As we know, projects need to be planned on level that satisfies both project manager and customer or project owner. There are a number of different project management methods and frameworks, and because of that there are also a number of different ways to plan projects. Question is “what should I emphasize in project planning?”. Agile and iterative methods suggest either risk-driven or client-driven approach, or a combination of both. I prefer using the combination of risk-driven and client-driven project planning, but let’s first take a look at those two approaches.

Risk-driven project planning – Mitigating risks first

In risk-driven project planning we focus on working the most risky items first. In sprint planning or iteration planning sessions team identifies the most risky requirements or the most difficult architectural solutions, and prioritizes them by voting. Highest priority tasks are dropped into sprint one, next ones to sprint two, etc. After the planning session project manager should have a release plan with highest risk items in the first sprints.

The idea behind risk-driven planning is to make sure the most difficult or highest risk requirements get done as soon as possible. There can be many reasons to use risk-driven approach in project management, but one example could be launching a new weather forecasting system with recently developed algorithm. In order to capture market share and attention development team focuses on implementing and testing the risky algorithm first instead of fancy and intuitive user interface.

Client-driven project planning – Highest business value first

In client-driven project planning we let client sit behind the steering wheel. In practice the client prioritizes requirements and decides the order in which they get implemented. Whatever the reasons are, client gets what they perceive as the highest business value, as soon as possible. In software development projects requirements tend to change, so in agile and iterative projects client-driven project planning gives client several chances to redefine their priorities.

The idea behind client-driven planning is to make sure the highest priority requirements from client’s perspective get done as soon as possible. Again there can be many reasons to use client-driven approach, but for example in case of the weather forecasting system customer knows that market is especially interested in fancy and intuitive user interface, it makes sense to implement requirements in the order client wants.

Best solution is to use both risk-driven and client-driven project planning

Although compromises do not always work, I believe a combination of risk-driven and client-driven project planning is the best solution in most cases. In pure risk-driven approach meaningful market requirements might not be noticed because development team does not understand client’s market. Also in pure client-driven approach it is possible to miss important requirements from architectural or design point of view. Therefore I recommend having both team and client representative in project, sprint or iteration planning meetings in order to plan together with risk-driven and client-driven approaches in mind.

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