Links

Development isn't linear

• Teams that track “velocity” and “story points” treat development as if it’s linear labor.
• "Software development is not like moving a pile of stones. If work was like that, you could count the stones, count the time to move one, do the math and be done."

It's crucial to understand not only what's done, but what's unknown.

• How does the team feel about the unknowns in the work?
• Are there things that need to be figured out still?
• Are there things that we might not find a solution for?
• Or have we investigated all the unknowns already and it's just a matter of execution?

Development is like a hill with two sides

We found a metaphor for talking about this at Basecamp, work that requires problem solving is more like a hill. There’s an uphill phase where you figure out what you’re doing. Then when you get to the top you can see down the other side and what it’ll take to finish.

• The Hill Chart captures this intuition and reflects it back to the team.