estimating
Defining Velocity for Your Agile Team When an agile team talks about velocity, it's usually how much functionality they'll deliver in a sprint, often based on historical data about the number of story points the team tends to finish. But you shouldn't use velocity as a measure of success for your agile process. Make sure everyone knows what's important. |
||
What’s in the Spring 2017 Issue of Better Software Magazine This is the second issue of Better Software magazine for 2017, and it has the largest page count of the last few years. With close to one hundred thousand subscribers worldwide, Better Software is fulfilling a real need in the software development community. As always, this issue has some thought-provoking articles. |
||
Why Is Estimating Software Testing Time So Difficult? Management loves to ask testers to estimate how long their efforts will take. But so many important factors elude measurement that it makes it difficult to predict. If you need to explain why estimation is so tough, here are nine factors that significantly influence our ability to estimate testing time. |
||
The Consequences of Project Delay An often overlooked and underappreciated aspect of project schedules is the consequences of delay on others. Due dates and commitments sometimes matter more than they appear. Knowing the larger context of your project can help you prioritize how you undertake it, consider options, and improve problem-solving. |
||
Become an Estimation Leader Single-point estimates, whether they are for a budget or a schedule, are never correct. Things happen. Demanding that your team provide you an exact number and then treating that as a guarantee is not being a good manager—or being agile. What if you could provide a different estimation leadership? |
||
Planning Techniques for Estimating Projects Agile teams often use estimation to plan projects. There are many different methods, and which you choose should depend on the type of work, what kind of deadline there is, and your team. Matt Heusser explains some estimating techniques that can expand your options when planning a work effort. |
||
Focus on the Most Challenging Parts of Your Project We estimate to make decisions and to give an answer to the question, "When will this be done?" But estimation has limits, and trying to estimate too precisely in an agile project is wasteful. By driving the backlog based on priority, you can better deliver what is valuable to the business. |
||
Meeting the Goal of Estimation The classic discussion for agile estimation is about whether points or hours are better. But there is now a third option: a movement called #NoEstimates. It actually does involve estimation, but you break down work in priority order and estimate only when you know enough to estimate accurately. |