Scrum and other agile methods recognize that responsiveness to change is an important aspect of delivering projects. They also recognize that software development is evolutionary and creative. By managing changes through Adaptive planning, Scrum provides a simple yet effective method of planning and tracking project progress. In this article, we will examine what is needed to sustain Adaptive planning and improve Team's responsiveness towards customer needs.
We will examine the following factors:
•Just-enough planning
•Evolving plan, scope driven by budget and/or time
•Grooming the scope
•Trust, involvement and collaboration
•Management support
Consider a scenario where the project is progressing as per plan, and in the middle of the project the customer approaches project manager with a request:
Customer: "I really need this functionality delivered in the project. But it is not part of the current scope. Can we make it happen as part of this project?"
Possible response #1:
Project Manager: "Unless you are okay with budget overflow and/or schedule delay. Alternatively, we can revisit the project scope but it will require us to drop certain other functionality from the scope of this project. As the effort already spent on estimation and analysis of that functionality will be wasted, please be aware that it will impact productivity."
Possible response #2:
Project Manager: "Well, I am afraid the change control board (CCB) needs to decide this. The CCB meets in two weeks and once they approve that an investigation is needed, we can investigate and inform them about the impact on our plan. The CCB can then decide whether or not this functionality can be implemented."
Possible response #3:
Project Manager/Product Owner: "I do not see a problem as long as you are okay with dropping certain low priority items from current scope of the project and getting this functionality at the end of next Sprint, assuming it fits. Let's get together and discuss."
Although many responses are possible depending on the context, if the project is using Adaptive planning then a response similar to response #3 is more likely. Such a response demonstrates that the Team is well prepared to respond to change.
Read On...
http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/162-how-to-sustain-adaptive-planni...