project planning in an agile environment

Session Host - Mary Panza


Projects vs backlog items? - create a separate backlog of project level requests

Planning horizons: 1 yr - vague plan and project description. Continue to refine. Teams should have a more solid plan 6 months out, continue to refine quarterly.

You can use generic velocity based on past performance to gauge known work and determine available capacity. Give a rough estimate based on scope to determine budget or based on budget/timeline to determine feasible scope. (Feature-driven projects vs date or budget -driven)

Get clarity on the important stuff early, not necessarily the details. Define what is in scope and what isn't. If you can't prioritize features, do you really know what you want?

Spend some time and money early to decide whether to spend more, I.e. is this project worth it?

Considerations for the value of the project:
- ROI? The value can be purely monetary or based on market factors.
- Cost/Benefit of the project and the project vs other possible projects. What is the opportunity cost and the opportunity lost for this project in general or the timing of this project compared to others?

- How does this project align with business initiatives and goals?

Ask the Five Why's for the project. Define a clear problem statement.

The Question Every Project Team Should Answer
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-question-every-project-team-should-answer/

The Principles of Product Development Flow by Donald Reinertsen

Liftoff: Launching Agile Teams and Projects by Diana Larsen and Ainsley Nies

Sent from my iPad