Strict Predictability of Cost and Schedule

If you need predictability about cost and schedule with an exact, fixed feature set, predictability comes into play after the exact feature set has been defined—which is usually 10–30% of the way into a release cycle.

These key Agile practices support strict predictability:

• Story point assignment

• Velocity computation

• Small stories

• Up-front population, estimation, and refinement of the product backlog

• Short iterations

• Release burndown

• Accounting for variability in velocity

If you don’t need strict predictability of cost and schedule, you might skip ahead to the next lesson, ...