Release Plans
I’ve had this happen – it’s cool! Makes you feel like your job actually makes a difference.
Because we were dependent on external deployments we often had fixed deadlines. So in the choice between time and scope we often had to de-scope. However, we knew well in advance of the deadline that this would probably be necessary. Why? Because thanks to measuring our velocity and having an estimated release backlog, we could predict how much work we could get done by a given deadline. The Product Owner quickly understood that the team wasn’t trying to fool him by doing less work – theirs was an honest assessment of what they thought they could get done. This led to some interesting discussions about what could be left out – but the fact that we could give a lot of fore-warning meant and then usually managed to stick to what we did promise, earned the team a lot of kudos. After a while it all became part of the routine.
Any similarity to actual people is purely coincidental. Sort of 😉