Before moving to the next phase, the stakeholders have to agree on the scope of the project. A requirements definition document should also be defined in this phase. A business case should also be developed, and this should outline how the project makes sense to the organization.
The input to this Agile phase is the Project Business Case. The outputs from the phase include the Personas who are expected to take part in development of the project, a Prioritized Product Backlog, Done Criteria, Length of Sprint and Release Planning Schedule.
Plan and Estimate
In this phase, planning and the estimation of tasks is done. The phase takes its inputs from the outputs of the previous phase, which include Prioritized Product Backlog, Done Criteria and Personas. The following are the activities which are done in this phase:
1. Creation of user stories- this involves the creation of user stories and the associated User Story Acceptance Criteria. The Product Owner is the responsible for creation of the user stories, which will ensure that all stakeholders clearly understand all the user requirements.
2. Estimation and approval of user stories- the Product Owner has to approve the user stories for the sprint. The Agile Team then estimates the effort which is necessary for the user stories to be implemented. The Agile Team then makes a commitment to ensure that these user stories will be implemented.
3. Creation of Tasks- the committed user stories are further broken down to get a list of tasks.
4. Estimation of Tasks- the Agile Team determines the effort necessary for accomplishment of each task in the Task list, and Effort Estimated Task List is generated.
5. Creation of Sprint Backlog- this involves the creation of a Sprint backlog which outlines all activities which should be accomplished by the end of the sprint.
The outputs from this phase include the User Story Acceptance Criteria and Sprint Backlog. After the planning and estimation phase, the Agile Team moves to the next phase, which is the implementation phase.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios