The Agile Canvas
2015 Jack Ricchiuto | TheAgileCanvas.com
What we do in the Canvas is
Capture everything that comes up as an intention, question or sprint item
Identify and work on our most important intentions
Get every intention and question timestamped
Translate every intention and question into a sprint item
Get every sprint item assigned and done every 2 weeks
Intentions: What would we love and need to be possible?
Identify anything we consider a success and progress indicator, in as much detail as we can
Include as intentions anything we would consider a strategy, objective, mission, goal, priority, value, milestone, metric, expectation, wish, dream, agreement or requirement; describe each as a noun and frame each as project, event or agreement
Translate complaints and criticisms into intentions
Timestamp intentions with estimated doneness timeframes and adjust timeframes as necessary
Always work on the top intentions that have the most resources, payback and urgency
Questions: What do we need to research and decide?
Identify anything we think we need to research (discover/verify) and decide (agree on), and state each as a question
Include as questions anything we would consider unknowns, ambiguities, assumptions, tensions, concerns, worries, issues, conflicts and problems
Translate concerns and assumptions into new questions
List new facts from conversations, research or decisions under their respective questions
For new facts that come up without new questions, post the new questions they address
Sprints: What can and will we do in the next two weeks?
Identify anything we need to do and get done to make our top intentions possible
Include as sprint items any kind of researching, deciding, communicating, inviting, designing, building, testing and launching that can close out our questions & achieve our stories in order
Translate ideas and suggestions into sprint action items
Estimate effort time for each item and if any item takes more than one sprint, sprint-size it into smaller chunks so everything assigned in a sprint can be completed within that sprint
Meet every two weeks to detail next sprints based on the actual effort time available for each sprint; plan out as many sprints as we can
Process guidelines
Make sure everything gets recorded on the Canvas and everyone records their own ideas, before or after they voice them. Make sure everyone has some feedback on their contributions. Engage everyone's strengths and passions.