Detailed, Proven Techniques for Estimating and Planning Any Agile Project
Agile Estimating and Planning is the definitive, practical guide to estimating and planning agile projects. In this book, Agile Alliance cofounder Mike Cohn discusses the philosophy of agile estimating and planning and shows you exactly how to get the job done, with real-world examples and case studies.
Concepts are clearly illustrated and readers are guided, step by step, toward how to answer the following questions: What will we build? How big will it be? When must it be done? How much can I really complete by then? You will first learn what makes a good plan-and then what makes it agile.
Using the techniques in Agile Estimating and Planning, you can stay agile from start to finish, saving time, conserving resources, and accomplishing more. Highlights include:
- Why conventional prescriptive planning fails and why agile planning works
- How to estimate feature size using story points and ideal days—and when to use each
- How and when to re-estimate
- How to prioritize features using both financial and nonfinancial approaches
- How to split large features into smaller, more manageable ones
- How to plan iterations and predict your team’s initial rate of progress
- How to schedule projects that have unusually high uncertainty or schedule-related risk
- How to estimate projects that will be worked on by multiple teams
Agile Estimating and Planning supports any agile, semiagile, or iterative process, including Scrum, XP, Feature-Driven Development, Crystal, Adaptive Software Development, DSDM, Unified Process, and many more. It will be an indispensable resource for every development manager, team leader, and team member.
Agile Estimating and Planning | Mike Cohn (Author)| Prentice Hall
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I. The Problem and the Goal
Chapter 1. The Purpose of Planning
Chapter 2. Why Planning Fails
Chapter 3. An Agile Approach
Part II. Estimating Size
Chapter 4. Estimating Size with Story Points
Chapter 5. Estimating in Ideal Days
Chapter 6. Techniques for Estimating
Chapter 7. Re-Estimating
Chapter 8. Choosing between Story Points and Ideal Days
Part III. Planning for Value
Chapter 9. Prioritizing Themes
Chapter 10. Financial Prioritization
Chapter 11. Prioritizing Desirability
Chapter 12. Splitting User Stories
Part IV. Scheduling
Chapter 13. Release Planning Essentials
Chapter 14. Iteration Planning
Chapter 15. Selecting an Iteration Length
Chapter 16. Estimating Velocity
Chapter 17. Buffering Plans for Uncertainty
Chapter 18. Planning the Multiple-Team Project
Part V. Tracking and Communicating
Chapter 19. Monitoring the Release Plan
Chapter 20. Monitoring the Iteration Plan
Chapter 21. Communicating about Plans
Part VI. Why Agile Planning Works
Chapter 22. Why Agile Planning Works
Part VII. A Case Study
Chapter 23. A Case Study. Bomb Shelter Studios
Reference List
Index
LINK FOR THE BOOK
