activities, base it on the value to the business or the customer, not on order a preference that the team wishes to work on and involve the customer or sponsors into the the planning sessions

Plan In 2-6 Week Blocks

• Have a high level plan, but only plan in detail 6 weeks out. That way if priorities change, you wont have wasted too much effort in planning during uncertainty

Have Sprint & Project Goals

• Have a clear goal for the project and each 2 week block and continue to deliver mini goals. When priorities change, ensure they still fit the project goals