The document discusses Agile planning processes. Release planning occurs before each release and involves the product owner, Scrum team, and stakeholders prioritizing features and setting release dates. Sprint planning occurs before each sprint and involves the Scrum team and product owner selecting stories for the sprint from the prioritized backlog, estimating work, and establishing a plan. The document provides details on participants, timing, objectives, inputs, and outputs for both release and sprint planning meetings in Agile. It also notes that estimations may be inaccurate initially but will improve over time as teams gain experience.

1. AGILE PLANNING
PROCESS
John Derrico
www.linkedin.com/in/johnaderrico

2. Scope and Questions on Agile
Planning
• At the end of this presentation you
Agile and Waterfall
will be able to answer these
Agile Framework questions about Agile Planning:
• Where is the planning executed?
Release Planning • Who is part of the planning?
• When is the planning executed? (E.g. 1
Sprint Planning time?)
• How is the planning performed?
• What is required for the planning
meetings and what is expected as an
outcome from the meetings?

3. Cats and Dogs (Agile and Waterfall)

4. Comparison
Waterfall
Requirements Design Develop Validate
Time
Iterative / Agile
Define Define Define Define Define Define
Design Design Design Design Design Design
Develop Develop Develop Develop Develop Develop
Validate Validate Validate Validate Validate Validate
Time
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5. Agile Framework
Strategic
Planning
Release Planning
Sprint Planning
Planning and estimating depend on a key metric: velocity, which describes
how much work the team can get done per sprint.
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6. Release Planning
Goal: Establish the overall release schedule and determine in what sprint stories will likely be
delivered.
• Who: Scrum Coach, Product Owner, Scrum Release Plan
Team, Scrum Master, Key Stakeholders
Product Vision • When: before release n+1 begins (.5 -2 days)
• How / Topic(s):
Selected stories
• PO presents the vision, strategy and for the release
High level goals.
prioritized goals & • PO present key dates and milestones.
roadmap • PO presents draft of the prioritized Prioritized product
backlog. backlog
• Discussion to understand user stories.
Product Backlog • Review rough estimates + prioritized
(priority draft) features. Stakeholder
• Agreement on Sprint length (in weeks) consensus
and target release dates.
Rough Estimates • Release Plan is organized by scope
(functionality) or time (release every N
sprints). Key risks and
• Continual Planning. The initial release assumptions
plan is a ‘blueprint’ to get started and will
be revised.
“Sprint towards Change”
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7. Sprint (Iteration) Planning
Goal: Team to plan and agree on backlog items they can complete and confirm the tasks
required to support acceptance.
• Who: Scrum Coach, Product Owner,
Release Plan Sprint Plan
Scrum Team, Scrum Master.
• When: before Sprint n+1 begins (2-3 hrs).
Prioritized product • How / Topic(s): Selected stories
backlog • PO presents the backlog items in for the sprint
priority order for review.
• Stories with failed acceptance tests
Teams capabilities from prior sprints are added*. Key risks and
(hours) • Discuss story creation for defects from assumptions
prior sprints*.
Prior Velocity • Review and clarify user stories. Stakeholder
• Breakdown larger stories and each consensus
story into tasks and acceptance
Story Effort criteria.
Estimation • Tasks are estimated in hours.
• 1 developer and tester assigned to be
on point per story.
Schedule risks / • Process continues until all available
Business hours are used for the sprint.
conditions
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8. Note on Experience Challenges
Problem: The team does not have past experience of Sprint planning,
capacity is not known and story points may be inaccurate.
Over time estimation of capacity and story sizing will improve.
Tactics, look at variation:
 Determine the Sprint variation (Estimated Capacity in Story Points Vs.. Actual Completed
Story Points) at the end of each sprint.
 Determine Story Point variation for each story (No of hours expected Vs.. No of Hours
used to complete).
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9. Agile Planning Recap
For both Release and Sprint planning sessions we addressed
• Where in the framework the planning is executed.
• Who is part of the planning sessions.
• When the planning sessions are executed.
• How is the planning performed.
• What is required for the planning session and what is expected as an
outcome.
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