Revisiting Normalized Story Points

It has been just over 18 months since I published my most popular blog post to-date: "Normalized Story Points". As of this writing, it has received over 5,400 page views, thanks primarily to the reference it has from Dean Leffingwell's blog post from ScaledAgileFramework.com entitled "More on Normalizing Story Point Estimating".

As an Agile Coach who takes continuous improvement seriously, I have learned much and grown much over the last year and a half. Here are a few of the things I've learned regarding Normalized Story Points.

Know Why You Want Them

I've become a HUGE fan of David Hussman's "Dude's Law". Before you do anything, you need to know WHY you're doing it, not just HOW to do it.

The purpose of Normalized Story Pointing is to enable high-level estimation of work for a SAFe Release Train comprised of closely aligned teams, any one of which may pull a Feature off the Program Backlog for implementation. Normalized Story Points should not be used for:

1. Comparing teams against each other
2. Forcing teams to use the same story point size (so that "1 Story Point" means exactly the same thing to everyone forever and ever amen)
3. Defining "Story Point" to mean "Ideal Man-Day"
4. Any punitive purpose

If you don't know why you're using Normalized Story Points, don't use them. If your intended use of Normalized Story Points violates the mindset established by the Agile Manifesto, don't use them (although, if this is the case then you probably won't realize it unless someone points it out to you).

Beware the Ideal Man-Day

The 4-step process for getting started with Normalized Story Points involves using time as a reference. This works well because you're using a very small story, one with very little complexity, which means the primary factor for determining "bigness" is lapsed time. That being said, I've found that teams that start with this approach have a very, very difficult time recovering from the mindset of "1 point == 1 ideal man-day". This is bad for reasons.

This also leads to teams always using days of availability to forecast velocity rather than taking a rolling average velocity or "yesterday's weather" as an indicator of what they're likely to deliver. Data trumps theory; the approach to get started is based on theory, while average velocity is data.

Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools

Processes and tools exist to enhance and enable interactions between individuals, not replace them. As I've explained in a previous post, the process of Agile estimation is beneficial primarily because of the conversation that it fosters. It's a well-formed game that drives a shared mental model of the work for the entire team.

I've found that teams that use Normalized Story Points may skimp on the conversation, especially if one team ends up with work that another team has already estimated (after all, we all share the same definition of story point, right?). This was never the intent behind Normalized Story Points, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Beware the Recipe Trap

David Hussman explained that he uses "Dude's Law" to help teams avoid what he calls the "Recipe Trap" - doing something because that's what the recipe says to do, without understanding what the intended benefits are. When it comes to Normalized Story Points, the recipe trap is very real and very dangerous. If you use it, be very careful about how you explain and implement it with your teams. If your teams can't all pull from a common backlog; if you're going to use them to run punitive metrics; if you want to streamline your process by reducing meaningful conversation; or if you're looking to use it because that's what SAFe says to do, I plead with you to reconsider.

TL;DR: Normalized Story Points can be a useful tool for your organization, but it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. 

"I Like that Old Time Rock 'n Roll"

I'm am constantly amazed with the power of first impressions. As much as we may try to avoid it, the initial impressions we get when we're first introduced to a person, place, or idea tend to stick with us for the rest of our lives. This sentiment is embodied in the classic Bob Segal hit, "Old Time Rock and Roll". The song starts with its thesis:

"Just take those old records off the shelf, I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself. Today's music ain't got the same soul; I like that old time Rock 'n Roll"

This same phenomenon happens in Agile as well. When people think of Agile Transformations being hindered by first impressions, they usually jump to those who "didn't do it right", who failed and were left with a bitter taste in their mouth. I would argue that, in the long-term, the more hazardous first impression comes from those who have greater-than-anticipated success with the first thing they try. From that point on Agile is defined solely by what they did the first time.

Let's say your first approach was Scrum - and I mean by-the-Scrum-Guide Scrum. It works so well for you that you scoff at Kanban, DevOps, or anything else that violates your 5 ceremony, 3 role, pure and holy Agile approach. Nevermind that you are supposed to be looking for ways to improve every Sprint. Nevermind that the best way to improve team performance is adjustments to the process, not the people. "I'm sorry, you don't use time boxes?" "How do you plan without using User Stories?" "Clearly you don't know what Agile means."

