After determining the master plan of your project, it’s natural to just dive in and keep going until the finish line. But beware! Reviewing your plan as you go has its benefits; it could save you a lot of trouble and even help you increase effectiveness.
In this edition of Planbox Tips, we’ve picked out 5 top reasons as to why a review after each iteration is a healthy thing to do, before continuing to plan iterations ahead. Then, see some shortcuts for the Future Iterations Tab.
5 Benefits of Doing Iteration Reviews:
- Build team morale:
This time allocated for the whole team to get together is the perfect moment for each member to showcase what has been accomplished during the iteration. Even if it is the time to also see which items have not been completed, it’s important not to stay stuck talking only about that. Your team members should use this time to communicate and to encourage each other.
- Keep focus on priorities (short term planning)
Breaking the project plan into smaller bites makes it easier for the whole team to attack the pie together. While reviewing what has been done in the past iteration, it is a good time pick out what are the few accomplishable steps for the next iteration. Plan on the short-term so that you can succeed on the long-term.
- Increase flexibility with changes
By constantly keeping an eye on what has been accomplished and missed, you can anticipate changes more effectively, whether it is preventing issues from happening or taking a complete shift in direction.
- Reduce costs
Because you are alert on your project’s progress, you can save costs by avoiding mistakes or by applying changes to eliminate extra work.
- Give a clear direction to your team
In sum, going over the progress of the project with your team together puts all the team members on the same page. By being aware of every step that everyone has taken together, it will give your team better ownership of their work and give them a better visibility of how their actions are contributing as a whole.
If you have more, please share them with us in the comments section!
How to Plan Future Iterations in Planbox
You can move items from your backlog into the recently added “Future” tab on the Items Board in the Items & Tasks Page in Planbox. You can even create several iterations ahead!
A few handy shortcuts for planning:
- Use the Blue Arrow shortcut at the extreme left of individual items to move items from an iteration to another. The blue arrow icon appears when you hover your cursor over an item.
- Simply drag and drop items into different Iteration Tabs.
More blog posts about planning iterations are coming up. Stay tuned for:
- Planbox Tips: Using templates to plan your iterations
- Planning with hours versus velocity points
Tags: agile application, agile methodologies, agile project Management, Agile project management tool, Agile Software, Agile Tool, how to plan iteration, how to plan sprint, iteration, iteration planning, project meetings, project planning, scrum, sprint, sprint review
