8 - Agile & Hybrid Management Terminology Flashcards
Acceptance Criteria
Customer identified functionality written in enough detail to validate product performance.
Objective criteria that determines if the story achieves the value it represents.
Acceptance Test
Activities that validate that the features perform in accordance with customer defined functionality.
Activity
The Agile term for TASK.
Adaptive PMLC Model
(Project Management Life Cycle)
A change-tolerant life cycle model used for projects where the details of the expected result (solution) are incomplete and/or not well-defined and some functionality is incomplete and/or not well-defined.
An example of an adaptive PMLC Model is an APF (Adaptive Project Framework) project.
Agile
An iterative software development approach, expressed in a variety of methodologies, which embraces incremental delivery, flexiblity, cross-functional and self-organizing teams, direct customer-developer communication and collaboration, and frequent inspection and adaptation.
Agile Coach
An experienced leader who consistently directs team members to move beyond the performance of Agile practices and adopt Agile thinking.
Agile Development
Life Cycle
A comprehensive elaboration that includes continuous integration, refactoring, acceptance testing, cross-functional teams, planning poker, burnup charts, information radiators, and burndown charts.
Agile Manifesto
Declaration of values and principals for Agile development including prioritizing individuals over processes and working software over extensive documentation.
Agile Model
A barely sufficient representation that is free from error, understandable, unembellished and coherent.
Agile Planning
The processes and practices that result in flexible and effective management of a project and include a vision and roadmap among other artifacts.
Agreement
A Scrum term used to describe the agreement between a product owner and the team that includes the definition of done, the acceptance criteria, and any general agreements.
Can be applied to stories, capabilities, sprints, and releases.
Artifact
Something made by the team for the project, especially something that may be reused.
Backlog
An evolving list of customer-prioritized stories, tasks, and bugs that have not been completed and are not being worked on during the current iteration.
Backlog Item
Any story, task, or bug that has not been completed and is not being worked on during the current iteration.
Backlog Refinement
(also referred to as Backlog Grooming or Backlog Maintenance)
Continuously updating the prioritized product backlog to reflect any changes, including adding new items, removing items that are no longer appropriate, re-prioritizing existing items as necessary, and refining/cleaning user stories to get them ready for planning and execution.
Bug
A code defect or error.
Burndown Chart
A graphical representation of the work (represented by story points for a release and hours for an iteration) remaining over time.
Burnup Chart
A graphical representation of the work that has been completed over time plotted against the total work.
Capacity
The amount of work that can be completed in a defined time period taking into consideration the need to perform administrative tasks, the need to perform other work, and absence.
Change Management
A proactive approach to controlling, communicating and responding effectively to fluctuations.
Colocation
The desirable state of working in close proximity to promote face-to-face communication.
Context Model
A graphical representation of the system within the overall environment.
Continuous Integration
The process of assimilating newly developed iterations into the existing system at frequent intervals via an automated and tested build, so that any faults can be quickly determined and corrected.
Core Team
Group composed of cross-functional team members with varying levels of Agile knowledge; typically comprised of a sponsor, project management, developers, quality assurance personnel, architecture expert, product manager, and business knowledge experts.
Cross-Functional Team
A group whose members collectively provide the skills required to complete the project.
Daily Scrum
Team meeting held on a daily basis used to share the daily reality:
1. What have you done since the last daily scrum?
2. What will you do until the next daily scrum?
3. What impediments stand in your way?
…and to adapt to that reality, which usually involves an immediate re-planning meeting and additional meetings (based on the availability of team members, what technical debt was revealed, and other information that impacts today’s work).
Dashboard
An information radiator that contains graphical representations depicting progress, trends, and identification of potential issues.
Data-Flow Diagram (DFD)
Graphical representation depicting the movement of data between processes, objects, and storage within the system.
Definition of Done
A Scrum team representing the object criteria used to determine if a story meets internal standards/constraints.
Demo
A working version of the product shown to the customer at the end of an iteration to evidence work done and solicit feedback.
Development Team
A self-organizing, cross-functional group of individuals who do the work of the project including analysis, design, development, testing, technical communication, and documentation.
Distributed Team
A team working on same project whose members are physically located in separate work sites or locations.
Elevator Statement
The synopsis of a concept, such as the purpose of a project, which can be expressed in thirty seconds or so.
Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ)
The capacity to acknowledge and effectively manage feelings in onself and others.
Empirical Process Control
The continuous inspection and adaptation of procedures to ensure any variances in output are within acceptable limits.
Epic
A large story, usually undeveloped, that needs to be decomposed into smaller stories.
Feature
Business functionality comprised of one or more user stories.
Fibonacci Sequence
A series of numbers that begins with 0 and 1, and then is expanded by adding the two previous numbers together: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…
Flow
The rate of value delivery to the customer.
