The GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide has 12 steps. These describe the increasing maturity of the project's artifacts. They are not specific to Agile Software Development. But here's how they are connected
They are not specific to Agile Software Development and can be applied to any project development lifecycle. But here's how they are connected
Here's how they are connected If any of these pieces is missing the probability of the project's success to reduced.
| Step | GAO | Agile |
| 1 | Capture All Activities |
Product Roadmap and Release Plan describe the needed capabilities to be delivered by the project. These capabilities are connected to the business strategy. They implement that strategy through the Features that are decomposed from the Capabilities in the Release Plan. |
| 2 | Sequence These Activities |
The order of the needed Capabilities in defined in the business strategy. This is connected to the Financial Plan for earning back the investment of the development. This financial management process is the basis of decision making for business. ROI and breakeven dates are part of managing any business for profit. |
| 3 | Assign Resources to These Activities | Agile teams, for the most part, are a fixed set of resources, so the spending plan is essentially Flat |
| 4 | Establish Duration for these Activities |
Business runs on the time value of money. Business has a fiduciary need to know when Value will start being accrued. This is the role of the Product Roadmap and Release Plan. Either a Cadence Release Plan or a Capabilities Release Plan. Again, this is the basis of Managerial Finance. |
| 5 | Verify Schedule is Traceable Horizontally and Vertically |
The delivery of Value to the Release Plan and the Product Roadmap is Vertical. The product of Value from the Product Backlog to the Sprints is Horizontal |
| 6 | Confirm Critical Path - The Schedule Matches the Program's Needs | Agile doesn't have the formal notion of a critical path, but there are critical features that are needed for the Capabilities. These need to appear at critical times for the business to accrue the planned benefits to fullfill the business plan |
| 7 | Ensure Reasonable Total Float |
All project work operates in the presence of uncertainty. Uncertainty creates risk. Risk Management is how Adults Manage Projects - Tim Lister Be an adult and provide margin for all work. No margin? You're late and over budget before you start, and have lowered the probability of technical success. |
| 8 | Conduct Schedule Risk Analysis |
Uncertanty creates Risk. Agile is a participant in Risk Management, but Agile is NOT Risk Management. Risk Management has 6 processes, see SEI Continuous Risk Management https://goo.gl/brVght |
| 9 | Update Schedule with Actual Progress |
Physical Percent Complete is the only measure of progress to Plan. Agile has many Plans, Product Roadmap, Release Plan, Product Backlog, Sprint Plan. Each Plan must have some measure of progress. Story Points are NOT measures of progress because they are Ordinal. Mesures of progress must be Cardinal |
| 10 | Maintain the Baseline with Repeatable Processes |
Agile encourages change, but those changes must be recorded so a reference class can be built of the time and effort it has taken to develop the Features. These Features can then be collected into a Feature Breakdown Structure (FBS) and used to estimate future features as Reference Classes. |
