Project management

Jun 6 2008   1:19PM GMT

Overheard: Agile project managers must be xenodochial

Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Project management, Agile development

Most agile coaches move around from team to team and need to fit in with different groups. Not only do they have to be approachable by different people, but they also have to ensure that what they say and how they act doesn’t work to exclude people. Patrick Kua, The Agile Coach, from A to Z

Jan 12 2008   4:36PM GMT

Agile Development Glossary

Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Project management, Pmo, Programming, Agile development, glossary

Alex Howard created a handy glossary for business owners who want to learn how to speak Agile to their PMO.

Acceptance Test:

An acceptance test confirms that an story is complete by matching a user action scenario with a desired outcome. Acceptance testing is also called beta testing, application testing, and end user testing.

Agile Software Development:

Agile software development is a methodology for the creative process that anticipates the need for flexibility and applies a level of pragmatism into the delivery of the finished product. Agile software development (ASD) focuses on keeping code simple, testing often, and delivering functional bits of the application as soon as they’re ready.

Customer:

In agile software development, a customer is a person with an understanding of both the business needs and operational constraints for a project. The customer provides guidance during development on what priorities should be emphasized.

Domain Model:

A domain model describes the application domain responsible for creating a shared language between business and IT.

Iteration:

An iteration is a single development cycle, usually measured as one week or two weeks. An iteration may also be defined as the elapsed time between iteration planning sessions.

Planning Board:

A planning board is used to track the progress of an agile develoment project. After iteration planning, stories are written on cards and pinned up in priority order on a planning board located in the development area. Development progress is marked on story cards during the week and reviewed daily.

Planning Game:

A planning game is a meeting attended by both IT and business teams that is focused on choosing stories for a release or iteration. Story selection is based upon which estimates of which stories will provide the most business value given development estimates.

Release:

A release is a deployable software package that is culmination of several iterations of development. Releases can be made before the end of an iteration.

Release Plan:

A release plan is an evolving flowchart that describes which features will be delivered in upcoming releases. Each story in a release plan has a rough size estimate associated with it.

Spike:

A spike is a story that cannot be estimated until a development team runs a time-boxed investigation. The output of a spike story is an estimate for the original story.

Stand-up:

A stand-up is a daily progress meeting, traditionally held within a development area. Business customers may attend for the purpose of gathering information. The term “standup” is derived from the way it is run all attendees must remain standing to keep it short and the team engaged.

Story:

A story is a particular business need assigned to the software development team. Stories must be broken down into small enough components that they may be delivered in a single development iteration.

Timebox:

A timebox is a defined period of time during which a task must be accomplished. Timeboxes are commonly used in agile software development to manage software development risk. Development teams are repeatedly tasked with producing a releasable improvement to software, timeboxed to a specific number of weeks.

Velocity:

Velocity is the budget of story units available for planning the next iteration of a development project. Velocity is based on measurements taken during previous iteration cycles. Velocity is calculated by adding the original estimates of the stories that were successfully
delivered in an iteration.

Wiki:

A wiki is a server program that allows users to collaborate in forming the
content of a Web site. With a wiki, any user can edit the site content, including other users’ contributions, using a regular Web browser.

Jan 8 2008   3:05PM GMT

Overheard: Who should the PMO report to?

Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Technology, Project management

Where should the PMO exist and report to? Since most companies have a lot of projects located in the information technology (IT) area, this becomes a natural place to locate the PMO. Bob Turek, Choosing the Right PMO Vision Series

The line that stuck in my head from Bob’s post was: Usually something painful drives the creation, or reevaluation, of a PMO.

Amen.