Re: Six Sigma and XP Estimation / Planning

To make sure there's no misunderstanding, Eric wanted to go off and do some research on XP's terminology and practices re: Estimation and Planning before joining the discussion.  My perception is that there is quite a bit of variation in actual usage; from Project/Release/Iteration, through Release/Iteration, to the discussion on the XP list some time back that some teams only did Iteration Planning.  Rather than him going off and potentially missing an important variation, I asked Eric to join us and let you educate him on the various practices in hopes we'd maximize the probability of finding a compatibility point.  At the same time, I take Charlie's point that we don't need to get into a debate about the best source of information.  

I just wanted to make it clear that Eric didn't join us *asking* to be educated.  I asked him to *let* you do it.  I hope I didn't create any sort of problem by recommending that approach.

Best regards,
Bill
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Charlie Poole 
  To: [email protected] 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 7:00 PM
  Subject: RE: [XC] Six Sigma and XP Estimation / Planning


  Bill,
   
  This sounds interesting. 
   
  I'm sending Eric a few suggestions offline to keep the chatter down.
   
  Charlie Poole
  [email protected]
  www.pooleconsulting.com
  www.charliepoole.org



   
   -----Original Message-----
  From: Bill Walton [mailto:[email protected]]
  Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 3:45 PM
  To: [email protected]
  Subject: [XC] Six Sigma and XP Estimation / Planning


    We're joined now by a real Six Sigma guru.  His name is Eric Maass.  Eric is Director of Technology Strategy for Motorola's Wireless and Broadband Systems Group.  At the same time, he is Chairman of the Six Sigma Black Belts Steering Committee for Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector.   He has a web page at http://www.geocities.com/ecmaass/ for anyone who wants to check out his CV.  In a conversation with another 6S guru who hasn't had time to join us I was told "I think you hit the nail on the head. The future is really in a balanced mix of XP and Six Sigma."  So I have some high hopes that, in talking with Eric, we may find that XP has an ally in 6S that could bridge some communication gaps with organizations that are doing 6S, or at least think highly of it, but who don't know as much about XP.
     
    I posed a question earlier about whether / to what extent XP would find support for it's estimating / planning practices in a Six Sigma environment.  In particular, I'm wondering about the practice of committing to a velocity for iteration X that's equal to the velocity achieved in iteration X-1.  As I said earlier, I have a feeling that could be perceived as "shooting low."  I wonder if 6S's statistical underpinnings might recommend a different approach that wouldn't put any more pressure on the development team re: unrealistic committments but, at the same time, answer this question plus the question about whether / how many stories should be estimated and in the queue in case the team accomplishes more than initially committed in an iteration.  I also tend to think XP's practice of picking a "best guess" at an initial velocity and then adjusting based on actual results (as opposed to trying to develop a long term timeline that will be difficult to adjust, etc.) may find support in 6S in the context of establishing a baseline.
     
    Eric is new to XP and has expressed a need to come up to speed on the practices and the terminology.  I thought it would be best, since practices are evolving, since there seems to be some variation in practice, and since I'm still researching XP as opposed to actually doing it, to ask you guys to explain the estimating / planning practices you use.  Or, if you like, I could explain it as I understand it from my readings and talking to you here and let you correct me as necessary.

    Best regards,
    Bill

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