1 Scoping the project.

To start, Clare introduces us to the rituals associatoed with planning a good agile project. The prep work is required to make sure the rest of the project runs smoothly

Project scoping workshop.

Participants: Include your entire project team.

Time: As long as it takes to properly scope the project.

Agenda:

1. Start by brainstorming all the possible projects that could be done to achieve your goals.
2. Narrow down to find a project that is achievable.
3. List all the things that need to be done in order to get the project finished and write them in a series of story cards: As a (user), I need (a thing) so I can (achieve a goal)
4. Finally, take a guess at how big each task is relative to the others. Use ‘T-shirt sizing’ to label the tasks Small, Medium and Large.

2 Sprint planning meeting.

Once your project is up and running, clare teaches you two important things to get your week started: how to make a Kanban board, and how to plan a week of work.

Sprint planning meeting

Participants: Your project team.

Time: 1 hour.

Agenda:

1. Everyone arrives on time, usually scheduled for a monday morning.
2. Decide on a week's worth of work: what’s important to be finished?
3. Move those cards into the ‘doing this week column.’
4. For each card, someone puts up their hand to be responsible for making sure this card is completed by the end of the week - the project owner. (NB: this person doesn’t actually have to DO the work, only insure that it’s done.)
5. Finally, make sure everyone has a week’s worth of important work to be done.

3 Daily stand ups.

Each day, the entire team gets together to QUICKLY share what they’re working on and what help they need.

Stand up

Participants: Entire team.

Time: 10 minutes.

Agenda:

1. Everyone arrives on time, either first thing or right before lunch.
2. Gathered in a circle, the project manager calls out each person in turn to give a status report.
3. In 90 seconds each person says:
1. What they did.
2. What they are doing.
3. Any blockers?
4. Any help they need?

4 Retros.

In order to have a sense of momentum, the team shares the work they’ve done during the week, and spends some time discussing how to get better next week.

Retrospective meeting .

Participants: Entire team.

Time: 2 hours.

Agenda:

1. Everyone arrives on time, usually at the end of the week: a 4pm friday.
2. First a showcase, people present the work they’ve done this week so everyone can appreciate what was achieved.
3. Next, look at the status of all the cards that weren’t completed and find out why.
4. Finally, a retrospective, the project manager gives time for each person to share their thoughts from the week about both the work that was done, and the agile process. In turn each person shares:
1. Something they’d like to stop doing.
2. Something they’d like to start doing.
3. And something they’d like to continue doing.
4. Any help they need?

5 Getting started.

Finally, now that you have the basic tools and rituals needed to try your first Agile project. The only thing left to do is get started. Clare shares some tips on helping you get going fast.