Part IV. Scheduling

The previous two parts covered estimating the size of each desired new piece of functionality, and then prioritizing so that the team is aimed at building the best possible product. In this part of the book, we focus on creating a schedule.

In the next two chapters, we begin by looking at the essential steps to planning a release and then to planning an iteration. The next chapter offers advice on selecting an appropriate iteration length. In addition to knowing the size of the work to be completed, if we want to estimate how long a project is likely to take, we must estimate the team’s rate of progress through that work. Estimating velocity is, therefore, the topic of the next chapter.

The final two chapters in this part cover situations of greater complexity or uncertainty. First is how to plan a project when there are huge implications to being wrong about the schedule or when a preliminary schedule must be estimated far in advance and from very limited information. This part concludes with a chapter describing the additional things necessary in planning a project that involves multiple teams.