I find it telling that the first line in the Agile Manifesto states that "we are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it" (AgileManifesto.org, emphasis added). They didn't say that they had uncovered the best way of developing software, they were in the never-ending process of uncovering better ways. They didn't come up with the Manifesto by getting doctorate degrees and jumping into a think tank, they came up with it based on their experiences in doing it and helping others.

I find it highly narcissistic for anyone to have claimed the best way to do anything. Given how long mankind has been on the earth and the fact that nothing has yet been proven beyond improvement, saying that you've "figured it out" means you're either selling something, deluding yourself, or both. Those who really get Agile know that it's about the journey, not the destination. If you keep reliving the glory days of your first Scrum team then you'll never give proper attention to challenging the status quo and innovating the next big idea for delivering software in a better way.

I know, I know, it's hard to give up those first impressions, the glory days, the golden years when everything was perfect and your selective memory hadn't kicked in yet. But you have to if you want long-term success. It's risky business, but somebody's got to do it.

Is Agile Skub?

On a long wall at work, there's a glass board (probably 40 feet or so wide) on which our CIO will ask questions and anyone passing by can answer using dry erase markers. The question most recently posed is something to the effect of "What are you doing to be more Agile?".

I found it interesting that somebody wrote "Pro Skub" on one end of the board and "Anti Skub" at the other end. What is Skub, you ask? It's a reference to a Perry Bible Fellowship comic, penned by Nicholas Gurewitch.

This raises an interesting question for me: is Agile nothing more than a meaningless buzzword that arouses passion on the fringes that comes across as absurd to everyone else? To at least one person in my organization, it would seem the answer is "Yes!"

To me, this is an indicator of the "Trough of Disillusionment" on they Hype Curve. It reminded me of an article titled "The End of Agile: Death by Over-Simplification". To me, the points made by this article and others that it references indicate an over-emphasis on practices or principles in silos. In other words, teams will focus on one specific principle, practice, or approach under the banner of Agile and claim that it will solve all of their problems. Of course it doesn't, and when it doesn't it leads to disillusionment and cynicism.

It is so crucially important that we take a step back and look at the whole Agile Manifesto, with all of its Principles, along with complementary principles and approaches (such as Lean and Flow). Practices, approaches, and methodologies are all tools, and none of them sacred, in an attempt to align more with the Lean|Agile paradigm that will drive successful teams.

Not just Agile - ____ Agile!

Let's do whatever we want and call it a new flavor of Agile!

Every now and again, I meet a team that's doing things very differently than your traditional Agile team. They often label themselves with a prefix - they're not just Agile, they're "Extreme Agile" or "Hyper Agile". Personally, I think that the term Agile encompasses all that a team would ever aspire to be, though Agile teams may be at varying levels of maturity. Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, DevOps - whatever you want to call yourselves, your team should strive to get better and better at aligning with the Agile Manifesto and its Principles. This means your practices reflect Agility and your are continuously improving.

So how can you tell if you're Agile? I recommend asking three groups of people: your peers, your clients, and yourselves.

Your Peers
If you're an Agile team operating as part of a larger organization, there should be a balance between competition and collaboration between teams. Everyone wants their team to be the best, but not because the other teams are so bad. You should be working hard to improve your competition, a.k.a. the other teams in the company, so that they, in turn, will push you to be better.

Ask your peers how Agile you are and be prepared for some candid yet constructive feedback. Remember, you're all in this together. Cross-pollination and frequent feedback from your peers makes everyone better.

Your Clients
It doesn't matter what the nature of your team is, your code is being used by someone. Whether it's an end-customer, a business user in another division, another system within your technical organization, etc., there's somebody who uses what it is you're building. The Agile Manifesto and its Principles make it very clear what kind of relationship with and service to our customers we should be striving for. All you have to do is ask your clients whether they feel that relationship and service is there.

You should also look for ways to continuously improve how your interact with and serve your clients. What delights your customers today will soon become the status quo. If you're a good Agile team, you're meeting with your customers and getting feedback on a frequent basis, anyway. Take some time to go over how you're delivering, not just what you're delivering.

