ALPs API Communication Roles

The ALPs API Communication Roles consists of a:

• Content Creator
• Content Moderator
• Content Receiver

The Question Moderator

The Question Moderator is responsible for maximizing the value of the question and the work of the individual learning community members. How this is done may vary widely across Learning Community Communication Teams and individuals.

The Question Moderator is the sole person responsible for managing the contributions Backlog. Question Backlog management includes:

Clearly expressing Question Backlog items
Ordering the items in the Question Backlog to best achieve goals and mission
Optimizing the value of the work the contributors perform
Ensuring that the Question Backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the Learning Community Communication Team will work on next
Ensuring the Learning Community understands items in the Question Backlog to the level needed.

The Question Moderator is one person, not a committee. The Question Moderator may represent the
desires of the Learning Community, but those wanting to change a Question Backlog
item’s priority must address the Question Moderator.

For the Question Moderator to succeed, the entire organization must respect his or her decisions. The
Question Owner’s decisions are visible in the content and ordering of the Question Backlog.

The Learning Community

The Learning Community consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially
releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint. Only members of the
Development Team create the Increment.

Development Teams are structured and empowered by the organization to organize and
manage their own work. The resulting synergy optimizes the Development Team’s overall
efficiency and effectiveness.

Development Teams have the following characteristics:

• They are self-organizing. No one (not even the Learning Community Communication Master) tells the Development Team how to turn Product Backlog into Increments of potentially releasable functionality;
• Development Teams are cross-functional, with all of the skills as a team necessary to create a product Increment;
• Learning Community Communication recognizes no titles for Development Team members other than Developer, regardless of the work being performed by the person; there are no exceptions to this rule;
• Learning Community Communication recognizes no sub-teams in the Development Team, regardless of particular domains that need to be addressed like testing or business analysis; there are no exceptions to this
  rule; and,
• Individual Development Team members may have specialized skills and areas of focus, but accountability belongs to the Development Team as a whole.

Development Team Size

Optimal Development Team size is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint. Fewer than three Development Team members decrease interaction and results in smaller productivity gains. Smaller Development Teams may encounter skill constraints during the Sprint, causing the Development Team to be unable to deliver a potentially releasable Increment. Having more than nine members requires too much coordination. Large development Teams generate too much complexity for an empirical process to manage. The Product Owner and Learning Community Communication Master roles are not included in this count unless they are also executing the work of the Sprint Backlog.

The Learning Community Communication Master

The Learning Community Communication Master is responsible for ensuring Learning Community Communication is understood and enacted. Learning Community Communication Masters
do this by ensuring that the Learning Community Communication Team adheres to Learning Community Communication theory, practices, and rules.

The Learning Community Communication Master is a servant-leader for the Learning Community Communication Team. The Learning Community Communication Master helps those
outside the Learning Community Communication Team understand which of their interactions with the Learning Community Communication Team are helpful
and which aren’t. The Learning Community Communication Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the
value created by the Learning Community Communication Team.

Learning Community Communication Master Service to the Product Owner

The Learning Community Communication Master serves the Product Owner in several ways, including:

• Finding techniques for effective Product Backlog management;
• Helping the Learning Community Communication Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items;
• Understanding product planning in an empirical environment;
• Ensuring the Product Owner knows how to arrange the Product Backlog to maximize value;
• Understanding and practicing agility; and,
• Facilitating Learning Community Communication events as requested or needed.

Learning Community Communication Master Service to the Development Team

The Learning Community Communication Master serves the Development Team in several ways, including:

• Coaching the Development Team in self-organization and cross-functionality;
• Helping the Development Team to create high-value products;
• Removing impediments to the Development Team’s progress;
• Facilitating Learning Community Communication events as requested or needed; and,
• Coaching the Development Team in organizational environments in which Learning Community Communication is not yet fully adopted and understood.

Learning Community Communication Master Service to the Organization

The Learning Community Communication Master serves the organization in several ways, including:

• Leading and coaching the organization in its Learning Community Communication adoption;
• Planning Learning Community Communication implementations within the organization;
• Helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Learning Community Communication and empirical product development;
• Causing change that increases the productivity of the Learning Community Communication Team; and,
• Working with other Learning Community Communication Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Learning Community Communication in the organization.

