state card to the left. Continue with the next card until you get to the state that your team has not yet achieved.

4. Move this state card and the rest of the pending state cards to the right.

Figure 5 shows the states Smith’s team has achieved on the left, and those not yet achieved on the right. For simplicity, Figure 5 shows only three of the kernel alphas.

Determine where to go with the kernel. Once the team agrees on the current alpha states, the members discuss what the next desired “target” states are to guide their planning. The team agrees to use the immediate next alpha states to help establish the objectives of the next iteration, as shown in Figure 6.

The name of the alpha state supplies a hint to understanding what needs to be achieved to reach a state. Team members can find out more by reading and understanding the alpha-state checklist. By going through the states one by one for each alpha, a team quickly becomes familiar with what is required to achieve each state. In this way the team learns about the kernel alphas at the same time as they determine their current state of development and their next target states.

Determine how to get there with the kernel. Smith and his team look at the next target states and agree that they need to establish some priorities. First, they need to determine their way of working: working well; then the software system: usable; and finally requirements: addressed. The reason is simple; not having the way of working: working well would impede their attempts to get the software system: usable. In addition, they agree on the priority for the missing requirement-items necessary to achieve the requirements: addressed state.

Smith and his team next discuss what needs to be done to achieve these states, as shown in the accompanying table. By going through the target alpha states, Smith is able to determine a set of objectives and tasks for the next iteration.

How the kernel helps in planning iterations. A good plan must be inclusive, meaning that it includes all essential items and covers the whole team. It must also be concrete, so it is actionable for the team. The team must also have

figure 6. the selected next steps.

how the team achieves states.

target state

how they planned to achieve them

both dick and harriet agreed that they had difficulties
in applying automated testing. they needed help in order
to make progress. tom agreed that he had to spend time
teaching them:
A task was added to the iteration backlog for tom to
conduct training on automated testing for dick and harriet.
˲ task 1. conduct training on automated testing.

this state reminds us that the software system must be shown to be of sufficient quality and functionality to be useful to the users. so far, smith’s team had been testing within its development environment. now, it had to conduct tests within an acceptance-test environment, which they had yet to prepare. this resulted in the following task:

˲ task 2. Prepare acceptance-test environment. smith’s team had to bring all requirement-items currently demonstrable in the system to completion. this meant that each requirement-item must be fully tested within the acceptance-test environment.

˲ task 3. complete requirement-item A: “browse online and offline.”

˲ task 4. complete requirement-item b: “Post comment (online and offline).”

˲ task 5. complete requirement-item c: “browse album.”

this state reminds us of the need to work with stakeholders to ensure they are happy with the system produced. in our story smith had to work with Angela, the customer representative, to determine which additional requirement-items needed to be implemented. this resulted in the additional task:

˲ tasks 6: talk to Angela and agree on additional requirements-items, fitting in the iteration, to make the system worth being operational.