The [Onion] of Agile Planning

Contrary to the myth that agile lacks planning, it actually plans extensively, but in a fundamentally different way than the traditional waterfall approach.

Instead of creating a single detailed and rigid plan at the outset, agile planning is structured in multiple layers, often visualized as the layers of a "planning onion."

Each layer represents a different time horizon and level of detail, from long-term strategic vision to day-to-day coordination.

This approach allows for maintaining a general direction while retaining the flexibility to adapt as more information is obtained and circumstances change.

It is not an absence of a plan, but continuous, adaptive planning.

Levels of Planning: Strategy, Vision, Roadmap, Cycles, Journal.

The "planning onion" typically includes the following layers, from the most external to the most internal:

• Strategy (Strategy): the highest level, defines the long-term goals of the organization and how the product fits into them. It is the fundamental "why".
• Product Vision: Describes the purpose of the product, who it serves and what value it seeks to deliver over the long term. It provides the overall direction.
• Roadmap: A high-level plan showing the major features or initiatives planned over the medium term (quarters, years), indicating the overall sequence and associated objectives (often linked to OKRs).
• Release/Cycle Planning: Short-term planning (weeks, months) that defines which consistent set of features will be delivered in the next iteration or release. Backlog user stories are selected and detailed here.
• Daily Planning: The coordination at the daily level (e.g., Daily Scrum) to plan work for the next 24 hours, identify impediments, and ensure team synchronization.

Each layer informs the next, with the level of detail increasing as we get closer to the present.

Adaptability vs. Rigid Plan

The layered structure of agile planning is specifically designed to embrace adaptability.

Only the immediate (daily and cycle planning) is planned in great detail, while longer-term plans (roadmap, vision) are kept at a higher, more flexible level.

This is in direct contrast to waterfall planning, which attempts to detail the entire project from the beginning, creating a rigid plan that is difficult and costly to change.

Agile recognizes that things change (requirements, market, technology) and that trying to predict everything is futile.

It's like planning a scuba dive: you have a general plan (destination, depth, time), but you are prepared to adjust