Impediment
Anything that prevents the team from working efficiently and effectively.
Impediment Backlog
An evolving list of impediments that have not been completed and are not being worked on during the current iteration.
Increment
Consecutive changes that increase the amount or value of something.
Information Radiator
A wall in the common workspace that contains highly visible, graphic representations of progress.
Inspect and Adapt
The practice of inspecting a solution at pre-determined stages and, based upon the inspection results, making improvements (adaptations).
Interdependent Stories
User stories that, considered together, solve a problem.
INVEST
An acronym that stands for the rules that define a user stroy.
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Small
Testable
Issue
A disputed or unsettled condition.
Issue Log
A project document that tracks elements which cause stakeholder concern or dissension.
Iteration Demo
A working version of the product shown to the customer at the end of an iteration to evidence work done and solicit feedback.
Kanban
An evloutionary, incremental process improvement method.
Kanban System
A pull system that uses virtual signal cards.
Kano Analysis
A model for customer satisfaction that categorizes features as -
Must Have’s
Linear (the more, the better)
Exciters/Delighters
Dissatisfiers
Lean
A methodology that emphasizes the elimiation of waste, producing only what is valuable to the customer.
Lean-Agile
The blending of complimentary methodologies that emphasize:
Inspection and adaptation
Elimination of waste
Building in Quality
Creation of knowledge
Lost Iteration
An iteration that does not result in a deliverable.
MMF
(Minimum Marketable Feature)
The smallest unit of functionality required for the customer to realize value.
Model
A representation of potential solutions to a problem or to one or more aspects of a problem.
MoSCoW
A model for prioritization that categorizes features as -
Must Have
Should Have
Could Have
Won’t Have
Muda
An unproductive activity.
Osmotic Communication
The indirect absorption of information, often by being present, but not participating, during conversations.
Pair Programming
An eXtreme programming practice that pairs two programmers at one stations, typically with one programmer coding (driver) and one reviewing (navigator); an excellent cross-training device.
Persona
A fictional character, created by the team to portray a user, used as a reference for determining the viability of a product.
Physical Prototype
A representation of the actual environment in which the product will function.
Planning Poker
A game played with cards representing tasks that uses Delphi, a method where each team member estimates the size of a task and after a series of discussions, the team arrives at a consensus for task size estimation.
Product
An assortment of incorporated features, both tangible and intangible, that offer value to a customer.
Product Owner
The primary business representative who manages the vision and ROI and has the authority to make decisions.
Also called -
Product Champion
Voice of the Customer
Product Review
A Scrum term used to describe an end-of-the-sprint meeting where the team reviews work results with the stakeholders and the stakeholders provide feedback to the team.
Product Roadmap
The description of how the project will proceed from its current state to the state described in the vision statement.
Product Vision
A statement written by the product owner/customer that describes the desired future state expected to be achieved as the result of the project.
Used in lieu of the project charter used for traditional projects.
Programmer-Coach
A person, typically a senior programmer, who guides the team in applying XP practices.
POC
(Proof of Concept)
A model built to test a concept.
A prototype.
RAD
(Rapid Application Development)
An iterative software methodology that relies on rapid prototyping to offset minimal planning.
RUP
(Rational Unified Process)
An iterative development framework that allows teams to customize the development process.
Refactoring
Making changes to the source code that will not alter functionality, but will improve readability and reduce complexity in order to improve the maintainability.
Regression Testing
Activities run prior to release that comprehensively validate that the system is defect free and to ensure that new code segments have not corrupted the existing code.
Relative Estimation
Assessing the size and complexity of a story by comparing it to previously assessed stories.
Release
A deployable software package that incorporates several iterations.
Release Backlog
The list of user stories, features, and bugs scheduled for the current release.
Release Burndown Chart
A graphical representation of the work, represented by story points, remaining in the release.
Release Planning
Defining the prioritized and estimated stories from the product backlog that will be developed in the release and determining the date of the release.
Release Testing
The process of evaluating the product to determine that it is suitable for use.
Typically includes requires passing acceptance, functional and integration tests.
Research Spike
A technical investigation used to minimize risk and uncertainty.
Sometimes referred to as an analysis task.
Retrospective
A meeting held at the end of each iteration in which the team discusses what worked, what didn’t and what could be improved.
Roadmap
A document that contains the high-level plan of the features that will be developed during the next few releases.
The product owner/customer owns and maintains the document.
Sandbox
An environment that confines the impact of errors to as few people as possible.
Typically divided into -
Development
Project Integration
Demo
QA
Production
Scrum
An Agile methodology that delivers finished increments of a product at the end of each Spring (a timeboxed iteration with a duration of 1-4 weeks).
