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AgileSoftwareDevelopmentandProjectManagementGlossary

Agile

BehaviorDriven
Development

Bottleneck

Bugs

BurndownChart

DailyStandup/Scrum Done

Epic

Estimation

Featurecreep

Kanban

Lean

PairProgramming

PlanningPoker

ProductBacklog

ProductOwner

Retrospective

Scrum

Scrumban

ScrumMaster

Spike

Sprint/Iteration

SprintBacklog

SprintPlanning

SprintReview

StoryPoints

Task

Taskboard/
Storyborad

Team

TestDriven
Development

Timeboxing

UserPersona

UserStory

Velocity

VerticalSlice

WIP

XP

Acceptancetesting

Acceptancecriteria

All
Terms

Agile Terms Glossary

Acceptance criteria
Thesearespecificcriteriaidentifiedbythecustomerforeachfunctionalrequirement.The
acceptancecriteriaarewritteninsimpletermsandfromaperspectiveofthecustomer.
Sampleformatis:
Asa.....Iwantto.....sothatIcan......
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Acceptance testing

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Acceptancetestingisavalidationactivityconductedtodeterminewhetherornotasystem
satisfiesitsacceptancecriteria.Itisthelastphaseofthesoftwaretestingprocess.
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Agile
Aconceptualframeworkforundertakingsoftwareprojects.Agilemethodsareafamilyof
developmentprocesses,notasingleapproachtosoftwaredevelopment.
Additionalresources:
AgileManifesto
TwelvePrinciplesofAgile
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Behavior Driven Development

Behaviordrivendevelopment(orBDD)isanagilesoftwaredevelopmenttechniquethat
encouragescollaborationbetweendevelopers,QAandnontechnicalorbusiness
participantsinasoftwareproject.BDDfocusesonobtainingaclearunderstandingof
desiredsoftwarebehaviorthroughdiscussionwithstakeholders.ItextendsTDDbywriting
testcasesinanaturallanguagethatnonprogrammerscanread.
TolearnmoreaboutBDD>,pleasevisittheWikipediapagefordetailedinformation.
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Bottleneck
Abottleneckisasortofcongestioninasystemthatoccurswhenworkloadarrivesata
givenpointmorequicklythanthatpointcanhandleit.
Itismetaphoricallyderivedfromtheflowingofwaterthroughanarrowmouthedbottlewhere
theflowofwaterisconstrainedbythesizeofitsneck.
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TeamPulse
Overview

