Agile linear algebra questionnaire

Test your Agile linear algebra

By Paulo Caroli

Releasing planning, Iteration planning, velocity and burn up charts are basic linear algebra!

From Wikipedia: “Algebra is a part of mathematics (math) that helps show the general links between numbers and math operations (adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing) used on the numbers. Algebra does this by using letters (a,b,c,...) or other symbols to represent numbers, either because the numbers are unknown or because the numbers change during the course of the problem, in which case the letters are called variables.
Let’s test your basic Agile linear algebra knowledge!

Check out the formulae below and try out the questionnaire.

The Formulae

Vp = Ro / Ip
The planned average velocity (Vp) is the number of story points planned for the release (Ro) by the number of planned iterations (Ip).

V = ∑Si / i
The average velocity of a team (V) is the sum delivered story points per iteration (∑Si) by the number of iterations elapsed (i).

Ve = V + ∆V
Velocity expected is the average velocity (V ) plus the expected velocity variation (∆V). Velocity expected is commonly used for planning activities, such as iteration and release planning.

R = Ro + ∆R
The current total story points planned for the release (R) is the original story points planned for the release (Ro) plus the delta of story points for the release (∆R).

Rm = R - ∑Si
The number of story points remaining for the release (Rm ) is the current total Story points for the release (R ) minus the sum of completed story points for the iterations (∑Si).

Ir = Rm / Ve
The number of iterations remaining (Ir) is the number of story points remaining for the release (Rm ) by the expected velocity (Ve)


Questionnaire

Problem 1
An agile team plans to deliver 400 story points in 10 iterations. What is the planned average velocity for the team?
(a) 10 sp/it (b) 20 sp/it (c) 40 sp/it (d) 400 sp/it (e) other

Problem 2
A team has average velocity of 10 sp/it. Extra resources are added to the team, thus creating an expected rise in velocity of 4 sp/it. What is the expected velocity for the team?
(a) 10 sp/it (b) 14 sp/it (c) 4 sp/it (d) 6 sp/it (e) other

Problem 3
In Iteration 1, the team delivered 10 story points, in iteration 2 the team delivered 14 story points, in Iteration 3 the team delivered 12 story points. What is the average velocity for the team?
(a) 6 sp/it (b) 12 sp/it (c) 24 sp/it (d) 36 sp/it (e) other

Problem 4
Consider the team iteration history of Problem 3. The original release plan is to deliver 400 story points. Assume that the team is about to start Iteration 4, and that the team is able to keep the same average velocity from the first 3 iteration for the remaining iterations of the release. The project manager decides to add an extra pair of developer to the team; and the velocity is expected to increase by 2 sp/it. How many iterations (in total) will it take for the team to deliver the 400 story points planned for the release?
(a) 23it (b) 26 it (c) 29 it (d) 32 it (e) other

Problem 5
Same as Problem 4, but 140 sp have been de-scoped from the release. How many more iterations will it take for the team to deliver the number of story points planned for the release?
(a) 12it (b) 16 it (c) 26 it (d) 36 it (e) other

Problem 6
Same as Problem 4. How many story points should be de-scoped from the release to enable the software to be released after a total of 12 iterations?
a) 0sp (b) 112 sp (c) 196sp (d)238 sp (e) other

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