Initiate

Initiate Phase

Before teams begin to build, they need to be sure they're headed in the right direction. Following agile methods, much of the detailed planning and design happens incrementally as the application is built. The right amount of upfront planning ensures that the team is grounded in a deep understanding of stakeholder needs. During this phase, development teams define a plan for the application that ensures both high value and rapid delivery. With proper backlog refinement practices, a team should be able to continue building additional releases without needing to perform this phase again, although it may make sense to do so at the beginning of a major effort.

The goals of this phase are:

Define Success - ensure a shared understanding of success across all stakeholders
Explore Scope - establish a backlog of requirements with enough detail to get started
Plan Releases - define an incremental release plan and estimate the first release
Agree on a Way of Working - schedule regular meetings and team processes

Duration: The Initiate Phase is typically conducted over the course of 1-2 weeks.

Resources