Entry Criteria

Organizational portfolio master program schedule.
The vision for the product of the current project.
Data from previous iteration peer reviews.
Metrics gathered from any previous iterations.
List of scenarios on the project backlog.
List of qualities of service on the project backlog.
List of other product requirements from the project backlog such as security, operational, interface, and functional.
Any change requests listed as approved on the project backlog.
All open bugs on the project backlog.
A wireframe model of the user interface interaction.
A model of the problem domain for the product.
The existing product and enterprise or program (if any) architecture.

When:

At the start of each new iteration

Activities


1	Select Iteration Backlog	A just-in-time prioritization of iteration work items from the project backlog.
2	Analysis	Analyze the selected requirements work items from the project backlog and break them into tasks which can be estimated.
3	Plan Knowledge and Skills	Based on the product architecture and the analysis of the selected iteration backlog, determine the knowledge and skills required to successfully complete the iteration.
4	Plan Iteration Resources	Based on the selected iteration backlog, determine the resources (in terms of staffing, equipment, and facilities) required to complete the iteration successfully.
5	Form Iteration Team(s)	Separate the project staff into work groups or small teams (typically, around six people per group is recommended to minimize communication overhead).
6	Define Iteration Roles and Responsibilities	Based on the staff assignments to iteration team(s), define the roles and responsibilities of team members.
7	Identify Iteration Stakeholders	Based on the intended iteration backlog, identify all the stakeholders required to successfully complete the items on the backlog.
8	Plan Iteration Stakeholder Involvement	Form a plan to gain commitment from all stakeholders and keep them engaged and committed throughout the project. This plan will be used in operational management to monitor stakeholder involvement against the plan and to raise issues or flag risks due to lack of involvement. A good stakeholder involvement plan is critical to driving transparency into the process of commitment from all team members and external sponsors.
9	Estimate Iteration	Based on the analysis of work items in the proposed iteration backlog, gather estimates in person days for each work item.
10	Define Iteration Budget and Schedule	Based on the estimates for work items and the proposed iteration staff, define a budget and schedule estimate including a proposed length (or end date) for the iteration.
11	Iteration Plan Review	Review the iteration plan with the proposed iteration team members and the project sponsor. Revise the plan as required.
12	IPMO Iteration Review	Take the iteration plan to the IPMO Meeting. Review and revise the plan with the wider program against the organizational portfolio of projects.
13	Obtain Iteration Commitments	Based on the final plan revised against the whole organization project portfolio, obtain commitments to the iteration plan from all iteration team members and the project sponsor.
14	Define Communication Plan	Define the lines of communication between working groups and identify team members with roles and responsibilities for communicating within the team and externally to the wider organization.

Exit Criteria

	A list of the tasks to be completed in this iteration.
	A definition of the staff assignments and the channels of communication as well as roles and responsibilities for the iteration.
	The committed iteration estimate including budget, scope, and schedule.
	Based on the iteration plan, signal any future activities which can now be planned with a firm start date, such as user acceptance testing based on planned availability of shippable working code.