Learning Community Communication Events

Prescribed events are used in Learning Community Communication to create regularity and to minimize the need for meetings
not defined in Learning Community Communication. All events are time-boxed events, such that every event has a maximum
duration. Once a Sprint begins, its duration is fixed and cannot be shortened or lengthened. The
remaining events may end whenever the purpose of the event is achieved, ensuring an
appropriate amount of time is spent without allowing waste in the process.

Other than the Sprint itself, which is a container for all other events, each event in Learning Community Communication is a
formal opportunity to inspect and adapt something. These events are specifically designed to
enable critical transparency and inspection. Failure to include any of these events results in
reduced transparency and is a lost opportunity to inspect and adapt.

The Sprint

The heart of Learning Community Communication is a Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done”, useable,
and potentially releasable product Increment is created. Sprints best have consistent durations
throughout a development effort. A new Sprint starts immediately after the conclusion of the
previous Sprint.

Sprints contain and consist of the Sprint Planning, Daily Learning Community Communications, the development work, the
Sprint Review, and the Sprint Retrospective.

During the Sprint:

• No changes are made that would endanger the Sprint Goal;
• Quality goals do not decrease; and,
• Scope may be clarified and re-negotiated between the Product Owner and Development Team as more is learned.

Each Sprint may be considered a project with no more than a one-month horizon. Like projects,
Sprints are used to accomplish something. Each Sprint has a definition of what is to be built, a
design and flexible plan that will guide building it, the work, and the resultant product.

Sprints are limited to one calendar month. When a Sprint’s horizon is too long the definition of
what is being built may change, complexity may rise, and risk may increase. Sprints enable
predictability by ensuring inspection and adaptation of progress toward a Sprint Goal at least
every calendar month. Sprints also limit risk to one calendar month of cost.

Cancelling a Sprint

A Sprint can be cancelled before the Sprint time-box is over. Only the Product Owner has the
authority to cancel the Sprint, although he or she may do so under influence from the
stakeholders, the Development Team, or the Learning Community Communication Master.

A Sprint would be cancelled if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete. This might occur if the
company changes direction or if market or technology conditions change. In general, a Sprint
should be cancelled if it no longer makes sense given the circumstances. But, due to the short
duration of Sprints, cancellation rarely makes sense.

When a Sprint is cancelled, any completed and “Done” Product Backlog items are reviewed. If
part of the work is potentially releasable, the Product Owner typically accepts it. All incomplete
Product Backlog Items are re-estimated and put back on the Product Backlog. The work done on
them depreciates quickly and must be frequently re-estimated.

Sprint cancellations consume resources, since everyone has to regroup in another Sprint
Planning to start another Sprint. Sprint cancellations are often traumatic to the Learning Community Communication Team,
and are very uncommon.

Sprint Planning

The work to be performed in the Sprint is planned at the Sprint Planning. This plan is created by
the collaborative work of the entire Learning Community Communication Team.

Sprint Planning is time-boxed to a maximum of eight hours for a one-month Sprint. For shorter
Sprints, the event is usually shorter. The Learning Community Communication Master ensures that the event takes place and
that attendants understand its purpose. The Learning Community Communication Master teaches the Learning Community Communication Team to keep it
within the time-box.

Sprint Planning answers the following:

• What can be delivered in the Increment resulting from the upcoming Sprint?
• How will the work needed to deliver the Increment be achieved?

Topic One: What can be done this Sprint?

The Development Team works to forecast the functionality that will be developed during the
Sprint. The Product Owner discusses the objective that the Sprint should achieve and the
Product Backlog items that, if completed in the Sprint, would achieve the Sprint Goal. The entire
Learning Community Communication Team collaborates on understanding the work of the Sprint.

The input to this meeting is the Product Backlog, the latest product Increment, projected
capacity of the Development Team during the Sprint, and past performance of the Development
Team. The number of items selected from the Product Backlog for the Sprint is solely up to the
Development Team. Only the Development Team can assess what it can accomplish over the
upcoming Sprint.

After the Development Team forecasts the Product Backlog items it will deliver in the Sprint, the
Learning Community Communication Team crafts a Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal is an objective that will be met within the
Sprint through the implementation of the Product Backlog, and it provides guidance to the
Development Team on why it is building the Increment.

Topic Two: how will the chosen work get done?

Having set the Sprint Goal and selected the Product Backlog items for the Sprint, the
Development Team decides how it will build this functionality into a “Done” product Increment
during the Sprint. The Product Backlog items selected for this Sprint plus the plan for delivering
them is called the Sprint Backlog.

