Using Story Points to Estimate Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Apps

#114. I'm joined by Microsoft MVPs Guro Faller and Tricia Sinclair. Guro and Tricia are presenting at Scottish Summit in Glasgow in June. Their presentation is "Personalize Your Customer Experience with Dynamics 365". It's going to be a showcase of the art of the possible with Dynamics 365 Marketing, Customer Insights, and Omni-channel for Customer Service.GuestsTricia Sinclair is a customer service lead at Avanade, and she's based in London in the UK.Tricia Sinclair on LinkedInTricia Sinclair on TwitterTricia's blog EverythingD365 on Azure DevOps and Dynamics 365Guro Faller is a solution lead in the digital marketing center of excellence also at Avanade, and she's based in Oslo, in Norway.Guro Faller on LinkedInResourcesRegister for Scottish Summit (only 685 tickets remaining)Register for Scottish Summit Pub Quiz on EventbriteMicrosoft Customer Experience Platform announcementCustomer Experience User GroupPower Platform SchoolSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

11 Apr 202222min

#113. Vivian Voss joins me to discuss her upcoming Scottish Summit session, From the Basement to the Cloud - Your Journey from CRM on-premises to Dynamics 365 CE.Register today for Scottish Summit.Congratulations to Yacob Shenkute from Power Platform School for achieving his Scrum.org PSM1 certification.ResourcesVivian Voss on LinkedIn Vivian Voss on TwitterVivian's blogCustomer Experience Platform user groupSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

4 Apr 202223min

#112. Dani Kahil interviews Paddy Byrne about the Power Platform's role in enabling Scotland's new recycling scheme for single-use drinking containers.Scots people are famous for being careful with their money so I imagine any program to pay them for recycling containers was always going to be a big hit.Learn about Paddy's Power Platform team:Meeting public-sector's accessibility and security requirements with a custom web portal rather than Power Apps Portals.Internal project team of a functional consultants, project manager/scrum master, and business analyst; and a client project team with an architect and testers.Challenges of using Scrum for the first time for two teams.How do you gather requirements for a brand new application with no users or processes?Dealing with the customer's hands-off product owner.Working to a fixed-date release determined by government legislation.Handling requirements written by people that don't have a lot of experience working with Power Platform applications.Using Miro to help refine the user stories and provide developers with visual understanding.Structuring requirements into epics, user stories and tasks in ad-hoc backlog refinement workshops.Testing within the sprint and releasing to a test environment for the internal portal development team to build on.Resolving schema changes during the development and managing the downstream impact on the portal developers.Fixing bugs in the application as they arrive in the product backlog.Creating FastTrack solution blueprints -- is it a good idea for small projects?Value of setting expectations early and building a high performing team as soon as possible using Tuckman's forming-storming-norming-performing model of team development.Transparency and industry expertise of a passionate product owner.ResourcesDani Kahil on LinkedInDani Kahil's blogDani Kahil's Functional Consulting online training course - Requirements analysis for a successful project delivery for Dynamics 365 or the Power PlatformPaddy Byrne on LinkedInPaddy Byrne on TwitterPaddy Byrne's blogVirtual Power Group Scotland websiteSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep...

28 Mars 202238min

#111. Start here to learn why, when and how to use an agile approach to build Dynamics 365 and Power Platform applications.In this episode, you'll learn:Why I use an agile approach building Dynamics 365 and Power AppWhen an agile approach is suitable and when it's notThe benefits that Microsoft customers and partners experience using an agile approachWhat agile actually means, the history of agile software development, and the principles and values in the agile manifestoThe basics of the Scrum framework, and how to get certified in itFinally, some proven practices that I think that business apps teams need to learn to complement the Scrum framework to have wildly successful projectsTo learn more about adopting an agile approach, take my free Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Applications mini-course.If you're ready to learn Scrum, achieve your Scrum.org PSM1 certification and learn my proven practices for applying Scrum to Microsoft Business Apps projects, join my Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course.If you're a Microsoft partner applying Scrum to your projects and you're ready to win more agile projects, apply for my Winning Agile Projects masterclass.ResourcesThe Manifesto for Agile Software Development"The New, New Product Development Game", Harvard Business ReviewThe Scrum Guide 2020Professional Scrum Master 1 certification at Scrum.orgAgile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps free mini-course at Customery AcademyScrum for Microsoft Business Apps online course at Customery AcademyWinning Agile Projects masterclass at Customery AcademyCustomery Academy on YouTubeCustomery on LinkedInCustomery on TwitterAgile Apps user groupSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 <a...

