book: agile estimating and planning

by mike cohn, 2006 (11th printing 2011) 005.1 COH

p xxii. can't plan away uncertainty. we reduce uncertainty by gaining knowledge, and we gain knowledge by executing the plan. plan, plan, plan-do vs. plan-do-adapt, plan-do-adapt
anticipation vs. adaptation
estimate size, derive duration

ch. 1
p 3. "planning is everything. plans are nothing." -- field marshal helmuth graf von moltke (i always thought eisenhower said something like this. maybe he ripped it off.) also, "no plan survives contact with the enemy."
p ?. planning helps us see risk (uncertainty) and make decisions about it. eg, we can try the riskiest part first to see if it will work.
p 6. the most critical risk facing most projects is the risk of developing the wrong product
p 6. failed project: no one came up with any better ideas than what was on the initial list of requirements
p 9. an agile plan is one that we are not only willing, but also eager to change. we don't want to change the plan just for the sake of changing, but we want to change because change means we've learned something or that we've avoided a mistake.
p 10. spread planning evenly over the duration of the project

two week timebox, with half day each fortnight for planning. don't let external pressures change requirements during the timebox; they have to wait until the next one.

the knowledge and insight we gain from planning persists long after one plan is torn up and a revised one put in its place. agile planning is focused more on the activity of planning than on the plan, and an agile plan is one that is easy to change.

ch. 2
2/3 of projects have significant cost overruns
64% features rarely or never used
100% average schedule estimate overrun

traditional planning concerns activities performed rather than features delivered.
this leads to schedule overruns:
-activities don't finish early
-lateness is passed down
-activities are not independent

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