1. Cultivating Agile Requirements
Mark Wavle, CBAP, PSM
Elicit Agile words from the audience
Talk about how the picture represents some important Agile words: team, collaboration, agility, speed

2. The Agile Manifesto We Value: The Mission Statement over
Individuals and Interactions
Process and Tools
Working Software
Comprehensive Documentation
<?> Ask: How many know what/have read/can quote the Agile Manifesto?
Do not read whole Manifesto!
Emphasize: People, Collaboration, Value
Customer Collaboration
Contract Negotiation
Responding to Change
Following a Plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

3. Scrum Framework
<?> Ask: What is the most popular implementation/method/framework of Agile? (Scrum)
Product Backlog is input into the Scrum process, which produces a working, valuable increment of software. The input is critical to this process, so we will focus on it

4. Product Backlog List of all remaining desired features for the product
Ordered / stack ranked (1 to n…)
Each feature expressed as a Product Backlog Item
Visible to all stakeholders
Product Backlog changes constantly throughout development of the product

5. 0:00 – 0:13 Intro
0:14 – 0:50 Change Type #1: Reprioritize
0:51 – 1:13 Change Type #2: Remove
1:14 – 1:29 Change Type #3: Pull into Sprint
<?> Ask: Why is it important to invest the most time in items at the top of the list? / Why not invest a lot of time into items at the bottom of the list? (Don’t want to incur waste)
Tell Story / cannot have whole backlog matured
We will outline a 3 step process to mature your product backlog items at the right time
What does a mature PBI look like? Depends on your environment.

6. Definition of Ready A ready item is: Clear Feasible Testable
Step 1: Define the goal state (a mature backlog item)
Clear = team has shared understanding of meaning
Feasible = can be completed in a Sprint
Testable = functionality works as expected
Product backlog grooming should result in 'ready' items
The INVEST criteria is another helpful model to define what a mature backlog item looks like

7. Questions for Backlog Items
What is the idea?
How does the user benefit?
How important is it?
What high-level items can we do in the next 6-12 months?
How big is it?
What specific items can we do in the next 1-3 Sprints?
How are we going to implement it?
How will we know it is done?
Step 2: Identify the questions that are asked of your Backlog Items as they mature
These are questions that our Backlog Items must be able to answer as they mature
Again, we cannot have the answers to all of these questions for every Backlog Item all the time
We need to answer these questions just in time (lean)
Put the questions in order – general to specific
Observe the patterns of questions and when they need to be answered, then use this to identify the stages your Backlog Items go through

8. Discuss with stakeholder Analyze and decompose
Identify Acceptance Criteria
Identify test data
Document idea
Estimate (t-shirt sizes)
Estimate (story points)
Complete UX/UI design
Identify user benefit
Step 3: Name & define the stages
<?> Ask: Who can think of some ideas of things in the real world that have stages of maturity/growth?
People, Education, Plants
In this model, we will use the plant metaphor.
Walk thru model
Add maturity as an attribute on PBI, then use attribute to find PBI that need attention (i.e. - #8 in our Product Backlog is only a Sprout…it needs attention)
Review the 3 steps
The plant metaphor is a cycle, which equates to the feedback loop we seek in Agile. The seeds of the next Backlog Items are included in the fruit/bloom of the last Backlog Item
Identify dependencies
Work dependencies
Legal, compliance, security reviews
Prioritize
Identify place in 6-12 month plan
Identify place in next 1-3 Sprints
Plan for team delivery
Free-form
User Story
Acceptance Criteria
Supplementary artifacts, wireframes

9. Techniques to Mature Backlog Items
Backlog Grooming Sessions
Ensures whole team understands backlog items as they are matured
Estimating/Sizing
Drives whole-team understanding of each item as it is sized
Splitting Backlog Items
Splits items so they deliver value and fit within one Sprint
Modeling Visually
Encourages conversation and collaboration while ensuring the whole team understands the item

10. Highlight any additional resources that may be helpful (local groups, Cardinal events, handouts, etc.)
Thank You
Mark Wavle