Demos

Pricing

Trynow

Bugs
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Asoftwarebugisaproblemcausingaprogramtocrashorproduceinvalidoutput.Itis
causedbyinsufficientorerroneouslogicandcanbeanerror,mistake,defectorfault.
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Burndown Chart
Aburndownchartisavisualtoolformeasuringanddisplayingprogress.Visually,a
burndownchartissimplyalinechartrepresentingremainingworkovertime.Burndown
chartsareusedtomeasuretheprogressofanagileprojectatbothaiterationandproject
level.
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Daily Standup/Scrum
ADailyStandupisawholeteammeetingthathappensatthesametimeeverydaythat
usuallylasts15minutesorless.Themeetingisdesignedtoallowtheentireteamto
synchronizewitheachotherandtounderstandtheflowandchallengesofthedevelopment
process.Eachteammembershouldprovidethefollowinginformation:whatdidIdo
yesterday,whatamIplanningtodotoday,andwhatimpedimentsdoIcurrentlyhave?
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Done
AlsoreferredtoasDoneDone,thistermisusedtodescribeallthevarioustasksthatneed
tohappenbeforeastoryisconsideredpotentiallyreleasable.
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Epic
Averylargeuserstorythatiseventuallybrokendownintosmallerstories.
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Estimation
Theprocessofagreeingonasizemeasurementforthestories,aswellasthetasks
requiredtoimplementthosestories,inaproductbacklog.
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Feature creep
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Featurecreepoccurswhenasoftwarebecomescomplicatedanddifficulttouseasaresult
oftoomanyfeatures.
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Kanban
Kanban,pronounced/knbn/,isamethodfordevelopingproductswithanemphasison
justintimedeliveryandtheoptimizationofflowofworkontheteam.Itemphasizesthat
developerspullworkfromaqueue,andtheprocess,fromdefinitionofatasktoitsdelivery
tothecustomer,isdisplayedforparticipantstosee.
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Lean
LeansoftwaredevelopmentisatranslationofLeanmanufacturingandLeanITprinciples
andpracticestothesoftwaredevelopmentdomain.AdaptedfromtheToyotaProduction
Systemandisasetoftechniquesandprinciplesfordeliveringmorevalueswiththesameor
lessresourcesbyeliminatingwasteacrossorganizationsandbusinessprocesses
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Pair Programming
Pairprogrammingisanagilesoftwaredevelopmenttechniqueinwhichtwoprogrammers
worktogetheratoneworkstation.Onetypesincodewhiletheotherreviewseachlineof
codeasitistypedin.Thepersontypingiscalledthedriver.Thepersonreviewingthecode
iscalledtheobserver(ornavigator).Thetwoprogrammersswitchrolesfrequently.
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Planning Poker
AlsocalledScrumpoker,isaconsensusbasedtechniqueforestimating,mostlyusedto
estimateeffortorrelativesizeoftasksinsoftwaredevelopment.
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Product Backlog
Actsasarepositoryforrequirementstargetedforreleaseatsomepoint.Thesearetypically
highlevelrequirementswithhighlevelestimatesprovidedbytheproductstakeholders.The
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highlevelrequirementswithhighlevelestimatesprovidedbytheproductstakeholders.The
requirementsarelistedonthebackloginpriorityorderandmaintainedbytheproduct
owner.
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Product Owner
TheProductOwnerrepresentsthevoiceofthecustomerandisaccountableforensuring
thattheTeamdeliversvaluetothebusiness.TheProductOwnerwritescustomercentric
items(typicallyuserstories),prioritizesthem,andaddsthemtotheproductbacklog.Scrum
teamsshouldhaveoneProductOwner.
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Retrospective
Ateammeetingthathappensattheendofeverydevelopmentiterationtoreviewlessons
learnedandtodiscusshowtheteamcanbemoreefficientinthefuture.Itisbasedonthe
principlesofapplyingthelearningfromtheprevioussprinttotheupcomingsprint.
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Scrum
Scrumisaframeworkwithinwhichpeoplecanaddresscomplexadaptiveproblems,while
productivelyandcreativelydeliveringproductsofthehighestpossiblevalue.Itisbasedon
theadaptiveanditerativemethodologyofsoftwaredevelopment.
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Scrumban
ScrumbanisamixbetweenScrumandKanban,whichsupposedlycontainsthebest
featuresofbothmethods.
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Scrum Master
Scrumisaccountableforremovingimpedimentstotheabilityoftheteamtodeliverthe
sprintgoal/deliverables.TheScrumMasterisnottheteamleaderbutactsasabuffer
betweentheteamandanydistractinginfluences.TheScrumMasterensuresthattheScrum
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betweentheteamandanydistractinginfluences.TheScrumMasterensuresthattheScrum
processisusedasintended.TheScrumMasteristheenforcerofrules.Akeypartofthe
ScrumMastersroleistoprotecttheteamandkeepthemfocusedonthetasksathand.The
rolehasalsobeenreferredtoasservantleadertoreinforcethesedualperspectives.

