Task: Plan Iteration |
Plan the scope and responsibilities for a single iteration.
Disciplines: Project Management
Purpose
Develop a fine-grained plan for a single iteration, identifying the goals and evaluation criteria of an iteration (usually the next one).
Relationships
Roles | Primary Performer: Project Manager | Additional Performers: Analyst Architect Developer Stakeholder Tester
Inputs | Mandatory: Project Plan Work Items List | Optional: Architecture Vision
Outputs | Iteration Plan Work Items List
Steps
Define the iteration objectives
At the beginning of an iteration, the Role: Project Manager works with the team to define 1-5 objectives. These objectives should be a refinement of the iteration objectives found in the Artifact: Project Plan, and should provide high-level direction to what should be targeted for the iteration. The objectives should be driven based on Role: Stakeholder priorities, and will be revised as the iteration plan is finalized. The objectives are usually defined as high-level capabilities or scenarios that need to be implemented and tested during the iteration.
Produce detailed plan
The Role: Project Manager works with the rest of the team, and especially the project stakeholders, to identify the high-priority work items from the Artifact: Work Items List to be addressed within the iteration. The high-level objectives provide guidance on what work items should be considered. The team should break down work items so they fit within the iteration as necessary. Actual effort to complete each Work Item should be estimated. When a team has decided to take on a Work Item, it will assign the work to one or several team members. Ideally, this is done by team members signing up to do the work, since this makes people motivated and committed to doing the job, but based on culture, you may instead have the project manager assign the work.
Define evaluation criteria
Each iteration should include testing as a part of the evaluation, and the test objectives and test cases needs to be detailed. Other evaluation criteria may include successful demonstrations to key stakeholders, or favorable usage by a small group of target users.
More Information
Concepts | Iteration
Guidelines | Iteration Planning Agile Estimation Assign Changes to an Iteration Work Items List
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