ALN RDU: Joe’s Agile Release Planning

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Agile Leadership Network group in RDU tonight.

First, there were a lot of smart people there and I enjoyed it.

Here are some things I forgot to say or did not emphasize enough.

1. I have different goals from many for what we call agile release planning. With different goals, we have different methods.

2. To me, the main goals include…

• Increase the motivation of the Team (fingerprints, part of the creation)
• Get everyone on the same page, seeing the same elephant.
• Get alignment.
• Sharing the tacit knowledge
• Team building

Who knew the people were most important?

Yes, there are other important goals, but these are the primary ones, in my view.

3. I am NOT proposing a ‘one size fits all solution.’

I feel confident that my ideas for Agile Release Planning work in many situations, at least common situations that I meet.

But I do not feel that these ideas fit all situations.

If they work for you, fine. If not, I am Ok with that.  You should use what you think will work in your situation.

4. Keep it simple, as simple as possible.  This helps many things.

So, I have described it simply, perhaps too simply for some. And more simply than it really is in real life.

If your team needs to add things or make it more complex, please do. It may be useful and necessary for you.

Again, what I am proposing may also not work for you.  It has not been tried in anything close to ‘every situation’.  Use judgment.

5. The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone.

Meaning: Everything we do is, to some degree, connected to everything else. For example, to deal with some issues, one can talk about a solution as part of ‘agile release planning’ or as part of Pareto-izing the work in the course of the Sprints.  To fully understand ‘agile release planning’ one must really understand ‘everything else.’ Yet, we never have time to describe ‘everything else.’

Perhaps the biggest things I want to add are these:

• I hope the conversation helped us all to think more.  And that, in some way, leads to better results.
• I  hope I mentioned some ideas you will try to do, and that some are useful.
• Thank you!

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