The team evaluates the environment for organization, requirements and technology risks to get a sense of the uncertainty facing the project. Starting early in the project, each risk should be placed in the risk list and a mitigation strategy devised for it. The risk management plan is applied based according to the project phase.

Projects are measured in points. The project team estimates use case scenarios, functional requirements or non-functional requirements using a point system. The project team also agrees on an estimated budget of points which can be completed during an iteration. The velocity of burned points can then be monitored and used by the project manager for tracking purposes. In subsequent iterations, the point budget for iteration is adjusted based on the experiences from completed iterations.

The objective of defining the project phases and milestones is to define the project's important stages, not to detail how it will reach them. This plan can then be used as a roadmap by the project manager, project team, and stakeholders.

For each phase, the project manager needs to define its start and end dates, its objectives and its milestones. The end of each phase usually corresponds to a milestone, but the project manager can decide also to have intermediary milestones, during long phases for example.When the lengths of the phases are determined, the project manager will need to define the length, number, and objectives of the phase iterations.

Each iteration produces an actionable result (e.g. executable subsystem) that is used to assess progress and quality. Because each iteration has a different focus, the functionality and completeness of the iteration deliverable will vary. Iteration goals must be specific enough to be assessed at the end of the iteration. Goals in early iterations usually focus on risk mitigation and architectural concerns; in later iterations, goals are more focused on functional completion and quality.

Milestones are used for evaluating if the goals were achieved by the project team. Therefore goals need to be prioritized and balanced with stakeholders to be in line with the milestone, project plan and work item list.

The project manager assigns project members (people) to roles according to a table like this:

The project manager needs to make sure that the roles are staffed according to skills and interests and that every role is covered by at least one person.