Why did I choose to do this workshop with Joe?
I had the opportunity to participate in an “Agile Release Planning” workshop with Joseph H. Little, who initially was trained in Scrum by Ken Schwaber and mentored by Jeff Sutherland. Ken Schwaber co-developed the Scrum framework with Jeff Sutherland in the early 1990s, to help organizations struggling with complex development projects. Joseph continues to work with Jeff Sutherland and a number of other great coaches and trainers.
As Scrum does not cover the whole product development lifecycle; organizations find the need to add in additional processes to create a more comprehensive implementation. I did this workshop with Joseph because I wanted to go back to the source, so I would not lose any interpreted or adapted information along the way.
What’s an Agile Release Planning?
Technically, Scrum does not include upfront planning, so Agile Release Planning is somewhat controversial, but it is a very high-level plan for multiple Sprints.
Goals of the Release Planning?
Personally, I think that the 4 main goals are:
- Review the vision and roadmap to confirm that everyone understands the overall goal for the product.
- The team can have a very high-level plan for multiple Sprints and the work needed. (I usually do it for a period of time- between one to three months).
- Review your product backlog and rank the features.
- Having a good base for “re-planning” during the Product Backlog Refinement.
Some emphasis (added by Joe Little)
- It’s an adaptive planning, a start on getting a bunch of puzzle pieces on the table.
- The PO can choose some great stories for the first MVP.
- The team sees the same elephant!
- The Team is more motivated (largely via participation and having created the baby together).
- The Team owns it!
- They all have shared their tacit knowledge. So (to a great degree) they all know what they all know.
- Hence, worth repeating. And repeating. It’s an adaptive planning!
This article is merely my own personal opinion based on my experience. Do not hesitate to contact me and share your own experiences on this subject in order to refine my article if needed.