Category Archives: Release Planning

The Term ‘Release Planning’

Is the term ‘Agile Release Planning’ useful? Mike Cohn has a good blog post about this, here. I agree and slightly disagree. First, we need to state the obvious principles. It is important, as far as possible, to be clear and consistent about what a word or phrase means. Release Planning normally implies planning for […]

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Agile Release Planning Booklet ver 1.08

Here is my latest Agile release planning booklet: “Joe’s Approach to Agile Release Planning.”  31 pages, including a table of contents.  Free now. PDF format. Some ideas or explanations are included, but mostly actionable steps. Feedback welcome.  jhlittle@kittyhawkconsulting.com

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Early Warning System

I was giving a course today, and we were discussing: should we do agile release planning at the beginning of the effort? (Reminder: release planning always also means release plan refactoring every sprint, to whatever degree it is needed.) My advice is: most teams I see need agile release planning for a day or two […]

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Do we Estimate in Scrum? Yes!

A really smart and experienced colleague says we should not estimate.  Specifically: in Scrum we should not estimate. Now, to get into the deep inner-workings of Lean and Continuous Flow…well, I am not going to go there today. As a minor point, I will say the latest Scrum Guide to me, says we estimate in […]

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Joe’s Agile Release Planning – New Version

While I was writing the book on Agile Release Planning I was posting free versions. The book is now available here: https://leanpub.com/joesagilereleaseplanning   But it is no longer free (except to class participants).  (Although I frequently have deals on LinkedIn or Twitter.) I hope you will leave comments or send me comments or questions.

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Is release planning worth it?

In a word: Yes, if done professionally. Next, let’s acknowledge that it is a fair question.  At some point, if release planning costs too much versus the benefits, then it is a waste.  But we do not find that the ratio is nearly that bad. How is release planning, and release plan refactoring… useful? A […]

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Joe’s Agile Release Planning

I have written a new booklet that I want you to have (I think you will find it useful) and also to comment on. It is about Agile Release Planning. [Note: It was a booklet, it is now a book.  See: https://leanpub.com/joesagilereleaseplanning] It proposes that agile release planning consists of these major steps (at least): […]

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Two Levels of (Agile) Planning

Almost all firms that I work with have at least two levels of planning.  I call them “high level” and “team level.”  High Level At the high level, project or product ideas come in.  Someone has to prioritize these opportunities initially, to see which ones make the cut.  Often this is formally done once a […]

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3 Methods to increase Business Value

Yesterday I enjoyed talking to Southern Fried Agile, the local one-day agile conference.  My topic was: Three Steps Toward Greater Business Value. I was pleased to see many participants wanted to discuss this subject. So much so, that the organizers decided to run the session twice. I am happy this is considered an important subject. […]

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Agile Release Planning is not about the Plan

Here is one key observation about release planning from the past week and a half. I have been working in France.  I have worked with 3 different companies, and a bunch of great people. In the third class, we did a 2-day workshop.  The Workshop was mainly about agile release planning, using the real work […]

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