Agile Project Management For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7

Defining the Product Vision and Product Roadmap

IN THIS CHAPTER

Planning agile projects

Establishing the product vision

Creating features and a product roadmap

To start, let’s dispel a common myth. If you’ve heard that agile projects don’t include planning, dismiss that thought right now. You will plan not only the overall project but also every release, every sprint, and every day. Planning is fundamental to agile project success.

If you’re a project manager, you probably do the bulk of your planning at the beginning of a project. You may have heard the phrase, “Plan the work, then work the plan,” which sums up non-agile project management approaches.

Agile projects, in contrast, involve planning upfront and throughout the entire project. By planning at the last responsible moment, right before an activity starts, you know the most about that activity. This type of planning, called just-in-time planning or a situationally informed strategy, is a key to agile project success. Agile teams plan as much as, if not more than, traditional project teams. However, agile planning is more evenly distributed throughout the project and is done by the entire team that will be working ...