The Development Team usually starts by designing the system and the work needed to convert
the Product Backlog into a working product Increment. Work may be of varying size, or
estimated effort. However, enough work is planned during Sprint Planning for the Development
Team to forecast what it believes it can do in the upcoming Sprint. Work planned for the first
days of the Sprint by the Development Team is decomposed by the end of this meeting, often to
units of one day or less. The Development Team self-organizes to undertake the work in the
Sprint Backlog, both during Sprint Planning and as needed throughout the Sprint.

The Product Owner can help to clarify the selected Product Backlog items and make trade-offs.
If the Development Team determines it has too much or too little work, it may renegotiate the
selected Product Backlog items with the Product Owner. The Development Team may also invite
other people to attend in order to provide technical or domain advice.

By the end of the Sprint Planning, the Development Team should be able to explain to the
Product Owner and Learning Community Communication Master how it intends to work as a self-organizing team to
accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment.

Sprint Goal

The Sprint Goal is an objective set for the Sprint that can be met through the implementation of
Product Backlog. It provides guidance to the Development Team on why it is building the
Increment. It is created during the Sprint Planning meeting. The Sprint Goal gives the
Development Team some flexibility regarding the functionality implemented within the Sprint.
The selected Product Backlog items deliver one coherent function, which can be the Sprint Goal.
The Sprint Goal can be any other coherence that causes the Development Team to work
together rather than on separate initiatives.

As the Development Team works, it keeps the Sprint Goal in mind. In order to satisfy the Sprint
Goal, it implements the functionality and technology. If the work turns out to be different than
the Development Team expected, they collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate the
scope of Sprint Backlog within the Sprint.

Daily Learning Community Communication

The Daily Learning Community Communication is a 15-minute time-boxed event for the Development Team to synchronize
activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours. This is done by inspecting the work since the
last Daily Learning Community Communication and forecasting the work that could be done before the next one. The Daily
Learning Community Communication is held at the same time and place each day to reduce complexity. During the meeting,
the Development Team members explain:

• What did I do yesterday that helped the Development Team meet the Sprint Goal?
• What will I do today to help the Development Team meet the Sprint Goal?
• Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the Development Team from meeting the Sprint Goal?

The Development Team uses the Daily Learning Community Communication to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and to inspect how progress is trending toward completing the work in the Sprint Backlog. The Daily Learning Community Communication optimizes the probability that the Development Team will meet the Sprint Goal. Every day, the Development Team should understand how it intends to work together as a self-organizing team to accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment by the end of the Sprint. The Development Team or team members often meet immediately after the Daily Learning Community Communication for detailed discussions, or to adapt, or replan, the rest of the Sprint’s work.

The Learning Community Communication Master ensures that the Development Team has the meeting, but the Development Team is responsible for conducting the Daily Learning Community Communication. The Learning Community Communication Master teaches the Development Team to keep the Daily Learning Community Communication within the 15-minute time-box.

The Learning Community Communication Master enforces the rule that only Development Team members participate in the Daily Learning Community Communication.

Daily Learning Community Communications improve communications, eliminate other meetings, identify impediments to development for removal, highlight and promote quick decision-making, and improve the Development Team’s level of knowledge. This is a key inspect and adapt meeting.

Sprint Review

A Sprint Review is held at the end of the Sprint to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog if needed. During the Sprint Review, the Learning Community Communication Team and stakeholders collaborate about what was done in the Sprint. Based on that and any changes to the Product Backlog during the Sprint, attendees collaborate on the next things that could be done to optimize value. This is an informal meeting, not a status meeting, and the presentation of the Increment is intended to elicit feedback and foster collaboration.

This is a four-hour time-boxed meeting for one-month Sprints. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter. The Learning Community Communication Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose. The Learning Community Communication Master teaches all to keep it within the time-box.

The Sprint Review includes the following elements:

• Attendees include the Learning Community Communication Team and key stakeholders invited by the Product Owner;
• The Product Owner explains what Product Backlog items have been “Done” and what has not been “Done”;
• The Development Team discusses what went well during the Sprint, what problems it ran into, and how those problems were solved;
• The Development Team demonstrates the work that it has “Done” and answers questions about the Increment;
• The Product Owner discusses the Product Backlog as it stands. He or she projects likely completion dates based on progress to date (if needed);
• The entire group collaborates on what to do next, so that the Sprint Review provides valuable input to subsequent Sprint Planning;
• Review of how the marketplace or potential use of the product might have changed what is the most valuable thing to do next; and,
• Review of the timeline, budget, potential capabilities, and marketplace for the next anticipated release of the product.

