Yesterday I attended the Agile Denver meeting for a presentation by Hubert Smits on the 5 levels of planning. I was already aware of the 5 levels and I like to use all 5 levels, but it’s always good to reinforce the principles behind the practices and hear from other agile practitioners out there. Here are the 5 levels, their suggested frequency, and the content of the plan.
- Product vision: annually. A 1-2 sentence statement. The “elevator pitch”.
- Product roadmap: 1-2 times/year. The major themes of each release.
- Release planning: 3-6 times/year. The user stories/features for 1 release.
- Iteration planning: each iteration. With practice, most agile teams choose 1-3 week iterations.
- Daily planning (stand-up or daily Scrum meeting): the 3 questions (what did I do since last meeting, what will I do today, and any impediments)