Program Increment Flashcards
How often does PI planning happen?
8-12 Weeks (10 weeks is typical)
How long is PI planning?
2 days
Who owns feature priorities during PI planning?
Product Management
Who plans and estimates stories during PI planning?
Agile Teams
Who manages intermediaries for governance, interfaces, and dependencies during PI planning?
Architect/Engineering and UX
What is the time box for implementing a feature?
One PI
What are the characteristics of a feature
Includes acceptance criteria
Describes larger system behavors that fulfill users’ needs
Expressed in plain language in a simple feature and benefit (FAB) matrix
How are features processed during PI plannning?
Broken down into stories
Stories are written in user language
They fit in one iteration for one Agile team
What acronym describes a good story?
INVEST
What does INVEST stand for?
Independent Negotiable Valuable Estimable Small Testable
What are the 3 Cs of good story writing?
Card
Conversation
Confirmation
What are 2 types of enabler stories?
Refactor
Spike
What’s a refactor enabler story?
Improving maintainability, performance, or scalability
How many spike enabler stories are there?
Technical
Functional
Researching an implementation approach is an example of what kind of story?
Technical Enabler
Researching how a user might use the system is an example of what kind of story?
Functional Enabler
What is used to estimate a story?
Story Points
What does a story point represent?
Complexity
Knowledge
Uncertainty
Volume
What are some anti-patterns the Scrum Master can prevent in PI planning?
Stakeholder pressure to lower estimates
Not including the whole team
Not using the adjusted Fibonacci scale
What is an example agenda for day 1 of PI planning?
Business Context Product/Solution Vision Architecture Vision/Practices Planning Context and Lunch Team Breakouts Draft Plan Review Management Review and problem solving
What is an example agenda for day 2 of PI planning?
Planning Adjustments Team Breakouts Final Plan Review and Lunch Program Risks (ROAM) PI Confidence Vote Plan Rework (if necessary) Planning Retrospective
How many points are given to each full-time Agile Team member?
8
How many points are subtracted for a vacation day?
1
What is Capacity?
The portion of the teams’ velocity available for an iteration.
What are the best approaches for a Scrum Master during breakout 1?
Ensure the team has a draft plan
Identify as many risks and dependencies as possible for management review
Secure SMEs and stakeholders as needed
Facilitate the coordination with other teams for dependencies
What are some anti-patters for a Scrum Master during breakout 1?
No plan or a partial plan at the end of the timebox
Too much time is spent analyzing each story
Shared Scrum Masters and Product Owners are not available enough
Part-time Scrum Masters don’t have time to plan as part of the team
What is used to identify variable work in a PI?
Uncommitted Objective
What are some of the common questions during the management review at the end of day 1 of the PI
► What did we just learn?
► Where do we need to adjust? Vision? Scope? Team assignments?
► Where are the bottlenecks?
► What features must be de-scoped?
► What decisions must we make between now and tomorrow to address these issues?
What happens during the finalize plans and establish business value at the beginning of day 2 of the PI planning?
- Business priorities
- Adjustment to Vision
- Changes to scope
- Realignment of work and teams
What is the output of PI planning?
Program Board
What is on the Program Board?
For each Iteration:
Features
Dependencies
Milestones/Events
What is the agenda for final plan review?
- Changes to capacity and load
- Final Pl Objectives with business value
- Program risks and impediments
- Q&A session
What is the process for building the final plan during PI planning?
Final plans are collected at the front of the room
Final plans are reviewed by all teams
Business Owners are asked whether they accept the plan
If so, the team’s plan and program risk sheet are brought to the front of the room
If not, the plans stay in place, and the team continues planning after the review
How are program risks managed?
ROAM
What does ROAM stand for?
Resolved
Owned
Accepted
Mitigated
What questions are discussed in the PI Planning Retrospective?
- What went well
- What didn’t
- What we can do better next time
What are the best approaches for a Scrum Master to take during PI planning?
Maintain the timebox
Make sure the team builds a plan they can commit to
Ensure that the team is honest in their confidence vote
Facilitate coordination with other teams but don’t do it for the team
Act as a request buffer for a team that has a lot of dependencies
Manage the program board
Facilitate the retrospective
What are anti-patterns a Scrum Master should avoid during PI planning?
Pressure is put on the team to overcommit
Team under commits due to fear of failure
Over planning ahead of time to make it more efficient loses the essence of Pl Planning
The plan , rather than the alignment , becomes the goal
Who attends the iteration planning event?