The result of the Sprint Review is a revised Product Backlog that defines the probable Product Backlog items for the next Sprint. The Product Backlog may also be adjusted overall to meet new opportunities.

Sprint Retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Learning Community Communication Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.

The Sprint Retrospective occurs after the Sprint Review and prior to the next Sprint Planning. This is a three-hour time-boxed meeting for one-month Sprints. For shorter Sprints, the event is usually shorter. The Learning Community Communication Master ensures that the event takes place and that attendants understand its purpose. The Learning Community Communication Master teaches all to keep it within the time-box. The Learning Community Communication Master participates as a peer team member in the meeting from the accountability over the Learning Community Communication process.

The purpose of the Sprint Retrospective is to:

• Inspect how the last Sprint went with regards to people, relationships, process, and tools;
• Identify and order the major items that went well and potential improvements; and,
• Create a plan for implementing improvements to the way the Learning Community Communication Team does its work.

The Learning Community Communication Master encourages the Learning Community Communication Team to improve, within the Learning Community Communication process framework, its development process and practices to make it more effective and enjoyable for the next Sprint. During each Sprint Retrospective, the Learning Community Communication Team plans ways to increase product quality by adapting the definition of “Done” as appropriate.

By the end of the Sprint Retrospective, the Learning Community Communication Team should have identified improvements that it will implement in the next Sprint. Implementing these improvements in the next Sprint is the adaptation to the inspection of the Learning Community Communication Team itself. Although improvements may be implemented at any time, the Sprint Retrospective provides a formal opportunity to focus on inspection and adaptation.

Learning Community Communication Artifacts

Learning Community Communication’s artifacts represent work or value to provide transparency and opportunities for inspection and adaptation. Artifacts defined by Learning Community Communication are specifically designed to maximize transparency of key information so that everybody has the same understanding of the artifact.

Product Backlog

The Product Backlog is an ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product and is the single source of requirements for any changes to be made to the product. The Product Owner is responsible for the Product Backlog, including its content, availability, and ordering.

A Product Backlog is never complete. The earliest development of it only lays out the initially known and best-understood requirements. The Product Backlog evolves as the product and the environment in which it will be used evolves. The Product Backlog is dynamic; it constantly changes to identify what the product needs to be appropriate, competitive, and useful. As long as a product exists, its Product Backlog also exists.

The Product Backlog lists all features, functions, requirements, enhancements, and fixes that constitute the changes to be made to the product in future releases. Product Backlog items have the attributes of a description, order, estimate and value.

As a product is used and gains value, and the marketplace provides feedback, the Product Backlog becomes a larger and more exhaustive list. Requirements never stop changing, so a Product Backlog is a living artifact. Changes in business requirements, market conditions, or technology may cause changes in the Product Backlog.

Multiple Learning Community Communication Teams often work together on the same product. One Product Backlog is used to describe the upcoming work on the product. A Product Backlog attribute that groups items may then be employed.

Product Backlog refinement is the act of adding detail, estimates, and order to items in the Product Backlog. This is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items. During Product Backlog refinement, items are reviewed and revised. The Learning Community Communication Team decides how and when refinement is done. Refinement usually consumes no more than 10% of the capacity of the Development Team. However, Product Backlog items can be updated at any time by the Product Owner or at the Product Owner’s discretion.

Higher ordered Product Backlog items are usually clearer and more detailed than lower ordered ones. More precise estimates are made based on the greater clarity and increased detail; the lower the order, the less detail. Product Backlog items that will occupy the Development Team for the upcoming Sprint are refined so that any one item can reasonably be “Done” within the Sprint time-box. Product Backlog items that can be “Done” by the Development Team within one Sprint are deemed “Ready” for selection in a Sprint Planning. Product Backlog items usually acquire this degree of transparency through the above described refining activities.

The Development Team is responsible for all estimates. The Product Owner may influence the Development Team by helping it understand and select trade-offs, but the people who will perform the work make the final estimate.

