Module #7: Iteration Practices
During the execution of each iteration, besides the cadence of events, teams engage in various practices intended to improve the visibility and effectiveness of the work done.
Basic Iteration Practices: While there are many ways to “practice” an Agile approach to work, a few key ones are common. This topic covers
- basic iteration execution,
- the Definition of Done,
- Conditions of Satisfaction compared to the Definition of Done,
- the development “episode,”
- pairing, swarming, and mobbing,
- dealing with interruptions, and
- technical “debt.”
Technical Practices: Many organizations that adopt an Agile approach (specifically Scrum) may also adopt certain (though not all) technical practices that constitute the eXteme Programming approach to development. This topic covers
- roots of XP practices,
- XP values,
- why it’s called “extreme,”
- key XP assumptions,
- failure,
- overview of XP practices,
- Test-Driven Development and unit testing,
- handling defects,
- pair programming and pairing alternatives,
- collective ownership,
- object-oriented design principles (SOLID),
- refactoring,
- continuous integration and frequent delivery, and
- technical documentation.
Module #8: Quality Practices
Apart from technical practices to achieve defect-free functionality, there are various things an Agile team engages in to address overall quality.
Quality in Agile Practices: Besides technical quality, a number of behaviors are exhibited by Agile teams to produce higher quality results. This topic covers
- empowerment and quality,
- assurance vs control,
- seven essential quality behaviors,
- time-boxed and near-term focus,
- under commit and over deliver re-emphasis,
- face-to-face communication revisited,
- short, easily tested work episodes,
- continuous improvement
- production-ready results,
- overview of testing categories and techniques,
- assure, not (only) control,
- test case categories,
- exploratory testing,
- team-based testing, and
- “hardening”/”stabilization” iterations.
Root Cause Analysis: An important technique for improvement is examining why things happen and how problems caused could be prevented in the future. This topic covers
- the 5 “whys,”
- visual forms of analysis (e.g., fishbone diagrams and mind maps), and
- Pareto analysis.
Metrics Concepts: Effective collection and analysis of data can contribute significantly to quality while ineffective use can drive the wrong behaviors. This topic covers
- basic metrics principles,
- the Goal-Question-Metric paradigm,
- quantitative vs qualitative metrics,
- leading and lagging indicators,
- correlated vs causal metrics,
- possible team-focused metrics,
- lead and cycle time metrics,
- cumulative flow diagrams,
- throughput and Takt metrics, and
- flow efficiency metrics.