Iteration planning meeting

purpose

The team clearly defines the delivery scope of a commitment within a short period of time, in line with the actual capacity of the team all work has clear responsibility for the person

Generally, the business meeting is held on the first day of iteration, with all PO, DM and Team members participating and LED by DM

activity

  1. Answer the unsolved remaining questions in the demand sorting meeting, and reestimate the unestimated points
  2. The PO or DM introduces story priorities to the team (should be in the tool ahead of time)
  3. The team knows how much capacity is available for the iteration
  4. Together, the team selects the right number of work items to put into a committed iteration plan, from highest priority to lowest
  5. The team can select a small number of additional work items (2-3) as iterative challenge targets
  6. Team members claim their responsibility for work items from the defined iteration plan

The output

  1. Clear iteration plan (story list, priorities)
  2. The person in charge of each story, and the co-participants

Iteration planning will — key points

Prior to the meeting

  • Story split to reasonable size, AC clear
  • We conducted demand sorting meetings and assessment points in advance to find and solve demand problems in advance. We should not discuss plans and problems too much in the planning meetings
  • The technical proposal in charge of the requirements has been reviewed and approved
  • The risks and external dependencies of requirements are clear and manageable

The assembly

  • The PO or DM should give a clear priority to the stories in the iteration
  • The story can be developed and tested as a standard of commitment, otherwise not included in the plan, or only as a challenge goal
  • To be clear about the team capacity, the initial stage is calculated, and after several iterations, the historical rate is referenced, while reducing the available capacity by considering the following factors:
    1. Annual leave arrangement during the period
    2. Individual vacation plans
    3. Some people work part-time
    4. Production problem support input reservation

After the meeting

  • The team attaches importance to the commitment, the plan must strive to achieve!
  • The person in charge of each story, when the card is opened and the development begins, gives the story’s planned test date and records it on the card;
  • DM should pay attention to the reasonable arrangement of story opening cards, and do not let all stories pile up in the last few days of iteration
  • New iteration plan updated to physics Kanban;
  • Test scenarios are analyzed before or simultaneously with each card and reviewed with participating developers.

Q&A

1. What is the output of PO at what stage? PVR before new project canvas (user, to solve problems, value, the summary of requirements, risks, etc.) may be updated design review quarterly/monthly planning meeting key page prototype or wireframes Story maps (iterative rolling planning update) needs to comb the meeting need to complete the prototype Split and writing (Card with AC) iteration plan for the meeting Review the validation and update of any prototype or story issues raised during the meeting

2. Iteration plans and business commitments influenced by legacy stories?

Avoid over-commitment

  • First of all, the iteration completion rate is not always 100%, which may indicate that it is reasonable for the team to lack challenges of around 80%.
  • The team must avoid over-commitment, iteration plan must be based on the actual capacity of the team, if the continuous iteration completion rate is too low, iteration plan will no longer be credible! Team members also don’t care about iteration commitments!
  • If iteration capacity is always over the limit and you have to work overtime to complete it, the delivery quality is not good! It hurts team motivation and stability.
  • Starting with story map planning, actively manage dependencies and risks (stories that are likely to be delayed) and seek support for early resolution; Avoid promising risky stories and alert the business to risk early! For stories where you know an iteration won’t complete, communicate the reason to the business as soon as possible, not until the last minute.

(at the end of an iteration) handling of delays

  • Move the whole story to the next iteration plan and communicate with the business about the plan adjustment;
  • The plan for the next iteration should allow time for delayed stories that do not fully meet the new requirements of the plan to avoid a vicious cycle;
  • Review, the team reflects on the causes of the delay, understand the actual capacity of the team, formulate practical improvement measures;

Reduce the amount of planning that follows, manage business expectations, don’t commit too early, reduce backflow, improve downplay, more actively manage dependencies and risks, and automate builds, tests, and deployments.

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