I forgot to say that we use relative estimation and not absolute since absolute is never accurate - humans are very bad at estimating exactly how long things will take but very good at estimating relative sizes - i.e. is this bigger or smaller than the last. As a result we get teams to sort stories (think several tasks wrapped up into one package) in into boxes: Either Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large or 1,2,3,5,8,13,20,40... (emphasizing the larger things get the less precision there is). Then we use the actually amount of work achieved as a way of telling how much work you will likely get done in the future.
As to the critical path we don't manage it precisely. We let the team self organize. We believe that individuals can better organize themselves to solve problems than managers can tell them what to do. If there are large/blocking tasks then maybe team members will swarm them or use other innovative strategies to solve them. We just identify where the potential issues are and get out of a teams way. So as far as I'm concerned Gantt charting and the precise promises it makes are not realistic, when I've tried it I just spend a lot of time in MS Project trying to keep it up to date with the changing reality without providing either the team or myself with any real value. My goal is always to have the team focused on generating business value for the customer. Second goal is to help them stay focused on delivering what ever the customer thinks is most valuable at that moment in time. If I have a Gantt chart shifting priorities can be tough to manage. With a the agile approach where the a priorities are just a stack of cards (often literally) changing the priorities is just a matter of rearranging the list. Anyway I must run and deliver value to my customer. Cheers Mark On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 10:17 AM, XO <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for the link Mark, interesting approaches and concepts. Some of them > I will definitely use. > > How do you manage the critical path in Agile? > > On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 7:59 AM, Mark Levison <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> >> >> On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Richard Collings >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Agile people do like their little aphorisms. :-) >>> >> >> Thanks we like to think we're witty too. >> >>> >>> However, I am intrigued - how do you plan? Somebody says to you, 'when >>> can you get this done by?' how do you work it out? >>> >> >> Burn down charts and a cone of uncertainity - usually +/- 30%. >> >> Key points: >> - we don't track task hours, we track stories (sometimes we use sizes but >> just relative numbers not absolute i.e. no days) >> - we use the number of stories completed in a week (or a day if need be) >> as velocity. >> - we average the last three weeks (or iterations worth) to tell us how >> much we're getting done on average. >> - we use that to see how long it will take to get through the customer >> requirements (aka the backlog) >> - finally we use a cone of uncertainity that narrows as we get closer to >> being done (can't find a good picture right now). >> >> One approach with a lot of detail: >> http://alistair.cockburn.us/Earned-value+and+burn+charts >> >> Much more detail another time. I teach a three day course in Agile >> Software Development - Planning and Estimation is probably a half day. >> >> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> *From:* [email protected] [mailto: >>> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Mark Levison >>> *Sent:* 12 March 2009 4:50 p >>> *To:* [email protected] >>> *Subject:* [MLO] Re: Feature Request: gant view. >>> >>> What benefit would you (and the rest of us) derive from a Gnatt view? >>> >>> Part of what I do as an Agile Coach is wean people from their addiction >>> to MS Project and Gnatt views. I usually point out that Gnatt never tells >>> you when you will be done, only the first moment you won't be done. >>> >>> Cheers >>> Mark >>> >>> >>> On 3/11/09, mlo addict <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> I love using mlo but am missing a gantt view. I would like to request >>>> a gantt view like proj...@hand has. See >>>> http://www.natara.com/ProjectAtHand2/ScreenShots.cfm >>>> >>>> Kind regards, >>>> Mike >>>> >>>> Recent Entries: Agile/Scrum Smells: >>>> http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2008/06/agilescrum-smells.html >>>> Agile Games for Making Retrospectives Interesting: >>>> http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2008/10/agile-games-for-making-retrospectives-interesting.html >>>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Cheers >> Mark Levison >> Blog: http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/ >> Recent Entries: Agile/Scrum Smells: >> http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2008/06/agilescrum-smells.html >> Agile Games for Making Retrospectives Interesting: >> http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2008/10/agile-games-for-making-retrospectives-interesting.html >> >> >> > > > > -- Cheers Mark Levison Blog: http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/ Recent Entries: Agile/Scrum Smells: http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2008/06/agilescrum-smells.html Agile Games for Making Retrospectives Interesting: http://www.notesfromatooluser.com/2008/10/agile-games-for-making-retrospectives-interesting.html --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/myLifeOrganized?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
