Learn Agile Tools and Artifacts (PMI-ACP) with Interactive Flashcards
Master key concepts in Agile Tools and Artifacts through our interactive flashcard system. Click on each card to reveal detailed explanations and enhance your understanding.
Product Backlog
The Product Backlog is a priority list of user requirements, use cases, and features pertaining to a certain product. Prioritization is based on user value, risk, priority and necessity. The role of the product owner is to keep the product backlog updated and in order. The development team uses the product backlog to pull work for their next cycle. This tool enables transparency on what needs to be done, and the priority enables the team to understand what should be tackled first, hence optimizing the value generated by the team.
Sprint Backlog
The Sprint Backlog is a list of tasks identified by the Scrum team to be completed during the Scrum sprint. During the sprint planning meeting, the team selects some number of product backlog items, usually in the form of user stories, and identifies the tasks necessary to complete each user story. Throughout the sprint, team members are expected to update the sprint backlog as new information is available, but minimally once per day. It’s a real-time snapshot of the work that the team plans to accomplish during the sprint, and it should be easily visible to all team members.
Burn-down Chart
Burn-down Chart is a graphical representation of work left to do versus time. It's a powerful tool to visualize the work done and the work remaining, tracking progress over time. The x-axis represents time, while the y-axis represents the amount of work remaining. Each day, the total size of the project's remaining work is plotted, given teams the information to adapt their plans to finish the work in the time remaining. It's a great way to assess whether the project is on track or if adjustments need to be made.
Kanban Board
Kanban Board is a visual tool that enables the team to manage the flow of their work and to maximize efficiency. It is divided into different columns which depict different stages of a workflow. Kanban cards or post-it notes are placed on the Kanban board and are moved from left to right to show progress. This system encourages work to flow through the system while highlighting any blockages or bottlenecks. It promotes continuous collaboration and encourages active, ongoing learning and improving by defining the best possible workflow.
Daily Stand-up Meeting
The Daily Stand-up Meeting is a short meeting, usually held in the morning, where each team member briefly talks about what they achieved the previous day, what they plan to do today and any blockers or impediments they're facing. It is designed to quickly inform everyone of what's going on across the team. It's not meant to be a detailed status meeting. The tone should be light and it should end on a positive note. This assures transparency and early identification and resolution of obstacles.
Agile Modeling
Agile Modeling is a methodology that adopts modeling strategies to maintain agility in the development process. The focus is to create a streamlined and useful model using a minimal amount of resources and time, thus it esteems 'just enough' documentation. Agile Modeling embraces change in the requirement even at the later stages of development process and advocates iterative, incremental development. Using this methodology, teams can successfully develop high-quality software at lower costs and within shorter development cycles.
Product Roadmap
A Product Roadmap is a strategic document that outlines the vision and direction of your product over time. It is a guiding document that communicates what you are building and why you are building it. It enables the teams to align their activities with the organization’s objectives. In agile, the roadmap is more fluid than in traditional approaches, with details that may change over time based on feedback, insights, and learnings. The roadmap helps teams prioritize work, set expectations with stakeholders, and strategically plan for the future.
Release Plan
A Release Plan is a timetable of when features and improvements are to be released to customers. It is a planning tool that helps teams manage the development schedule, resource allocation, and risk. The plan is iterative and is updated after each sprint. It aligns the team on what will be delivered and when. A successful plan improves efficiency, anticipates problems, and ensures projects progress smoothly. It is an artifact of Scrum and provides a long-term view of what releases are coming and when.
Agile Retrospective
Agile Retrospective, often just called a 'retro', is a meeting held at the end of an iteration in an agile development process where the team examines its processes to look for areas where improvements can be made for the next iteration. The retrospective is deliberately seperated from the review of the product increment, to concentrate solely on the way the team works. Retrospective actions are a way of constituting Kaizen(Continuous improvement), a core concept of Agile.
Burndown Charts
Burndown Charts provide a graphical representation of work left to do versus time. The chart is updated daily and provides a simple view of the project's progress and projections. It can consistently communicate the team's status to stakeholders and within the team. Burndown Charts are effective tools for predicting when the work will be completed based on the remaining work and the team’s throughput. They also help uncover issues that are impeding the team’s progress.
User Stories
User Stories stem from a user-centric perspective to focus on what the user needs from the product. They are written in the format: 'As a [type of user], I want [goal] so that [reason]'. They keep the product’s end goal in mind and simplify complex projects into manageable portions. User Stories make discussions about features more straightforward and encourage teams to continually consider their users’ needs. They forge a bridge between development and stakeholders, enhancing understanding of the targeted deliverables.
Velocity Chart
A Velocity Chart helps visualize the amount of work an Agile team can complete during a sprint. It measures 'velocity', or the work completed per iteration. The horizontal axis represents the sprint number, while the vertical axis displays the total number of completed story points. Velocity charts are beneficial for predicting the team's future performance based on past productivity. Thoughtfully used, these charts help team capacity planning and setting realistic expectations.
Iteration backlog
The Iteration Backlog, also known as Sprint Backlog in Scrum, is a set of items that the team plans to work on during the current iteration or sprint. These items are carefully selected during the iteration planning meeting, based on their priority in the product backlog and the team’s estimated capacity. The Iteration Backlog can be changed and re-prioritized during the iteration to ensure delivery of the most valuable features.
Release planning
Release Planning in Agile is the practice of strategizing the release of a functional product. It involves planning the release date and the content of the release(typically, a set of features). As compared to traditional methods, Agile Release Planning is flexible and can adapt to any changes over the course of the project. Releases can range from simple feature enhancement to complex multi-suite software rollouts.
Retrospective meeting
The Retrospective Meeting takes place after a sprint ends, with the main goal of team improvement. Teams reflect on their processes and methods, objectively evaluating what went well and what can be improved. By focusing on positive aspects, insights are gained and strategies are developed to overcome challenges. Measured against standard Agile principles, they provide closed-loop feedback within an iteration cycle.
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