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Spike
Ashort,timeboxedpieceofresearch,usuallytechnical,onasinglestorythatisintendedto
providejustenoughinformationthattheteamcanestimatethesizeofthestory.
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Sprint / Iteration
Afixeddurationperiodoftimewhereuserstoriesarechosentoworkon.ThetermSprint
comesfromtheScrummethodologyandisanalogoustothetermIteration.Asprintis
definedasa24weekincrementofsoftwaredevelopmentactivitiesthatdeliversworking
softwareandtheendoftheincrement.Externalinfluencesarenotallowedtochangethe
requirementsofthestoriesbeingworkedon.
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Sprint Backlog
Atthebeginningofeachsprint,theteamhassprintplanningwithanendresultbeinga
backlogofworkthattheteamanticipatescompletingattheendofthesprint.Thesearethe
itemsthattheteamwilldeliveragainstthroughoutthedurationofthesprint.
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Sprint Planning
Isapresprintplanningmeetingattendedbythecoreagileteam.Duringthemeetingthe
ProductOwnerdescribesthehighestpriorityfeaturestotheteamasdescribedonthe
productbacklog.Theteamthenagreesonthenumberoffeaturestheycanaccomplishin
thesprintandplansoutthetasksrequiredtoachievedeliveryofthosefeatures.The
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planninggroupworksthefeaturesintoUserStoriesandassignsAcceptancecriteriatoeach
story.
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Sprint Review
EachSprintisfollowedbyaSprintreview.Duringthisreviewthesoftwaredevelopedinthe
previousSprintisreviewedandifnecessarynewbacklogitemsareadded.
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Story Points
Unitofestimationmeasuringcomplexityandsize.
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Task
Auserstorycanbebrokendownintooneormoretasks.Tasksareestimateddailyinhours
(orstorypoints)remainingbythedeveloperworkingonthem.
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Taskboard / Storyborad
Awallchartwithcardsandstickynotesthatrepresentsalltheworkforinagivensprint.The
notesaremovedacrosstheboardtoshowprogress.
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Team
TheTeamisresponsiblefordeliveringtheproduct.ATeamistypicallymadeupof59
peoplewithcrossfunctionalskillswhodotheactualwork(analyse,design,develop,test,
technicalcommunication,document,etc.).ItisrecommendedthattheTeambeself
organizingandselfled,butoftenworkwithsomeformofprojectorteammanagement.
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Test Driven Development

Testdrivendevelopment(TDD)isasoftwaredevelopmentprocessthatreliesonthe
repetitionofaveryshortdevelopmentcycle:firstthedeveloperwritesafailingautomated
testcasethatdefinesadesiredimprovementornewfunction,thenproducescodetopass
thattestandfinallyrefactorsthenewcodetoacceptablestandards.
TestDrivenDevelopment(TDD)isdescribedinthisWikipediapageforfulldescription
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Timeboxing
Timeboxingisaplanningtechniquecommoninplanningprojects(typicallyforsoftware
development),wherethescheduleisdividedintoanumberofseparatetimeperiods
(timeboxes,normallytwotosixweekslong),witheachparthavingitsowndeliverables,
deadlineandbudget.
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User Persona
Personasareadescriptionofthetypicalusersofagivensoftware.Apersonadescription
shouldinclude:
1)SkillsandbackgroundE.g.professionalorbeginnercomputeruser
2)GoalsE.g.whatdoestheuserexpectfromtheproduct?
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User Story
Auserstoryisaveryhighleveldefinitionofarequirement,containingjustenough
informationsothatthedeveloperscanproduceareasonableestimateoftheeffortto
implementit.Auserstoryisoneormoresentencesintheeverydayorbusinesslanguageof
theenduserthatcaptureswhattheuserwantstoachieve.Auserstoryisalsoa
placeholderforconversationbetweentheusersandtheteam.Theuserstoriesshouldbe
writtenbyorforthecustomersforasoftwareprojectandaretheirmaininstrumentto
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influencethedevelopmentofthesoftware.Userstoriescouldalsobewrittenbydevelopers
toexpressnonfunctionalrequirements(security,performance,quality,etc.)
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Velocity
Itisarelativenumberwhichdescribeshowmuchworktheteamcangetdoneoveraperiod
oftime.
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Vertical Slice
Showingoffafeatureinanapplicationthatworksfromstarttofinishbutmaybelimitedin
scope.Forexamplearopebridgecrossingachasmisimmediatelyusefulandallows
peopletocross.Havingthatinplacecanhelptobuildabetterbridgelater.
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WIP
AlsoknownasWorkinProgressisanyworkthathasbeenstartedbuthasyettobe
completed.
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XP
Asoftwaredevelopmentmethodologywhichisintendedtoimprovesoftwarequalityand
responsivenesstochangingcustomerrequirements.Asatypeofagilesoftware
development,itadvocatesfrequent"releases"inshortdevelopmentcycles(timeboxing),
whichisintendedtoimproveproductivityandintroducecheckpointswherenewcustomer
requirementscanbeadopted.
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