15 Mars 202237min

#110. My current team is stuck in Limbo. We've finished development of a Dynamics 365 application for a local government department and we're tapping our fingers waiting for acceptance testing to start. What should agile testing look like on a Dynamics 365 or Power Platform project? I describe my agile testing Heaven, and the next best thing, Elysium. And what it's like to be stuck in Limbo.What does testing look like on your business applications projects today?ResourcesAgile Testing | https://amzn.to/3rCzDEfMore Agile Testing | https://amzn.to/3gCBLFOContinuous Delivery | https://amzn.to/3JbHKO0Links to Amazon books are affiliate links for which I receive a small commission.Support the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

10 Feb 202213min

#109. In this special episode, I'm interviewed by Dani Kahil about my experience delivering an enterprise CRM project at RACQ (the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland). RACQ is a membership organisation serving two million people in Queensland with roadside assistance, insurance and banking services. In 2018, they set out to replace two legacy systems with Dynamics 365 Customer Service and Apttus and I had the pleasure of leading their Dynamics 365 delivery team.ResourcesDani Kahil's websiteDani's course: Functional Consulting - requirements analysis for a successful project deliveryDani Kahil on LinkedInSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

24 Jan 202249min

108. If you're considering starting a Dynamics 365 or Power Platform podcast in 2022, or just wonder what's involved in producing a podcast episode, join me for a behind the scenes look at my four step episode production process.If you have any questions about starting a business apps podcast, I'd love to do my best to help. Email me at amazingapps@customery.com. ResourcesSome of these resources include affiliate links that could result in a commission paid to me so that I can blow off my consulting engagements and just podcast all day.PreparationAmazing Apps Ideas - my crowd-sourced content calendar for podcasts and videosCalendly - the scheduling service I use to schedule guest interviewsAmazing Apps Guest - my resource page for potential guests on the Amazing Apps podcastGlideGear telepromter - I upgraded from a Parrot teleprompter to GlideGear to hold a tabletPromptSmart Pro - voice-activated teleprompter software for iOS and AndroidRecordingSquadcast - for recording high-quality, lossless audio and video with remote guestsAudacity - free audio recording, editing and mastering software for Mac and WindowsRØDE Procaster - studio and broadcast quality, dynamic XLR microphoneRØDE PSA1 - study microphone boom arm that I also used for a video cameraRØDECaster Pro - audio production studio for remote and local podcast recording and mixingRØDE Lav+ - lavalier/lapel mic that I use when recording audio for video RØDE Wireless Go - wireless microphone system I use when recording audio for videoProductionDescript - all-in-one transcription, audio and video editing, mixing and mastering softwareAuphonic - automatic audio mastering serviceBuzzsprout - amazing podcast host for Amazing ApplicationsPodpage - amazing website host for Amazing ApplicationsRecommended resources for learning more about podcastingHow to start a podcast in 2022 - Pat Flynn on YouTubePower Up Podcasting - online course by Pat Flynn at SmartPassiveIncome<a...

4 Jan 202218min

#107. What would you do if you ran a Microsoft partner business and your customer wanted to stack your scrum their with their developers?This is the story of Selina who runs Gotham Heroes. Her customer, Bruce at Gotham Orphanages, wants Selina to include a couple of the orphanage's developers onto the team. But the developers don't have any experience with Dynamics 365 or Power Platform. And Selina's team are already a little behind schedule.Would you refuse and keep control of the team so that you can keep the project on schedule? Or would you adopt your customer's developers and run a blended team to keep your customer happy?Find out what I would do and what's holding us back from the option I recommend.Resources📺 Should Microsoft partners include customer developers in their teams? | Customery Academy on YouTubeSupport the showCONNECT🌏 Amazing Apps website🟦 Customery on LinkedIn🟦 Neil Benson on LinkedIn MY ONLINE COURSES🚀 Agile Foundations for Microsoft Business Apps 🏉 Scrum for Microsoft Business Apps 📐 Estimating Business Apps Keep experimenting 🧪-Neil

23 Dec 202115min