Allowing for Task Uncertainties and Dependencies in Agile Release Planning
Kevin Logue, Kevin McDaid, Des Greer · Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) · 2007
The ability to produce and execute a clear and realistic release plan can be the determinant factor between success and failure of a software project. The creation of such a plan is extremely difficult, key factors such as time and cost to develop chosen functionality and also the likely return are subject to a high level of uncertainty. This paper proposes a relatively simple statistical methodology to account for the uncertainties in the time to develop functionality. The method applies primarily to the eXtreme Programming (XP) method and allows for both uncertainty in story size and in project velocity. In so doing it provides key stakeholders with the opportunity to manage uncertainty in the planning of what functionality to include in upcoming releases. The technique is lightweight in nature and consistent with existing agile planning practices. A case study is provided to illustrate and explore the proposed methodology. 1.