Agile planning: the 5 scopes
The concept of planning within the agile methodology has often been misunderstood. Due to the commonly known phrase “We value responding to change over following a plan”, most teams starting out agile think they will no longer need to plan for the future. Contrary to this popular opinion, planning plays just as important a role in Agile as it does in any other project management approach, it’s just a little different.
At its core, Agile is designed to serve environments with constantly changing requirements and goals. Which means that the traditional planning model of just getting something going at the start of the project is no longer viable. Instead, planning must adapt to changing circumstances and help the team navigate them in the best possible way. To achieve this, agile planning is organized in different areas, where each of them is equally important and adds value towards the final goal.
first comes product vision. This is the largest scope of project planning and is generally handled by management. They have to define what the project is about, what they are trying to achieve and for what purpose. While this may seem perfectly clear to senior management, without communicating that information to the people involved in a simple and concise way, the project can get off track very quickly. Therefore, having a clear product vision is essential for any agile team.
Second- a product roadmap. The next larger scope of agile planning helps clarify what steps need to be taken to achieve the defined product vision. Simply put, the product roadmap is made up of all the features that are required of the finished project. Based on their importance and priority, they are placed in a specific order and represent how the product will be built. This scope of planning is particularly important for products that span a longer period of time and have multiple versions.
Similar to the product roadmap, the next scope of planning has to do with the release plan that defines how many versions the product will have. The release plan is not focused on features or dates, but is directly related to the scope of work that needs to be completed. This planning step is important as it gives teams more incentive to finish a specific version of the product, ensures progress management, and allows for greater allocation of funds and effort.
After defining the vision, roadmap, and launch plan for the project, agile planning returns to the teams that complete the work. The next planning scope is upon them, with a known sprint planning. Unlike previous planning scopes, this is done more frequently and is directly related to the day-to-day tasks of each employee. With that, it is also a more flexible planning event that (within allotted limits) allows the team to react to any changes in requirements and circumstances and move forward to completion of the project.
The fifth and absolutely smallest scope of agile planning is the daily stand up. While some may see it as just an update, this is also a planning event that defines goals for the day ahead. This small planning event helps ensure that the sprint plan is being executed well and that the team doesn’t forget the product overview.
Agile project planning is different from the traditional waterfall planning we are used to. Like the methodology, it is designed for frequent changes and updates. The different scopes of this planning approach ensure that the team has clear goals set for the overall project and can easily plan their daily work.