Artifact: Iteration Plan

Purpose

The following people use the iteration plan:

• The project manager, to plan the iteration tasks and activities, to schedule resource needs, and to track progress against the schedule.
• Project team members, to understand what they need to do, when they need to do it, and what other activities they are dependent upon.

Brief Outline

1. Objectives

A brief description of the purpose of the Iteration Plan. State the objectives in measurable terms and relate to risks.

2. Scope

A brief description of what the Iteration Plan applies to; what is affected or influenced by this document.

3. References

A list of related or referenced documents.

4. Plan

Detailed diagrams showing timelines, intermediate milestones, when testing starts, beta version, demos etc. for the iteration.

5. Resources

Resources needed for the iteration – human, financial, etc.

6. Use Cases

List the use cases and scenarios that are being developed for this iteration.

7. Evaluation criteria

Functionality, performance, capacity, quality measures, quality goals reduced, etc.

Timing

The iteration plan for the upcoming iteration is planned in the current iteration. It is modified as needed during the iteration.

One iteration plan is input to the next iteration plan. An iteration plan is obsolete after the iteration.

Responsibility

The Worker: Project Manager is responsible for the integrity of the iteration plans.

Additional Information

This is a fine-grained plan for one iteration. There are often two such plans: one for the current iteration, and one under construction for the next iteration.

To define the contents of an iteration you need:

• The project plan.
• The current status of the project (on track, late, large number of problems, requirements creep, and so on.).
• A list of scenarios or use cases that must be completed by the end of the iteration.
• A list of risks that must be addressed by the end of the iteration.
• A list of changes that must be incorporated in the product (bug fixes, changes in requirements).
• A list of major classes or packages that must be completely implemented.

These lists must be ranked. The objectives of an iteration should be aggressive, so that when difficulties arise, items can be dropped from the iterations based on their ranks.

Evaluation Criteria

Each iteration is concluded by an assessment. For this iteration assessment you assess the results of the iteration relative to the evaluation criteria that were established for the iteration plan.

The evaluation criteria are established prior to each iteration and establish goals for the feature set, quality, and performance to be achieved in the iteration. Actual achievement of these goals will vary. For example, on a given iteration, the feature set may be exceeded, quality barely achieved, and performance lacking.

Also, goals may be expressed as minimal and desirable goals. For example, there may be a required feature set and some desirable features that will be attempted in this iteration if the speed of development and staffing levels make it feasible.