Iteration Planning Workflow

Purpose: Ensure that the right amount of clear and important issues are assigned to each contributor for the next iteration and to decrease time spent on iteration planning in meetings

Audience: Project managers, product managers, issue refiners

Status: Draft

Rationale

Iteration planning is a critical process that ensures team members have appropriate workloads and clear tasks for each iteration. Without a structured workflow, iteration planning can become time-consuming in meetings or we would have contradicting assignments with unbalanced workload distribution. This workflow establishes a systematic approach to prepare iteration assignments before meetings, allowing meeting time to focus on bringing everyone up-to-date rather than administrative chore.

Quick Reference

Weekly Timeline:

  • Ongoing: Project Manager triages issues, Issue Refiner refines issues
  • Friday Morning: Project Manager completes iteration planning
  • Before Monday Meeting: Product Manager reviews board
  • Start of Week: Iteration Reflection during meeting

Key Principles:

  • We plan 2 iterations ahead
  • Balance workload based on capacity and calendar
  • Ensure all assigned issues have clear descriptions
  • Follow up early on issues without progress

Workflow Steps

1. Issue Triage

Who: Project Manager

When: during current iteration (ongoing)

Actions:

  • Review and triage issues for the next iteration using the triage workflow
  • Ensure issues are properly labeled
  • Add status::refine label if they need additional work
  • Identify which issues are ready for assignment in the upcoming iteration

Result: Issues are triaged and routed appropriately for refinement or assignment

2. Issue Refinement

Who: Issue Refiner

When: during current iteration (ongoing)

Actions:

  • Review the refinement board and go through all issues with status::refine label using the refinement workflow
  • Ensure issues are properly described with clear acceptance criteria
  • Clarify requirements and implementation details with stakeholders if needed
  • Mark issues as status::ready when they are fully refined and ready for assignment

Result: A pool of well-defined, ready-to-assign issues for the next iteration

3. Iteration Planning

Who: Project Manager

When: Friday morning (before the weekly meeting)

Actions:

review meeting statistics:

  • Review the meeting MR with iteration statistics to understand the progress of the current iteration
  • Analyze velocity and completion rates from previous iterations
  • Identify patterns in task completion and blockers

handle incomplete issues:

  • Move incomplete issues from the previous iteration back to Open status
  • For each incomplete issue, assess whether it should remain assigned or be re-evaluated
  • Document reasons for incompletion if patterns emerge

follow up on progress:

  • Send reminders to assignees who haven't provided progress updates by Friday
  • For issues with progress:
    • Verify that the assignee has given a short update on the current status as a comment
    • If not done by Friday, reach out to the respective contributors and remind them to do so
  • For issues without progress:
    • Read through and ensure that the description is clear and sufficient to start working on it
    • Ping the assignee to make sure they are aware of the issue and ask if they have any questions or need help
  • For issues in review:
    • Look over the MR and remind the reviewers to review it
    • Check if reviews are blocking progress

document required actions:

  • Document required actions per team member in the iteration planning issue
  • Add detailed notes in comments for any specific follow-ups needed
  • Track any blockers or concerns that need discussion

execute iteration workflow for each team member:

  • Look through each contributor and assess if they currently have too many/too few assigned issues for the next 2 iterations

for the next iteration:

  • base assessment on:
    • their working hours and capacity
    • previous iteration outcomes and velocity
    • time marked on calendar (vacations, meetings, other commitments)
  • In case of too many assigned issues:
    • Look through their issues and identify tasks with low priority or that are not time-critical
    • Move lower priority issues back to the backlog
    • Discuss with assignee if workload reduction is needed
  • In case of too few assigned issues:
    • Look through the issue pool and assign them new issues from the backlog (starting from status::ready)
    • Prioritize issues based on milestone goals, dependencies, and contributor skills

for in 2 iterations:

  • assign a more flexible stream of new incoming issues to be verified

  • focus on ensuring issues are ready and refined rather than strict capacity matching

  • prioritize issues based on milestone goals and upcoming priorities

  • Review and confirm issue assignments with each team member if needed

  • Add confirmed issues to the appropriate iterations

verify distribution:

  • Sort issues by assignee name to get a clear overview
  • Verify that workload distribution is balanced across the team
  • Check that no team member is over or under-allocated
  • Ensure dependencies between team members are identified

trigger next steps:

  • @mention Product Manager in the iteration planning issue to trigger board review
  • @mention Refiner if any assigned issues need additional refinement or clarification

Result: Each team member has an appropriate number of clear, well-defined issues assigned for the next iteration

4. Development Board Review

Who: Product Manager

When: before meeting on Monday

Actions:

  • Review development board status to understand the current state of all issues
  • Review newly assigned or triaged issues from the iteration planning
  • Check for any blockers, dependencies, or risks that need attention
  • Assess whether the planned work for the iteration supports milestone objectives
  • Identify any issues that may need re-prioritization or additional clarification

trigger next step:

  • @mention Project Manager in the iteration planning issue if feedback or adjustments are needed
  • Provide specific comments on any issues that need re-prioritization, clarification, or discussion
  • Highlight any concerns about resource allocation or timeline

Result: Confirmation that the iteration plan aligns with product goals, or specific feedback for adjustments

5. Iteration Reflection

Who: Project Manager & Issue Refiner

When: start of week (during the weekly meeting)

Actions:

  • reflect on process improvements:
    • What went well in the last iteration?
    • What challenges did we face?
    • What can we do differently next time?
    • Are there patterns in incomplete issues or blockers?
  • document action items:
    • Create follow-up issues for process improvements if needed
    • Update workflows or templates based on learnings
    • Assign owners and deadlines for improvement actions
  • brief discussion to address concerns:
    • Allow team members to raise concerns or suggestions
    • Ensure all voices are heard
    • Make decisions on process changes if needed
  • For additional meeting details, see the meeting workflow

Result: Documented learnings and action items to continuously improve the iteration reflection process

Special Cases

Team Member on Vacation

When a team member will be on vacation during the next iteration:

  • Consider their vacation days when assessing capacity
  • Reassign time-critical issues to other team members
  • Plan ahead for the iteration after their return

Urgent Issues During Iteration

When urgent issues don't have progress during an iteration:

  • Assess impact on current assignments
  • Document the change in the iteration planning issue

Examples

Example 1: Balanced Iteration Planning

Step 1: Review shows Developer A completed 3/4 issues last iteration
Step 2: Developer A has 1 incomplete issue (moved back to Open)
Step 3: Based on 20h/week capacity and no vacation, assign 6 new issues
Step 4: Total: 3 issues assigned for next iteration, 3 issues for in 2 iterations
Result: Balanced workload based on historical velocity for next 2 iterations

Example 2: Overloaded Developer

Step 1: Developer B has 6 issues assigned across next 2 iterations but only works 10h/week
Step 2: Review past iterations - Developer B typically completes 2 issues/iteration
Step 3: Remove 2 lower-priority issues, move back to backlog
Step 4: Keep 4 issues total (2 for next iteration, 2 for in 2 iterations) aligned with milestone goals
Result: Developer B has realistic workload for their capacity across next 2 iterations

Example 3: Underutilized Developer

Step 1: Developer C has 1 issue assigned, works 30h/week
Step 2: Review shows Developer C typically completes 4-5 issues/iteration
Step 3: Assign 8 additional issues from status::ready pool
Step 4: Prioritize issues on critical path for milestone (4 for next iteration, 5 for in 2 iterations)
Result: Developer C has sufficient work across next 2 iterations to maintain productivity
  • Iteration Planning Issue Template (../../.gitlab/issue_templates/Iteration_Planning.md) - Use this template to create weekly iteration planning issues
  • Meeting Workflow - Details about weekly meeting structure
  • Triage Workflow - How issues are triaged and prepared for assignment

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Problem: Team members frequently don't complete assigned issues Solution:

  • Review capacity estimates - they may be too optimistic.
  • Consider reducing the number of issues per iteration and accounting for meetings, reviews, and unexpected tasks.
  • Track actual time spent vs. estimated to improve future planning.

Problem: Issues assigned but descriptions are unclear Solution: Work with Issue Refiner to improve triage process. Don't assign issues that aren't marked as status::ready. Consider adding refinement step before assignment.

Problem: Iteration planning takes too long Solution: Ensure Issue Refiner has completed triage before Friday. Review each contributor's workload throughout the week, not just on Friday. Use the 2-iteration ahead strategy to smooth out planning.

Problem: Product Manager feedback comes too late Solution: Send the @mention to Product Manager on Friday so they have the weekend if needed. Set clear expectations for review timing. Consider moving the review deadline earlier.

Problem: Team members don't provide progress updates Solution: Send reminders earlier in the week (Wednesday/Thursday). Make progress updates a standard expectation. Consider adding progress updates as agenda item in stand-ups or check-ins.

Open Points

  • Consider automating velocity tracking and capacity calculations
  • Explore integration with time tracking tools for more accurate capacity assessment

Notes

  • This workflow assumes a weekly iteration cycle; adjust timing if using different iteration lengths
  • Capacity assessment should account for all work including meetings, reviews, and administrative tasks, not just coding time
  • The 2-iteration ahead planning strategy helps smooth out workload fluctuations and reduces last-minute assignments:
    • The next iteration is planned based on hours/calendar and capacity assessment
    • The iteration in 2 iterations is planned as a more flexible stream of new incoming issues to be verified