The Agile team, and optionally, SMEs
What steps are in the iteration planning flow?
Establishing capacity
Story analysis and estimating
Detailing Stories
Developing Iteration goals
Committing to Iteration goals
How is capacity for an iteration established?
► Team applies capacity allocation to the Team Backlog
► Team quantifies capacity to perform work in the upcoming Iteration
► Each team member determines their availability, acknowledging time off and other potential duties
► The PO in collaboration with the teams select the highest priority backlog items for each ‘slice’ of the capacity allocation to implement in an Iteration
What are the steps in story analysis and estimating?
The Product Owner presents Stories in order of priority
Each Story
- Is discussed and analyzed by the team
- Has its acceptance criteria defined and refined
- Is estimated
The process continues until the estimation of the Stories has reached the capacity of the team
How do new teams detail stories?
Who would be the best person to accomplish it
How long would it take to accomplish, approximately
What are the dependencies it may have to other Stories
What do iteration goals provide?
Clarity
Commitment
Management Information
What are purposes of iteration goals?
► Align team members to a
common purpose
► Align Agile Teams to Pl Objectives and manage dependencies
► Provide continuous management information
What can happen when a team over commits?
Burnout
Inflexibility
Quality Problems
What can happen when a team under commits?
Unpredictability
Lack of Focus on Results
What are the best approaches for a Scrum Master to fulfill his role in iteration planning?
Maintain timebox
Ensure that the team commits to the Iteration goals
Verify that the PO or other managers don’t influence the team to overcommit
Challenge the team to exceed their previous accomplishments
Ensure that improvement items from the retrospective are put into effect
Ensure time is allocated for technical debt activities
What are some anti-patterns a Scrum Master should avoid during iteration planning?
Delving too deep into technical discussions
Commitment is unrealistic
Capacity and load are exactly the same
Scrum Master is more focused on a technical role than a facilitator ‘s role
The team under commits due to fear of failure
No time is reserved for support activities
What are some causes for poor daily standups?
► Poor collaboration of the team members during the Iteration (e.g., Vijay does not know and doesn’t care about what Ken is working on and vice versa)
► Lack of collective code ownership
► Infrequent verification and integration during the Iteration (e.g., we are working on something, and we think it’s good)
► Perpetual, unresolved conflict within the team
What does the team board act as?
Big Visible Information Radiator (BVIR)
What helps match demand to capacity?
WIP limits
What are best approaches for a Scrum Master to use to track iteration progress?
Facilitate mid-Pl re-planning
Encourage the team to point out as early as possible if they think they will miss Iteration goals or Pl Objectives .
Communicate to and from the scrum of scrums
Encourage the use of engineering practices
Make sure defects are not pushed to the IP Iteration
Facilitate preparation for the next Pl
Support release activities
What are common anti-patterns for a Scrum Master to avoid while tracking iteration progress?
Team gets no input from scrum of scrums
Teams are unwilling to change or add objectives mid-Pl
Scrum Master does all of the synchronization, so the team is incapable of doing it themselves
What is the timebox for backlog refinement?
1-2 hours
Who attends the backlog refinement?
Agile team, and as needed, SMEs and members of other teams
What are the benefits of the backlog refinement?
Helps the team reconsider new Stories prior to Iteration planning
Provides time to identify dependencies and issues that could impact the next Iteration
Ensures that we have a ready backlog for Iteration Planning
What are best approaches for a Scrum Master to take during backlog refinement?
Maintain timeboxes
Maintain the right level of a deep backlog vs ready backlog for two Iterations
Make sure all the team members participate
Invite the right subject matter experts
Hold the event at regular intervals
What are common anti-patterns for a Scrum Master to avoid during backlog refinement?
Arriving to the Iteration with non-ready Stories
Not doing the backlog refinement consistently
Team sees Stories for the first time during Iteration or Pl Planning
Feature estimations impact Story estimation
What is the purpose of the Iteration Review?
Provides the true measure of progress by showing working software functionality, hardware components, etc.
What is demonstrated during the Iteration Review?
Teams demonstrate every Story, spike, refactor, and NFR
Who attends the Iteration Review?
Attendees are the team and its stakeholders
What is the timebox for Iteration Review?
1-2 hours
What is the timebox for Iteration Review prep?
1-2 hours
What should the PO do if a stakeholder cannot make the Iteration Review?
Follow up individually
What are some items for the Iteration Review agenda?
1.Review business context and Iteration goals
2.Demo and solicit feedback for each story, spike,
refactor, and NFR
- Discuss Stories not completed and why
- Identify risks and impediments
- Revise Team Backlog and team Pl Objectives as needed
What are the two views provided by the Iteration Review?
