Story Planning

An software development team is like a pump, you shouldn't overload it and you shouldn't let it run dry. It operates best when fed a steady stream of independent, well defined stories. It is therefore necessary to plan in advance of the team. If you plan too far ahead, you do so with little certainty. As circumstances change, so must your plans, resulting in waste and rework. If you leave planning too late, stories are likely to be ill conceived, poorly defined, or blocked by unsatisfied dependencies. This will result in waste due to rework, waiting or task switching.

The solution is to plan at the appropriate detail for a six to twelve month timeframe.

• Define a high level vision to guide the team for the next year
• Identify goals between three to six months in advance
• Create epics four to twelve weeks in advance
• Write stories between one and four weeks in advance
• Review and refine stories shortly before starting them

The above can be visualised as a funnel of focus over time, in what is known as the cone of uncertainty...