Plan

Agile planning fundamentally differs from traditional waterfall project management by inverting the "project management triangle." While waterfall fixes the scope and estimates the time and cost, agile fixes the time (e.g., a two-week Sprint) and resources (a stable team). Consequently, the primary question in agile planning is not "When will this be done?" but rather, "How much value can we complete in this fixed time box?" This approach embraces variability in scope to ensure a consistent and predictable delivery cadence, planning one iteration at a time rather than creating a large, fragile, upfront plan.

The planning ceremony is a structured process that starts with a refined and prioritized backlog. The team collaborates to size the work items, often using Story Points (which typically follow the Fibonacci sequence) to estimate the effort and complexity. Using their historical performance, known as velocity, the team forecasts how many story points they can realistically complete. This forecast is adjusted for the team's current capacity, accounting for factors like public holidays or leave. The team then commits to a set of high-priority items for the sprint, which are then assigned to team members.

The video demonstrates this process in both Jira and Azure Boards. In Jira, users add Story Points to backlog items, assign them, and drag them into the sprint container before manually clicking "Start Sprint." The process in Azure Boards is functionally the same, though it often uses a pre-set, automated sprint cadence that starts and ends on specific dates. In both tools, the outcome is a focused sprint board that clearly visualises the team's committed plan for the iteration, allowing them to focus solely on delivering that work.