Comments on: Units of Work http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work Adventures in Programming Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:50:58 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: Chase Lake http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work/comment-page-1#comment-170 Chase Lake Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:58:26 +0000 http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work#comment-170 Interesting discussion. I would also be interested in seeing us start to utilize a cost metric that captures current expenditures for a given process along with an estimate of savings as part of the prioritization discussion as well.

Development Effort (Cost/Speed) + Business Priority + Estimated Savings

Let me use a money analogy – since we’re a bank?. If you have multiple credit card bills with varying amounts due some would say that it makes sense to pay an equal amount towards each (or a ratio thereof) until one or more of the balances is paid off.

I would contend that it makes more sense to make minimum payments towards all of the bills except the lowest and to focus all of your remaining funds towards paying that amount off quickly. Once paid apply the payments to the next lowest until all have been eliminated.

]]> By: David B. Horvath, CCP http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work/comment-page-1#comment-169 David B. Horvath, CCP Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:57:11 +0000 http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work#comment-169 The other thing required is reasonable (and defendable) measures of the size/complexity of the item being implemented. To say a screen is complex but a report is not can be flawed. There are many such size/complexity measures including function points, feature points, KLOC, etc. With good historical data, estimates are easier too (“in this organization, we take X hours per function point in tool Z#++”).

I’ve done some function point counting and basic training. I’m not a FPA-zealot, just mentioning it as one method.

- David

]]> By: Yanning Yan http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work/comment-page-1#comment-168 Yanning Yan Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:42:07 +0000 http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work#comment-168 Michael, Thanks for sharing your Essay. Regards, Yanning Michael,

Thanks for sharing your Essay.

Regards,
Yanning

]]> By: mcherm http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work/comment-page-1#comment-160 mcherm Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:38:46 +0000 http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work#comment-160 Joe: I am pleased to hear that, because I apparently had a mistaken impression of how the prioritization is occurring. I saw the feature list being created and sorted by the product owner (who evaluates business value based on input from various people), but somehow I had failed to realize that we were <em>also</em> estimating development time and incorporating that into the choice of what to select for inclusion in a given sprint. Joe: I am pleased to hear that, because I apparently had a mistaken impression of how the prioritization is occurring. I saw the feature list being created and sorted by the product owner (who evaluates business value based on input from various people), but somehow I had failed to realize that we were also estimating development time and incorporating that into the choice of what to select for inclusion in a given sprint.

]]> By: Joe Campbell http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work/comment-page-1#comment-159 Joe Campbell Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:57:23 +0000 http://mcherm.com/permalinks/1/units-of-work#comment-159 You may have misinterpreted prioritization to only be performed by the business and the Product Owner - this is not the case. Since the order can account for any number of inputs the speed with which something can be done is also to be considered in what order to place something in. If it is truly the case then that the order does not change despite having the speed information then there was a conscious decision to do it that way with a valid explanation as well. You may have misinterpreted prioritization to only be performed by the business and the Product Owner – this is not the case. Since the order can account for any number of inputs the speed with which something can be done is also to be considered in what order to place something in. If it is truly the case then that the order does not change despite having the speed information then there was a conscious decision to do it that way with a valid explanation as well.

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