Cultivating Agile Requirements Mark Wavle, CBAP, PSM Elicit Agile words from the audience Talk about how the picture represents some important Agile words: team, collaboration, agility, speed

The Agile Manifesto We Value: The Mission Statement over Individuals and Interactions Process and Tools Working Software Comprehensive Documentation <?> Ask: How many know what/have read/can quote the Agile Manifesto? Do not read whole Manifesto! Emphasize: People, Collaboration, Value Customer Collaboration Contract Negotiation Responding to Change Following a Plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Scrum Framework <?> Ask: What is the most popular implementation/method/framework of Agile? (Scrum) Product Backlog is input into the Scrum process, which produces a working, valuable increment of software. The input is critical to this process, so we will focus on it

Product Backlog List of all remaining desired features for the product Ordered / stack ranked (1 to n…) Each feature expressed as a Product Backlog Item Visible to all stakeholders Product Backlog changes constantly throughout development of the product

0:00 – 0:13 Intro 0:14 – 0:50 Change Type #1: Reprioritize 0:51 – 1:13 Change Type #2: Remove 1:14 – 1:29 Change Type #3: Pull into Sprint <?> Ask: Why is it important to invest the most time in items at the top of the list? / Why not invest a lot of time into items at the bottom of the list? (Don’t want to incur waste) Tell Story / cannot have whole backlog matured We will outline a 3 step process to mature your product backlog items at the right time What does a mature PBI look like? Depends on your environment.

Definition of Ready A ready item is: Clear Feasible Testable Step 1: Define the goal state (a mature backlog item) Clear = team has shared understanding of meaning Feasible = can be completed in a Sprint Testable = functionality works as expected Product backlog grooming should result in 'ready' items The INVEST criteria is another helpful model to define what a mature backlog item looks like

Questions for Backlog Items What is the idea? How does the user benefit? How important is it? What high-level items can we do in the next 6-12 months? How big is it? What specific items can we do in the next 1-3 Sprints? How are we going to implement it? How will we know it is done? Step 2: Identify the questions that are asked of your Backlog Items as they mature These are questions that our Backlog Items must be able to answer as they mature Again, we cannot have the answers to all of these questions for every Backlog Item all the time We need to answer these questions just in time (lean) Put the questions in order – general to specific Observe the patterns of questions and when they need to be answered, then use this to identify the stages your Backlog Items go through

Discuss with stakeholder Analyze and decompose Identify Acceptance Criteria Identify test data Document idea Estimate (t-shirt sizes) Estimate (story points) Complete UX/UI design Identify user benefit Step 3: Name & define the stages <?> Ask: Who can think of some ideas of things in the real world that have stages of maturity/growth? People, Education, Plants In this model, we will use the plant metaphor. Walk thru model Add maturity as an attribute on PBI, then use attribute to find PBI that need attention (i.e. - #8 in our Product Backlog is only a Sprout…it needs attention) Review the 3 steps The plant metaphor is a cycle, which equates to the feedback loop we seek in Agile. The seeds of the next Backlog Items are included in the fruit/bloom of the last Backlog Item Identify dependencies Work dependencies Legal, compliance, security reviews Prioritize Identify place in 6-12 month plan Identify place in next 1-3 Sprints Plan for team delivery Free-form User Story Acceptance Criteria Supplementary artifacts, wireframes

Techniques to Mature Backlog Items Backlog Grooming Sessions Ensures whole team understands backlog items as they are matured Estimating/Sizing Drives whole-team understanding of each item as it is sized Splitting Backlog Items Splits items so they deliver value and fit within one Sprint Modeling Visually Encourages conversation and collaboration while ensuring the whole team understands the item

Highlight any additional resources that may be helpful (local groups, Cardinal events, handouts, etc.) Thank You Mark Wavle Email: mwavle@cardinalsolutions.com Twitter: @wavle