Agile ways of working

Question 1

Daily standup

Answer 1

Daily, time-boxed event of 15 minutes, or less, for the development team to re-plan the next day of work during a sprint. Updates are reflected in the sprint backlog.

Question 2

Sprint

Answer 2

Time-boxed event of 2-6 weeks, that serves as a container for activities to deliver the sprint backlog. Sprints are done consecutively, without intermediate gaps.

Question 3

Sprint backlog

Answer 3

An overview of the work to realise a sprint’s goal, typically a forecast of functionality and the work needed to deliver that functionality. Managed by the development team.

Question 4

Spike

Answer 4

A Spike is a (technical) investigation. It is time-boxed to one sprint, to produce an answer in regards to some acceptance criteria on a Product Backlog Item prioritised in upcoming Sprints. It’s a great way to mitigate risks early and promotes fluid iterations later in the project. It allows the team to ascertain feedback and develop an understanding on an upcoming Product Backlog Item’s complexity.

Question 5

User story

Answer 5

Stories are the primary artifact used to define system behaviour in Agile. They are not requirements. Instead, they are short, simple descriptions of functionality usually told from the user’s perspective and written in their language. Each one is intended to enable the implementation of a small, vertical slice of system behaviour that supports incremental development.

Question 6

Retrospective

Answer 6

A retrospective is a meeting that’s held at the end of an iteration (e.g. sprint, increment). During the retrospective, the team reflects on what happened in the iteration and identifies actions for improvement going forward. Each member of the team answers the following questions:
What worked well for us?
What did not work well for us?
What actions can we take to improve our process going forward?

In a successful retrospective, the team decides what to improve already in the next sprint, by identifying highest priority items and put measurable goals on those items so they can be completed.

Question 7

Increment

Answer 7

An Increment is the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during a Sprint and the value of the increments of all previous Sprints. At the end of a Sprint, the new Increment must be “Done,” which means it must be in useable condition and meet the Scrum Team’s definition of “Done.” An increment is a body of inspectable “Done” work that supports empiricism at the end of the Sprint. The increment is a step toward a vision or goal. The increment must be in usable condition regardless of whether the Product Owner decides to release it.

Question 8

Definition of done

Answer 8

DoD is a shared understanding of expectations that a deliverable (e.g. user story, spike, software, a piece of work) must live up to in order to be released. The criteria are managed by the team.

Question 9

Sprint planning

Answer 9

Is a time-boxed event of 8 hours, or less, to start a Sprint. It serves for the team to inspect the work from the Product Backlog that’s most valuable to be done next and design that work into Sprint backlog.

Question 10

Sprint goal

Answer 10

Is a short expression of the purpose of a Sprint, often a business problem that is addressed. Functionality might be adjusted during the Sprint in order to achieve the Sprint Goal.

Question 11

Scrum board

Answer 11

Is a physical board to visualize information for and by the Scrum Team, often used to manage Sprint Backlog. Scrum boards make information visible.

Question 12

Burn-down chart

Answer 12

Is a chart showing the evolution of remaining effort against remaining time. Burn-down charts make progress transparent.

Question 13

Agile

Answer 13

Agility is the ability to create and respond to change in order to succeed in an uncertain and fast moving environment, at little cost. Agile is a mindset and an approach to how we work. It is a way of thinking and working, which to a great extent builds on the IKEA culture and values. Agile is about delivering continuous value for co-workers and customers; experimenting, innovating, releasing and learning rapidly; building something right and running it well; and providing a great experience for both co-workers and customers. You work in shorter iterations, where you are allowed to make more mistakes and react to those mistakes faster - to ‘fail fast’.

Question 14

Chapter or

Center of expertise

Answer 14

Chapters provide a home for co-workers with similar competences, skillsets and roles. They will be the vehicles for organisational support and professional development for co-workers. In addition, they will set and maintain the professional standards for particular roles.
Center of Expertise (COE): IKEA terminology
Chapter: tech industry standard terminology

Question 15

Product team

Answer 15

A product team is an agile delivery team organised to deliver a digital product (or parts of a product) that creates value for IKEA, our customers and/or our co-workers. In most cases, the product teams will consist of people with several different competencies required to deliver the product. This will create a truly cross-functional, autonomous, aligned and empowered environment.

Question 16

Digital Product

Answer 16

A product is something that solves a specific problem and is created and made available to consumers (e.g. Order capture). A product is a discrete piece of functionality that can be run in isolation to provide a service to either another product or to a consumer. With loosely-coupled architecture, products can be broken down to functionality that can be managed by a small team working in isolation. Products are output based in order to accomplish a specific purpose and deliver value.

Question 17

Capability area

Answer 17

Capability areas are agile delivery organisations for several digital products that enable related business capabilities (e.g. Sales and payments, Customer engagement). Capability areas will typically consist of multiple product teams. As the main delivery vehicle for digital products, they measure their success by the positive impact they create for IKEA, our customer and our co-workers.