Yourselves
We are often our harshest critics. I encourage all Agile teams to have everyone on the team fill out some sort of self-assessment on a regular basis (a quick search will provide you some examples). By getting as many responses as possible, you avoid the extreme ups and downs that come from individuals. Look at the mean and median results, then discuss your perceived strengths and weaknesses as a team.

Sometimes we feel we're at the top of our class because we're excelling at what we understand Agile to be. It's important to stay involved with the greater Agile community so you can find out the latest and (potentially) greatest practices and techniques for driving Agility. Even more importantly, recognize that there's no such thing as perfection, only better, and instill a passion for continuous improvement within your team.

And Also...
I'm sure there are other ways to gauge a team's Agility. What other ways would you recommend for teams to assess how Agile they are? Is there a place for "Extreme" or "Hyper" Agile in our vernacular? Is it a positive thing to have pockets of disproportionately high Agile maturity in your organization? What are you doing to drive an overall increasing Agile maturity?

Discord in Agileland

I've seen a lot of blog posts and articles circulating about how horrible the state of Agile has become. The central theme to these is that the term "Agile" has moved away from the principles that they established to the practices that are commonly used by "Agile" teams and organizations. I'd like to gently suggest that we not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Look, I totally get it. I really do. A quick glance at my own blog's history will tell you that I'm a huge advocate of sticking to the Agile principles and paradigm. Adopting practices, techniques, frameworks, or methodologies without internalizing the Agile Manifesto and its Principles is an exercise in diminishing returns (if any). However, it's also very difficult to ascertain how well an organization has internalized Agile into its culture. Like the saying goes, "The proof is in the tasting of the pudding," meaning that Agile teams do, in fact, behave differently because of how they've internalized Agile.

Theological Agility

"You will respect the sacred parchment" -- 5 reasons Agile is like a cult

One of the better blog posts that I've read on the subject was written by Dave Thomas, one of the Agile Manifesto's original signatories. In "Agile is Dead (Long Live Agility)", he writes, "Once the Manifesto became popular, the word agile became a magnet for anyone with points to espouse, hours to bill, or products to sell. It became a marketing term, coopted to improve sales in the same way that words such as eco and natural are. A word that is abused in this way becomes useless—it stops having meaning as it transitions into a brand."

People have exploited the agile brand to push their own agendas, that's for sure. All too often these days you meet someone trying to sell a practice or approach who can't name more than a couple of the Agile Principles (if any). I have personally trained people on Agile who had "heard so much about it", yet had never heard of such a thing as the Agile Manifesto.

So yes, we do need to work on getting back to our roots. However, that does not make all practices and approaches evil. This way of thinking is way too theological for an approach that must be practically applicable.

Making a living off of changing people's lives is not a crime against Agile. Furthermore, there are some practices that have existed for long enough that I would consider a team to be un-Agile or a low-maturity Agile team if they weren't doing them.

By their Fruits

By their fruits ye shall know them - Agile Teams have Agile practices, produce quality value, and are happy!

In his blog post "The Corruption of Agile", Andrew Binstock writes about the evils of building a brand off of Agile. He states that teams can be doing Agile practices without being Agile, and they can be Agile without doing Agile practices. My confusion is: how do you know a team is Agile if they aren't acting Agile? Practices such as TDD and Continuous Integration enable the team to deliver the values stated in the Agile Manifesto and its principles. If a team's not doing them, what are they doing to get there? Do they inspect and adapt on a regular basis? Are they striving to deliver something to their customers every 2 weeks to 2 months (with a preference for the shorter timescale)? How do you know they are Agile if their practices aren't Agile?

Agile practices can be a good gauge for a team's Agility. I do not advocate their use as the only metric of Agility, but they provide a good starting point for assessing a team. If a team is using Scrum and has implemented TDD and Continuous Integration, it's going to take a fair amount of convincing for me to believe they aren't "Agile", for how did they get to that point if they weren't continuously improving? Perhaps they were Agile at one time and had grown stale, but there is certainly evidence that they were at least Agile at one point in time.