Monitoring Progress Toward a Goal

At any point in time, the total work remaining to reach a goal can be summed. The Product Owner tracks this total work remaining at least every Sprint Review. The Product Owner compares this amount with work remaining at previous Sprint Reviews to assess progress toward completing projected work by the desired time for the goal. This information is made transparent to all stakeholders.

Various projective practices upon trending have been used to forecast progress, like burn-downs, burn-ups, or cumulative flows. These have proven useful. However, these do not replace the importance of empiricism. In complex environments, what will happen is unknown. Only what has happened may be used for forward-looking decision-making.

Sprint Backlog

The Sprint Backlog is the set of Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint, plus a plan for delivering the product Increment and realizing the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Backlog is a forecast by the Development Team about what functionality will be in the next Increment and the work needed to deliver that functionality into a “Done” Increment.

The Sprint Backlog makes visible all of the work that the Development Team identifies as necessary to meet the Sprint Goal.

The Sprint Backlog is a plan with enough detail that changes in progress can be understood in the Daily Learning Community Communication. The Development Team modifies the Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint, and the Sprint Backlog emerges during the Sprint. This emergence occurs as the Development Team works through the plan and learns more about the work needed to achieve the Sprint Goal.

As new work is required, the Development Team adds it to the Sprint Backlog. As work is performed or completed, the estimated remaining work is updated. When elements of the plan are deemed unnecessary, they are removed. Only the Development Team can change its Sprint Backlog during a Sprint. The Sprint Backlog is a highly visible, real-time picture of the work that the Development Team plans to accomplish during the Sprint, and it belongs solely to the Development Team.

Monitoring Sprint Progress

At any point in time in a Sprint, the total work remaining in the Sprint Backlog can be summed. The Development Team tracks this total work remaining at least for every Daily Learning Community Communication to project the likelihood of achieving the Sprint Goal. By tracking the remaining work throughout the Sprint, the Development Team can manage its progress.

Increment

The Increment is the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during a Sprint and the value of the increments of all previous Sprints. At the end of a Sprint, the new Increment must be “Done,” which means it must be in useable condition and meet the Learning Community Communication Team’s definition of “Done.” It must be in useable condition regardless of whether the Product Owner decides to actually release it.

Artifact Transparency

Learning Community Communication relies on transparency. Decisions to optimize value and control risk are made based on the perceived state of the artifacts. To the extent that transparency is complete, these decisions have a sound basis. To the extent that the artifacts are incompletely transparent, these decisions can be flawed, value may diminish and risk may increase.

The Learning Community Communication Master must work with the Product Owner, Development Team, and other involved parties to understand if the artifacts are completely transparent. There are practices for coping with incomplete transparency; the Learning Community Communication Master must help everyone apply the most appropriate practices in the absence of complete transparency. A Learning Community Communication Master can detect incomplete transparency by inspecting the artifacts, sensing patterns, listening closely to what is being said, and detecting differences between expected and real results.

The Learning Community Communication Master’s job is to work with the Learning Community Communication Team and the organization to increase the transparency of the artifacts. This work usually involves learning, convincing, and change. Transparency doesn’t occur overnight, but is a path.

Definition of “Done”

When a Product Backlog item or an Increment is described as “Done”, everyone must understand what “Done” means. Although this varies significantly per Learning Community Communication Team, members must have a shared understanding of what it means for work to be complete, to ensure transparency. This is the definition of “Done” for the Learning Community Communication Team and is used to assess when work is complete on the product Increment.

The same definition guides the Development Team in knowing how many Product Backlog items it can select during a Sprint Planning. The purpose of each Sprint is to deliver Increments of potentially releasable functionality that adhere to the Learning Community Communication Team’s current definition of “Done.” Development Teams deliver an Increment of product functionality every Sprint. This Increment is useable, so a Product Owner may choose to immediately release it. If the definition of “done” for an increment is part of the conventions, standards or guidelines of the development organization, all Learning Community Communication Teams must follow it as a minimum. If “done” for an increment is not a convention of the development organization, the Development Team of the Learning Community Communication Team must define a definition of “done” appropriate for the product. If there are multiple Learning Community Communication Teams working on the system or product release, the development teams on all of the Learning Community Communication Teams must mutually define the definition of “Done.”

Each Increment is additive to all prior Increments and thoroughly tested, ensuring that all Increments work together.

As Learning Community Communication Teams mature, it is expected that their definitions of “Done” will expand to include more stringent criteria for higher quality. Any one product or system should have a definition of “Done” that is a standard for any work done on it.