(DOWNTOWN) Monthly Meeting Thursday 06/07/2012: Dan LeFebvre on GATHERING AGILE REQUIREMENTS

DAN LE FEBVRE on: GATHERING AGILE REQUIREMENTS

Slides from this event are available online as a PDF.

The gathering of requirements is an essential task for every Agile team. Yes, the Scrum framework makes it clear that only the Product Owner owns this task and is responsible for it. The reality is that the gathering and and grooming of requirements is a complex task that must be executed in groups to be done well.

The gathering of requirements and the preparation needed to make these requirements READY for Sprint Planning is a very common ‘pain point’ for Agile teams just starting out. Experienced teams also face real difficulty when the organization is not ready to execute on the deep level of collaboration needed to get the job done.

Attend this session to get your head around gathering and grooming your Product Backlog. We’ll show you 4 specific sense-making tools that can help your team gather requirements at he rate of one per minute. We’ll show you how to groom those same requirements at about one minute per. Since the average Product Backlog has over 200 requirements coded as user stories, you have some work to do. We show you how.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

  • Overview of Agile Requirements
  • Review: User Stories, Story Points, Estimating and Planning
  • Using Personas
  • User Story Mapping
  • How to Make Sense of Requirements As a Team
  • How to Facilitate a Product Backlog Workshop

 

MEETING SCHEDULE

0300PM Agile Scrum Introduction by Frank Saucier

0330PM Break with light food, beverage

0350PM MAIN EVENT: GATHERING AGILE REQUIREMENTS with Dan LeFebvre

0450PM RAFFLE

0500PM DONE

 

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Dan LeFebvre

Dan LeFebvre is the founder of DCL Agility, LLC, a provider of agile and Scrum coaching, training, and transition services. He is a Certified Scrum Coach with over twenty years in software product development as a developer, manager, director, and coach. He has been applying agile practices to successfully deliver products since 2003.

Dan helps software engineering organizations improve quality and productivity. After successfully delivering software products in diverse industries, he has developed a strong passion for helping organizations create great products and teams.

Dan spent two years as the internal agile coach for Kronos, Boston-based Software Company, where he coordinated and implemented Scrum in the 700 person engineering organization across all sites including Massachusetts, Atlanta, Chicago, Oregon, Montreal, British Columbia, Belgium and India. This resulted in increased visibility into the development process and a reduction in defects by 60% in 18 months.

Dan holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Boston University. He is a Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Professional, and the first Certified Scrum Coach in New England. He has contributed articles to Scrum Alliance and Boston SPIN. He has presented at Scrum Gatherings, agile conferences, and agile user groups around the country.

Dan Mezick

Dan Mezick is a coach and trusted adviser to executives, project sponsors, managers and teams developing complex products using Agile and Scrum. Dan’s firm New Technology Solutions, Inc. delivers Agile training, coaching and consulting to businesses of all sizes. Clients include Zappos Insights, The Hartford Insurance companies, Siemens Corporation, Sikorsky Aircraft and dozens of mid-market organizations.

Dan is the author of THE CULTURE GAME, a book describing 16 patterns, derived from Agile, which can be used anywhere in your organization where more teamwork and learning is desired. Dan is a frequently invited speaker at industry events, most recently the Self-Management Symposium held in May 2012 and sponsored by Harvard Business Review.

NOTE: This is a AGILE BOSTON/DOWNTOWN event. The venue is: Hyatt Regency Boston • One Avenue de Lafayette, Boston, MA 02111. Call 203 915 7248 if you have questions on the meeting day!