Keep an Open Mind
Do we need to focus on our roots, the foundation of Agile culture that will breed lasting success in our teams? Absolutely! Our people should be consistently reminded of what it means to be Agile to ensure they are adapting towards greater Agility instead of away from it. Are people who introduce practices, approaches, and techniques that enable and empower a team to become more Agile inherently evil? Absolutely not! A team that understands what Agility is can tell when someone's trying to pull one over on them versus a person who genuinely has their best interests at heart.

I love going to conferences and learning about the latest and greatest in the Agile world. I love being a part of a community that is so obsessed with making people's lives better. I love the healthy debate and pragmatism that comes with experience. And I loathe those who are clearly pushing their own agenda without a reality check or an understanding of what Agile is really all about. I think it's time we took a more measured approach to our criticism, understanding that not all Agile consultants are wolves in sheep's clothing; indeed, more of them than you think are just trying to make the world a better place.

Favorite Agile Principle

There's been a lot of buzz lately in the Agile community about how far we've gotten from our roots. Most of the talk is around the evils of associating specific approaches with Agile; some have gone so far as to say if you advocate a practice as standard for Agile then you've lost your compass. I have some ideas brewing around those ideas. In the mean time, I thought I'd throw out a positive post to encourage people to get back to their Agile roots. My question is simple: What's your favorite Agile Principle?

Mine is easy: "Simplicity -- the art of maximizing the amount of work not done -- is essential". This principle is elegant and so applicable to my life. I am constantly over-complicating my life, so I've made this principle my mantra to keep me in check.

I understand that all of the Principles are important, so don't get hung up on the question. I'm not asking which one is best or most "Agile", I just want to know which is your favorite.

If you need a refresher, they can be found here:

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
8. Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
10. Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Agile Documentation

And this, class, is what we call BLASPHEMIES!!!

One of the most common myths I get to dispel as an Agile Coach is that Agile teams don't document. After all, they value Working Software, not Comprehensive Documentation. I have to remind them that the Manifesto states "over" instead of "not", and that true Agilists still see the value in documentation inasmuch as it enhances the working software being developed. These conversations have helped me refine my message over time to the four questions I believe should be asked before documentation is produced.

Who are you documenting for?

Set permissions to 'write-only'

Who is going to read this document that you're going to write? Dean Leffingwell once told me that Agile means avoiding "write-only" documentation. If it's not going to be read, why write it?

Understanding your audience also impacts how you write your documentation. Speak to the level and with the verbiage which which your consumer is most comfortable. This is similar logic to why we include the user in the standard User Story format.

How will you communicate your documentation?
Documentation is not one-size-fits-all. There are hundreds of ways to document, from wikis to man files to interactive wizards. What format are you going to use to publish your documentation?

Another interpretation of this is where will you put the documentation for your consumers to pull? Most documentation is living, not static, so mediums like email are usually very bad. Do you have a team site, knowledge repository, or some other digital location that your consumers can bookmark to find the latest and greatest? Is the location easy to find and "on the main path", or do they have to dig for it? Make your life easy by making your documentation easy to consume.

What will be done with your documentation?
This is more a corollary for the first two questions. For example, you may think you know who you're documenting for, but what if all they do is file the information away and never look at it? Your audience may not be who you think it is - indeed, your audience may not exist at all.

As for the second question, building a README file to document your smartphone game won't be useful, regardless of how well you know your customer or how accessible you make said file - an in-game tutorial will be much better received.

Bottom line: don't start documenting until you know what your consumers' intended purpose is for the documentation.

Can it be automated?
The first three questions speak more to the elimination or simplification of the documentation you produce. By the time you get to this question, you've determined that the documentation is necessary for your end-user, future maintenance team, or whomever to do what they need with your software. So can this documentation be automated?

Documentation for future development and maintenance is often quite simple to automate. You can use certain comment formatting to generate Javadoc or Sandcastle documentation for Java and .NET applications, respectively. You can use tools to generate your class and sequence diagrams as part of each build. There are several forms of technical documentation that can almost always be automated.

User-facing automation is trickier, but not impossible. For instance, you could generate LaTeX templates that are plugged in with data that's auto-fed to it and output documentation in the format that works best for your users. Get creative with it and see what you can come up with.

Questions?
Those are the questions I've developed over time; what are yours? How do you determine what to document and how? Do you find yourself documenting more or less using Agile than Waterfall? How has the nature of documentation changed? I'd love to learn from your experiences.