Agile adaptive planning is a flexible project management technique that promotes adaptability to changing requirements and client expectations. Consisting of continuous iteration, regular reevaluation, and as-needed plan modifications, it is a crucial part of Agile methodology.

Agile planning requires less effort upfront and more work throughout the project. So here we are building the product as opposed to attempting to design the ideal product from the start. Our planning is based on modest increments with extensive client feedback through Product owners and demos after each sprint. We modify the product based on user feedback.

Agile planning is challenging

There are numerous obstacles

• Multiple sprint planning is not agile. Their position is that agile enables product owners and teams to listen to customer feedback, evaluate user behaviour data generated through the application, and consider other signals to modify priorities at the start of every sprint. Their perspective is “Why bother planning if the team’s priorities will change anyway?”
• Some desire planning but have not yet created the practises and partnerships necessary for good planning.
• Sometimes the product owner is a bottleneck and fails to provide adequate detail on future priorities.
• Others are assigned excessive priorities by their product owner.
• Most organisations struggle to obtain appropriately defined requirements, making planning complex and potentially costly.

Adaptive Planning focuses on outcomes and is open to different pathways to achieving goals.

Agile Adaptive planning / Onion Planning: 5 Levels

1. Product Vision

Product Vision is the long-term outcome that the product aims for. All teams align their work to ensure that the ultimate goal and finally, the vision is met

2. Roadmap

The roadmap is a plan on how the product should evolve to achieve the above vision. The ‘La La Land’ stakeholders will create a roadmap that clearly depicts the plan with milestones, defining the steps to help the enterprise move closer to the goal.

3. Release Plan

The Release Plan defines the list of features that will be delivered in the decided timeline.

4. Iteration Plan

An iteration plan is a repeated cycle of planning, execution and evaluation in project management. It helps in making incremental improvements and adapting to changing requirements.

5. Daily planning

Agile daily plan, also known as a daily stand-up or daily scrum, is a daily meeting in Agile methodology where team members briefly discuss progress, priorities, and obstacles to ensure project efficiency and alignment.

Tools and Techniques

Agile adaptive planning tools and techniques include:

• User stories
• Sprint planning and retrospectives
• Kanban boards
• Prioritization matrices (MoSCoW, KANO, etc.)
• Timeboxing (Parkinson’s Law, Scrum timeboxing)
• Incremental delivery
• Continuous feedback and collaboration
• Adaptive estimation methods (e.g. planning poker, Story Points, Affinity Estimation, T-Shirt Sizing, Team Velocity)

Timeboxing is a very simple technique to manage time and become more productive. The idea is to allocate a certain amount of time to an activity in advance and then complete the activity within that time frame

These tools and techniques help Agile teams respond to changing requirements, prioritize tasks, and continuously improve their processes.