Bad Planning: A Cause for Delivery Issues

When it comes to software development, being able to consistently deliver projects on time and on budget is a challenge for many teams. To ensure successful delivery, teams must have an effective plan of attack that takes into account all the necessary pieces. 

Unfortunately, bad planning can be at the root of many delivery woes — and without proper tools and data, it can be difficult to know where to start. 

In this article, we’ll explore how poor planning can lead to delivery problems and how proper planning can set your team up for success. 

We’ll also look at how using the right tools helps teams plan better by providing historical data that can be used to create more accurate project scopes.

Troubleshooting Delivery for Agile Teams

Are you having trouble meeting deadlines on a constant basis? Are your projects being overrun with cost excesses? 

There can be a number of reasons why your development team is struggling to meet project requirements consistently, but what they all have in common is a lack of proper planning.

Let’s take a look at the most common causes:

• Not taking the time to plan out the project timeline and sprints can lead to delays in delivery.
• Without sufficient communication between stakeholders, tasks can get overlooked or misunderstood, resulting in delays in delivery.
• Estimating too much or too little work for each sprint can lead to missed deadlines and ultimately delays in delivery.
• Adding new features or changing existing ones without consulting the team can lead to delays as they have to adjust their plans accordingly. 
• Not having enough resources allocated for a project or not allocating them effectively can also lead to delays in delivery. 
• Not having clear requirements from the start of a project can cause confusion and misunderstandings, leading to delays in delivery.

Why Bad Planning Could Be the Culprit Behind Your Agile Delivery Woes

Scoping is a critical part of any software development process. Without it, SCRUM teams struggle with a variety of internal issues, ranging from scope creep to resource wastage.

The most common problem that arises from inadequate planning is scope creep. This occurs when teams attempt to add new features or capabilities that weren’t part of the original plan, resulting in an increase in the project’s complexity. This can be a major issue as it often requires teams to re-evaluate their plans from scratch or suffer through hours of crunch time.

Another issue that can arise from poor planning is the inability to properly prioritize tasks and objectives. Without a clear plan of action, team members may struggle to determine which tasks should take priority over others, resulting in delays and missed deadlines. Teams may also end up wasting time on low-priority tasks while neglecting more important ones.

Finally, inadequate planning can lead to inefficient use of resources as teams may struggle to properly allocate effort across various tasks and objectives. This can result in delays as teams find themselves short-staffed when they could have been utilized elsewhere on the project.

How to Properly Plan and Scope an Agile Project

Need help properly scoping an agile project? Use the following framework to get started:

Identify the Project Goal

The first step in scoping and planning an agile project is to identify the project goal. 

This process should be completed in collaboration with stakeholders, team members, and other project participants to ensure that everyone is on the same page. The goal should be clearly defined and include an understanding of what success looks like.

Define the Scope

Once the project goal has been identified, it’s time to define the scope of the project. 

It involves creating a detailed list of tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve the desired outcome. It’s important that the list is comprehensive enough to cover all aspects of the project without being overly complex or unrealistic.

Estimate Time and Cost

After defining the scope of the project, you need to estimate how long each task will take and how much each task will cost. 

It will ensure that resources are allocated appropriately and that deadlines are realistic and achievable.

Create a Schedule

Once time and cost estimates have been determined, it’s time to create a schedule for completing each task within the scope of the project. 

To do this, you should use an agile methodology such as SCRUM or Kanban, which allows for ample flexibility to accommodate changes throughout the development process.

Set Milestones

Setting milestones throughout development can help keep track of progress as well as provide motivation for team members when they reach them successfully. 

Milestones should be set at regular intervals so that progress can easily be monitored and reviewed regularly by all involved parties.

Assign Roles and Responsibilities

Assigning roles and responsibilities is essential for a successful agile project since it helps clarify who is responsible for what tasks within the development process. 

That can really help streamline communication between team members

Monitor Progress

Monitoring progress during an agile project is essential to ensure deadlines are met. 

It will also help identify areas where improvements can be made along the way.

Historical Data Can Help You Plan Better Project Scopes

Historical data can be extremely useful in agile scoping. By looking at past projects, teams can gain insight into what works and what doesn’t. That can help them create more accurate estimates and timelines for future projects as well as provide a better understanding of the resources needed to complete a project.

For example, if a team has previously completed similar projects, they can look back at the amount of time it took to complete them and use that information to estimate how long a new project might take. This data can also inform decisions about which features should be prioritized, the number of resources needed, and the types of tasks that will need to be completed in order to meet deadlines.

Historical data can also help teams identify potential problems that may arise during the course of a project and prepare for them accordingly. By looking at past projects, teams can identify areas where delays or errors occurred and work to minimize those risks in future projects. This helps ensure that each project is completed on time and within budget.

How 7pace Solves Delivery Problems With Better Data

7pace is a comprehensive time management solution for Azure DevOps and GitHub. It integrates seamlessly with your development platform and provides detailed performance analytics to aid you in estimating and planning future projects.

Why 7pace?

Instead of approaching performance reporting as an afterthought to assuage micromanagers, 7pace provides practical insights and real data that you can use to craft better estimates and actually improve performance.

With a treasure trove of data to help you craft detailed and accurate estimates, 7pace will help you solve all your delivery problems as an agile team.

Don’t want to miss a project deadline ever again? Sign up for a free trial and get started!