How we did in the iteration
How we are doing in the PI
What are the best approaches for a Scrum Master to use during Iteration Reviews and System Demos?
Begin to consider how and what to demo in Iteration Planning
Make sure the right participants are present
Ensure that the team celebrates its accomplishments and that stakeholders acknowledge them
Make sure different team members have the opportunity to demo
Ensure that the team is ready for the System Demo and coordinates with the System Team
What are common anti-patterns a Scrum Master should avoid during Iteration Reviews and System Demos?
A lot of time is spent preparing for the demo
Demo is mainly talk/slides as opposed to working software and/or hardware
PO sees things for the first time in the Team Demo
System Demo is not done because ‘the Team Demo is enough
Team members are not invited to the System Demo to save time
Demos that are not interesting or relevant to ART stakeholders
What are some of the ways a Scrum Master can drive relentless improvement?
► Understand where you are
► Foster the culture of improving everywhere
► Use retrospectives as summary points but not as limitations
► Support continuous learning
► Actively engage with other Scrum Masters to
drive improvement on the ART
What is the timebox for Iteration Retrospective?
1-1.5 hours
Who attends the Iteration Retrospective?
Agile Team
What is a good agenda for an Iteration Retrospective?
- Review the improvement backlog
items targeted for this Iteration. Were
they all accomplished? - Did the team meet the goals (yes/no)?
- Collect and review the agreed to
Iteration print Metrics
Part 2: Qualitative
- What went well?
- What didn’t?
- What we can do better next time?
- What can we preserve?
What are best approaches for a Scrum Master to use for improvement?
Encourage improvement between retrospectives
Coach the team on problem-solving techniques
Retrospective :
1. Start by reviewing the results of the
previous retrospective
- Make sure each person speaks
- Make sure the event ends with actionable improvement backlog items.
- Write down what people are saying exactly
- Take program concerns to the RTE
What are common anti-patterns a Scrum Master should avoid for improvement?
The only focus is on what to improve and not what to preserve
Focus on problems that are outside of the team’s control
Failure to achieve results
Inviting people outside the team (especially management) to the retrospective
What are the 5 concepts necessary for DevOps
CALMR
What does CALMR stand for?
► Culture Establish a culture of shared responsibility for development , deployment, and operations.
► Automation Automate the Continuous Delivery Pipeline.
► Lean flow Keep batch sizes small , limit WIP,and provide extreme visibility.
► Measurement Measure the flow through the pipeline. Implement application telemetry .
► Recovery Architect and enable low risk releases. Establish fast recovery, fast reversion, and fast fix-forward.
What does IP stand for?
Innovation and Planning
What are common anti-patterns to avoid for the IP?
Planning work for the IP Iteration in Pl Planning
Leaving testing or bug fixing to the IP Iteration
Leaving integration of the whole system to the IP Iteration
What would occur without the IP iteration?
►Lack of delivery capacity buffer impacts predictability
► Little innovation, tyranny of the urgent
►Technical debt grows uncontrollably
► People burn out
►No time for teams to plan, demo, or improve together
What are the 3 parts of the Inspect and Adapt Event?
PI System Demo
Quantitative Measurement
Problem-solving Workshop
What is the timebox for the Inspect and Adapt event?
3-4 hours
Who attends the Inspect and Adapt event?
Teams and stakeholders
Who typically leads the PI System Demo?
Product managers, PO, and the System Team
Who attends the System Demo?
Business owners, ART stakeholders, product management, RTE, Scrum Masters, and teams
When do teams compare planned vs actual business value?
During the PI System Demo
How does the problem-solving workshop flow?
Agree on the problem to solve
Apply root cause analysis
Use Pareto analysis to identify the biggest root cause
Restate the problem associated with the biggest root cause
Brainstorm solutions
Identify improvement backlog items
What best approaches can a Scrum Master use to fulfill his role in Inspect and Adapt?
Facilitate the team preparation for the Pl System Demo
Provide data
Facilitate one of the teams in the problem-solving workshop
Help the RTE make sure improvement items are included during the Pl
If using ad hoc teams for the l&A, then Scrum Masters may be participants rather than facilitators
What common anti-patterns should a Scrum Master avoid during Inspect and Adapt?
Only the PO presents in the Pl System Demo
No actionable improvement Features are created
Improvement items don’t enter the Pl Planning process
Improvement items are not demoed in the Pl System Demo
