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The planning game is part of extreme programming, where customers and programmers work together to develop software. It includes release planning, where features and development time are determined, and iteration planning, where useful software is created every two weeks based on chosen stories.
The planning game is part of a type of software development known as extreme programming. It creates a game-like environment where business and development personnel, called “customers” and “programmers” in the game, work together to develop new software. There are two parts to the planning game: release planning and iteration planning.
Release planning is the initial stage of the planning game, where team members determine what features the software will have and how long it will take to develop the features. The game begins with customers creating “stories”. Stories in this context are short descriptions of a desired end result from the software. Each story is usually written on a separate card. Customers can create stories at any point in the game.
The programmers then receive the stories and estimate the cost or time required to complete each story. Once clients have cost estimates, they prioritize stories. Programmers and customers can ask questions throughout the process to clarify story estimations and priorities. The team might also add new stories in the process or split a large story into multiple stories. Whenever this happens, the new story or stories need to be given a cost and a priority.
Planners have the final say on cost estimates and customers have the final say on priorities, so that each group has ultimate authority over their areas of expertise. Once costs and priorities are defined, the team commits to the release plan. A release plan could be “data-driven” or “story-driven”.
In data-driven engagement, customers choose a release date and programmers determine how much time they can devote to development. Finally, customers choose stories to add to that moment. A story-based release plan means that customers start adding stories to the release and programmers set the release date for the stories they choose. Customers can continue to add stories until they decide that their chosen cumulative stories can work together as the next release.
Iteration planning is the ongoing planning that occurs during software development. Iterations in the planning game occur every two weeks, during which the programmers create useful software for some of the stories chosen during release planning. At the end of every two weeks, clients choose the stories they want to create over the next two weeks, and programmers calculate how much work they can actually complete in that amount of time.
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