their experience on one slide. They can show their big picture practice bar chart, a few context factors such as team size, audit requirements, and team distribution, and finally outcome with both benefits and pitfalls. Formal studies can add metrics into the framework and write a rigorous academic study.
When discussing survey scores, note that low numbers are not always bad. Some teams consciously chose to not adopt a given practice. They own their process. The goal is for them to thinking about what's best for the team. If they share an experience report, it will be interested to read their experience report to see if the practice was indeed unnecessary, or if they wish they had used it!
Next Steps
Figure 2 provides some examples to begin using Agile:EF. The scale is one to ten. Ten means you use the practice all the time, five is 50 percent of the time, and one is never.
Where are the other questions? The purpose of the framework is not to dictate the ultimate list of questions. Coaches have the power to write their own questions related to their favorite set of practices for their teams. They don't have to start from scratch. Use the Agile Pulse questions above as a start. But for groups that want to measure in great detail, XP:EF 1.4 is an instance of Agile:EF that specifies many detailed metrics. [iii] Some teams like the formality and completeness, but other teams prefer ultra light metrics. Agile:EF is a framework that accommodates both; the team decides.
In summary, use Agile:EF's Agile Pulse survey for lightweight retrospectives. Add Agile:EF's context, objective metrics, and outcome structure to share your experience.
About the Authors
Bill Krebs has worked as a developer, performance engineer, and process consultant since 1982. He's been agile since 2001. In addition to coaching teams, he teaches agile to over 500 students a year and trains other teachers. He's presented at agile conferences, IBM Research, and serves as the co-chair for the IBM Academy of Technology conference on Agile. Bill is a certified ScrumMaster TM and continues to learn from every agile user group he can find.
[i] "Toward an XP Evaluation Framework" by Laurie Williams, William Krebs, Lucas Layman, and Annie Antón. Available at
ftp://ftp.csc.ncsu.edu/pub/tech/2004/TR-2004-02.pdf
[ii] "Agile Estimating and Planning" by Mike Cohn. See also www.planningpoker.com.
[iii] Extreme Programming Evaluation Framework for Object Oriented Languages Version 1.4" by Laurie Williams, Lucas Layman, and William Krebs. Available at ftp://ftp.ncsu.edu/pub/unity/lockers/ftp/csc_anon/tech/2004/TR-2004-18.pdf
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