Agile Software Projects: Estimation Methods

IN THIS COURSE

• 1.  Course Overview
  1m 46s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about the course and the instructor. In this course, you’ll learn how Agile applies to the whole organization by becoming part of the culture. You’ll also learn why team involvement is important in the estimation process, and estimation techniques for determining the scope of work. Finally, you’ll discover some of the key questions that should be asked during the estimation process, and the pitfalls of using Agile estimation techniques. FREE ACCESS
• 2.  Organizational Agile
  9m 9s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about organizational Agile. You’ll learn this refers to an entire organization geared toward being quick and efficient at adapting to change in the marketplace. An agile organization is customer-focused at all levels. They respond proactively to customer needs by using the latest processes and tools to determine where the market is headed. Their solutions are customized to their customer's needs. FREE ACCESS
• 3.  Building an Agile Culture
  5m 29s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about what makes a successful Agile organization. First, you’ll learn that to build an Agile culture you need to change the organizational structure. You need to eliminate existing hierarchies because an Agile organization has a flat hierarchy. This means that instead of a few people holding the most power over decisions, teams are self-organizing and empowered to make their own decisions. FREE ACCESS
• 4.  Agile Team Involvement
  8m 25s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about getting everyone in an Agile team involved during meetings, particularly when estimating work. You’ll learn this is harder than it looks because people often find communicating their thoughts and wants challenging. Fostering open communication and involvement in meetings can help. You’ll discover an effective technique is offering people options to choose from. This is a technique used in Agile estimation meetings. It gives options for estimating work. FREE ACCESS
• 5.  Agile Estimation Methods
  8m 24s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about Agile estimation methods. You’ll discover Agile estimation methods attempt to improve on traditional forms of estimation in several ways. Agile estimates aim to be less complex. By breaking down work, Agile teams can give estimates on simpler scopes of work. By removing complexity, the estimation becomes faster and more efficient. Agile estimation methods follow simple explainable rules. FREE ACCESS
• 6.  Agile Story Points
  7m 42s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about the essential estimate unit of measure in Agile, the Agile story point. You’ll learn that unlike traditional estimating, which is focused on time, Agile estimation is focused on the total effort it will take to complete a task. This is why story points are not measured in hours or weeks. You’ll discover story points don't have a formal unit of measure. They're a relative measure of effort. FREE ACCESS
• 7.  Agile Planning Poker
  5m 16s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about a popular method of estimation in Agile, Planning Poker. You’ll learn Planning Poker is consensus-based. It takes all participants’ input into consideration to come up with an estimate on a user story. It's used to estimate the stories in the product backlog. These estimates help the team measure their velocity and plan how many stories they can pull into a sprint. FREE ACCESS
• 8.  Agile Dot Voting
  6m 16s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about Dot Voting. You’ll learn Dot Voting lets your team prioritize a small number of items. It’s useful for prioritizing items from epics down to individual technical tasks for a user story. It's a group activity, allowing the group members to participate equally in the process. Essentially, participants are presented with a few options such as user stories. They use dots to vote on their priorities. FREE ACCESS
• 9.  Agile Bucket System
  6m 16s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about the Bucket System. You’ll learn the Bucket System leads to consistency in how stories are estimated because it relies heavily on relative comparison of stories. The system also relies on discussion among team members to determine how stories are distributed. It's a useful approach for categorizing stories by their relative complexity. The Bucket System works if you have many items or user stories to estimate. FREE ACCESS
• 10.  Agile versus Traditional Methods
  7m 27s
  In this video, you’ll compare Agile estimation methods with traditional estimation methods. You’ll learn one thing these methods of estimation have in common is that they generate estimates that are critical to informing the budget and scope of a project, aspects central to a project’s feasibility. These estimates act as a baseline for tracking and measuring progress throughout the project. First, you’ll look at a common approach in Agile methodologies for estimating, relative estimation. FREE ACCESS
• 11.  Agile Estimating Key Questions
  7m 19s
  In this video, you’ll learn more about Agile estimating. You’ll learn more about what you need to consider to make Agile estimation a success. In an Agile process, you'll have features of different stages of clarity at any given time. There's no way to know what might change as you go forward with a project. The level of unknown and the time frame may affect how you estimate. Agile estimation is designed to mitigate unknowns. FREE ACCESS
• 12.  Agile Estimation Pitfalls
  4m 47s
  In this video, you’ll learn what can go wrong in Agile estimations, and how to avoid these pitfalls. You’ll learn that by avoiding the confusion and doubts these pitfalls cause, you’ll keep the team focused and productive. This also helps keep the team and stakeholders connected. Many Agile teams use story points to estimate user stories. Story points are an internal measure of effort, but they're often abused. Story points aren’t a measure of productivity. FREE ACCESS
• 13.  Planning Poker in Action
  8m 25s
  In this video, you’ll go through an example of poker planning. This will give you a feel for how it works in practice. You’ll remember planning poker is performed prior to the start of the iteration or sprint. It determines what will be in the sprint. Before planning poker can occur, you must select the user stories to estimate. These will typically be the highest priority stories currently in the product backlog.   FREE ACCESS
• 14.  Course Summary
  1m 1s
  In this video, you’ll review what you’ve learned in this course. In this course, you’ve examined how Agile software requirement methods can be used to estimate project scope. You explored the challenges of transforming to an Agile organization and building the culture. You also learned about Agile team involvement in estimating and models of estimation, Agile story points, Planning Poker, Dot Voting, and Bucket System estimation methods. FREE ACCESS