In Agile planning, there are many layers of planning involved, which gives the name “ Planning Onion ” to Agile planning. Agile does a lot more planning because it focuses more on frequent planning sessions instead of comprehensive planning that mitigates the risks of longer terms. The Planning Onion helps teams choose the right level of planning for each timeframe for which they are planning. Teams who invest time in proper planning tend to have a better understanding of long-term goals for the product, and more realistic strategies for achieving those goals.

There are five levels of Agile planning in the planning onion method: 

1. Vision: The overarching goal or mission for your product.
2. Roadmap (Strategy): The high-level approach or plan, and sequence of major milestones 
3. Release: The plan for delivering a specific set of features or functionality
4. Iteration: The plan for the current iteration, including specific tasks and deliverables
5. Daily: The day-to-day stuff, including things to get done, progress updates, and challenges.

Planning Onion – Defining your vision

At the core of the Planning Onion is the foundational layer of Vision Planning where the team defines the goal of the product. In this layer, the team decides the overarching problems which the product is trying to solve and also defines the audience for whom the problem has to be solved. This is our Initiative level activity. The high-level objective to be achieved & features and ideas that fall outside the goals of the vision statement are considered out of scope for the project. You can use a product vision canvas where the team can visualize the goal of the product and help them strive to achieve their goal. This level sets the overarching goals and objectives for the project:

• Vision Statement: Craft a concise and inspiring vision statement that encapsulates the project’s purpose and desired outcomes.
• Strategic Alignment: Ensure alignment with organizational strategies and goals to provide a clear direction for the project.
• Benefits: Provides a clear direction and motivates the team, ensuring everyone is aligned towards the same objective.

Planning Onion – Defining your Roadmap

The next level of the onion is the roadmap level where the team decides on a strategy to complete the things listed in the product vision. The team creates a high-level plan of how the objectives defined in the product vision could be achieved over the long term. The roadmap is a bit more detailed where it states the plan the team follows to achieve the vision. Also, the roadmap should show the dependencies between the features such that the team has an idea about finding out the best approach for tackling those features. Building on the vision, Roadmap Planning establishes a high-level plan outlining key milestones and deliverables:

• Milestone Definition: Identify significant milestones and deliverables, creating a roadmap that visualizes the project’s journey.
• Resource Allocation: Roughly allocate resources and budget to align with the outlined milestones.
• Benefits: Breaks down the long-term goal into smaller, achievable steps, providing a roadmap for execution.

Planning Onion – Planning your Releases

At this level, the goal of the team is to clearly define the specific features present in the particular release of your roadmap. This layer mostly consists of individual tasks and user stories that could not fit in the roadmap level. This also helps in setting better expectations from the product and could be well communicated across the organization. Release Planning extends the roadmap into actionable releases, allowing for more detailed planning:

• Feature Prioritization: Prioritize features based on business value, customer needs, and dependencies.
• Release Scheduling: Develop a release schedule, providing a timeline for delivering increments of value.
• Benefits: Ensures focus on delivering valuable iterations that contribute to the overall roadmap.

Planning Onion – Level of Iteration

In this layer of the onion, the team selects individual tasks and stories which have to be completed in the next iterative cycle. The team plans how to develop and deliver each story. If the team is following the Scrum approach, the team conducts the Sprint planning session which is facilitated by the Scrum Master. In other frameworks team does iteration-level planning by selecting and planning their upcoming work in small batches. Moving closer to execution, Iteration Planning focuses on shorter cycles of development:

• Sprint Goals: Define specific goals for each sprint, ensuring alignment with the overall project objectives.
• Backlog Refinement: Refine the product backlog, breaking down features into actionable tasks for the upcoming iterations.
• Benefits: Enables focused and iterative development, allowing for adjustments and adaptation based on feedback.

Planning Onion – Planning Everyday

The last layer of the planning onion is the planning at a daily level. Many teams use Daily Standup meetings to discuss the progress done in the previous day and to synchronize and coordinate their efforts regarding all of the tasks that need to be completed throughout the rest of the day. They also discuss whether they are facing any impediments or blockers in their current work. Successful teams recognize that the daily standup is a planning meeting, not a status meeting. At the heart of Agile execution is Daily Planning, fostering communication and adaptability:

• Daily Standups: Conduct daily standup meetings to synchronize team activities, discuss progress, and address impediments.
• Task Adjustments: Make real-time adjustments to tasks based on daily updates and insights.
• Benefits: Ensures efficient execution of sprint tasks and promotes accountability within the team.

Navigating the Onion:

• Start with the core: Always anchor your planning in the vision, ensuring all decisions align with the overall purpose.
• Move down in layers: Break down the vision into progressively smaller and more detailed plans, adapting to changing needs.
• Iterate and adapt: Don’t be afraid to adjust plans at any level based on feedback, new information, or changing circumstances.
• Maintain transparency: Communicate plans across all layers to keep everyone informed and aligned.

Benefits of the Planning Onion:

• Clarity: Provides a clear hierarchy of planning levels, preventing confusion and misalignment.
• Focus: Helps teams prioritize activities and avoid getting overwhelmed by the big picture.
• Agility: Allows for adaptation and adjustments to plans at different levels as needed.
• Transparency: Ensures everyone understands the project’s goals and how their work contributes.

Conclusion

Due to Planning Onion, the Agile team gets a sense of clarity on how they should move about while developing the product. Understand the various layers of the planning onion, and carefully observe when to change the contents of different levels based on the circumstances and expectations of the customer. However, merely implementing the method without understanding the levels would lead to chaos.

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