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In Agile, executing is often prioritised over planning. However, not planning enough can be as costly as planning too much. Herman Swart, Custom Project Development Manager at Tangent Solutions, thinks that rigorous planning is critical, even in Agile. The skill, he says, comes in knowing when you’ve planned enough, and he’s set up a process that helps his team reach the optimal amount of planning for every project.

Herman says that the misconception in Agile he sometimes encounters is that teams should jump into execution as soon as they can. Although he doesn’t think the entire project should be spent planning, executing shouldn’t come at the cost of sufficient and structured planning stages.

Herman’s team has a six step planning process, divided into two phases, for scoping a project before execution. He talks through each step in our conversation, which can be found at the time stamps alongside:

1. THE PROPOSAL PHASE
[00:22:22] 1.1 The project proposal: Understanding the client’s wants and needs
[00:28:33] 1.2 Scope of work: Laying out the delivery

2. THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE
[00:41:00] 2.1 Resource allocation: Finding the right people to do the right things
[00:45:12] 2.2 Client briefing session: Setting roles and responsibilities
[00:50:21] 2.3 Product backlog and feature list: Planning sprints and deliverables
[00:57:51] 2.4 Project setup: Setting up environments and addressing dependencies

Check out the transcript on the blog here! (https://bit.ly/2VwtXdU)