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Runway Planning

Objective

Understand and communicate what is likely to be delivered in the near term (e.g. 6-12 weeks), with a high degree of confidence.

Overview

As part of iterative and incremental delivery planning, it is valuable to carefully plan the near future with a high level of detail.

During runway planning, teams look ahead and map out how the current highest priority backlog items will be delivered over the coming sprints (e.g. next 3-6 sprints). Each delivery team has their own runway plan.

By repeating this exercise at regular intervals, a team can maintain a clear runway of work and in doing so: - provide visibility of expected delivery - feed this information back into longer term delivery plans and delivery models - adapt their plans accordingly

Important

Maintaining a clear runway of work enables the team to understand the impact of pushing work out of the current work cycle/sprint - i.e. if we can't do this now, when will we? And what else will be impacted? This supports the team's autonomy, and empowers them to make informed decisions about the best way to complete work.

Inputs

Where available:

  • Backlog of work, including context (readiness, priority, estimate)
  • RAID Management
  • Existing runway
  • Delivery plans including context (such as a critical path map)

Relative Sprint Priority

Priority of backlog items should be ranked using standard criteria, such as impact and urgency, and should not be subjective.

Relative Sprint Priority ranks sprint deliverables, i.e. backlog items within the context of a sprint. For example, multiple backlog items may have P2 or P3 priority against them, so they can be ordered in a way that indicated the priority within the context of this specific sprint. Equally, given wider implications (such as blockers or dependencies) it may be preferable or necessary to work on a lower priority item before a higher one.

The product delivery team are responsible for determining their own Relative Sprint Priority. Stakeholders may of course offer their feedback.

Tips for Success

  1. Remember that you are planning to be dynamic, not creating a rigid plan.
  2. Even though you are planning speculatively, the goal is to produce a plan that you are confident in. Don't overfill upcoming sprints. It will be tempting when stakeholders are all wanting competing work to be complete, but the team understand their competency better than anyone else, so they must communicate what they feel is achievable, and not just what they think stakeholders want to hear.
  3. Good estimation will help with good planning. It is important that we measure the success and impact of our estimates.
  4. The closer to "Ready" upcoming work is, the easier it will be to plan for it. Make sure you set aside time to get upcoming work ready.