ScrumMaster
The servant leader and facilitator who ensures that the Scrum process is followed, that Scrum is used in a positive way by the team, and that the team is continually improving in its use of Scrum.
Scrum of Scrums
A planning forum used in multiple-team projects to coordinate resources and dependencies.
Scrum Roles
A person’s identity within the project such as a product owner, ScrumMaster, or Scrum team.
Scrum Team
A self-organizing, cross-functional group of individuals who do the work of the Scrum.
Scrum Values
Openness, focus, commitment, courage, visibility and humor.
Self-Adapting
Modification of a process as quickly as needed to bring greater efficiency and effectiveness to the project.
Self-Organization
A management philosophy that delegates work related decisions to those closest to the work.
Servant Leader
A leader whose focus is on providing what the team needs, removing roadblocks, and performing tasks that will support and improve team productivity.
Situational Leadership
The adaptation of leadership to the task at hand and in consideration of the maturity of the team.
SMART Goals Activity
Objects that are:
Specific
Measureable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely
Spike
A short, timeboxed research effort that is necessary to estimate the size of a specific story, usually a technical story.
Sprint Backlog
The list of stories scheduled for the current iteration.
Sprint Planning
A meeting between the product owner and the team to prioritize and identify stories for the next Sprint.
Sprint Retrospective Meeting
A meeting held at the end of each Sprint in which the ScrumMaster and the team discuss what went well and what could be improved during the next Spring.
Part of the inspect and adapt philosophy.
Sprint Review
An informal meeting at the end of the Sprint to demonstrate to the product owner what was accomplished during the Spring.
Sprint Task
A manageable unit of work decomposed from a story and estimated in hours.
Sprint Team
A self-organizing, cross-functional team that includes the product owner, developers and testers.
Story
A document describing a unit of functionality written is business language that is used as the basis of conversation between the product owner and the team to elicit functionality details.
Story Board
A Scrum term used to describe a team tool that lists the sprint tasks ordered by story.
Story Point
A measurement that defines the size and complexity of a story/user story relative to a previously estimated story/user story.
Subject Matter Expert
Any person who has deep, specialized knowledge of a subject.
Swarm
The assignment of all capable team members to a specific task with a high priority.
Task
A decomposed portion of a story/user story.
Task Board
A surface upon which tasks written on cards are grouped under their user stories and pinned in priority order.
Used to track the progress of a project.
Task List
The list of tasks assigned to the current iteration.
Team Dynamics
The manner in which team members interact with each other.
Team War Room
The area where the team works, customer meetings take place, and, to promote transparency, a visual representation of project activities, data, and ideas are accesible to everyone in the room.
Team Work Agreement
A document created by the team, and facilitated by the project manager, that lists 10-15 commitments that relate to team work, e.g., the work isnt’ done until it meets our definition of done.
Team-Building
Activities or exercises that promote molding a group of individuals into a team.
Technical Debt
An obligation incurred as a result of an opportunistic design or architectural approach which results in complexity and increased costs in the long term.
Can also refer to code that will be difficult to maintain as a result of ignoring the definition of done, writing poor code, or writing poor tests.
Test Case
The set of conditions or variables used to evaluate the completion status and acceptability of work.
TDD
(Test-Driven Development)
A methodology, reliant on short developmental cycles, where code validation is written before the code is written.
Tester
The person responsible for validating and verifying that the product is done and is acceptable.
Timeboxing
Allotting a fixed period of time to an activity.
Unit Test
Activities that validate the smallest testable parts of the system.
Use Case
A document that defines how the user will interact with the product and how the product will respond to the user.
UAT
(User Acceptance Test)
Activities that validate that the product behaves in accordance with the user stories.
User Roles
An aggregation of attributes that characterize a group of users.
User Story
A document describing a unit of functionality written in business language that is used as the basis of conversation between the product owner/customer and the team to elicit functionality details.
A user story is -
1. Independent
2. Negotiable
3. Valuable
4. Estimable
5. Small
6. Testable
Value Stream Mapping
The identification of the process steps to analyze, design, build and deploy a product.
Tools are available to execute this process.
Value-Added
Extra features that make a product more desirable, but add little or nothign to the cost.
Velocity
The rate at which stories are completed during an iteration, typically measured in story points.
Also known as Team Velocity.
Vision Statement
A document that defines the goal of the project, typically referencing the target customer, the need or opportunity, and the key benefit.
Often includes the main alternative to the project and why the project goal is more desirable.
Waste
Anything that does not add value for the customer.
WIP Constraint
Any limitation to a work in progress.
WIP
(Work In Progress)
Software that is in the process of development, but has not yet been deployed.
Calculated by multiplying throughput (rate at which items pass through the system) by lead time (time between two successive deliveries).
Work Product
Artifact created during development that is typically thrown away or converted into a deliverable.
