Task: Initiate Iteration
Start an iteration, including communicating iteration objectives and assigning work.
Discipline:  Project Management
Purpose

Ensures that everyone on the team knows what they need to do to make the iteration successful.

Relationships
RolesPrimary Performer: Additional Performers:
InputsMandatory: Optional:
  • None
Outputs
Steps
Launch iteration

Each iteration is launched by a team meeting in which the project manager communicates the goals and objectives of the iteration and starts assigning the high-level tasks identified to achieve those goals.

Those high-level tasks come from iteration planning done at the end of the previous iteration. Tasks will be refined as they are analyzed and estimated by those assigned to work on the tasks.

Allocate work

Each high-level task that must be achieved during this iteration needs to be assigned to a team member.

There are two main styles commonly used in assigning tasks:

  • The project manager estimates and assigns the tasks to the team members.  This directive style works well with team members who have little experience estimating their work.

  • The project manager asks for a team member to volunteer for a given task. The person who takes responsibility for a task will also estimate the task. This works well with self-motivated, self-directed people.

Whatever approach the project manager uses, he or she needs to ensure that the tasks required to achieve the iteration's goals are assigned and that the estimations fit the iteration schedule.

Define iteration tasks

Team members responsible for tasks should analyze them to make sure they know everything that needs to be done. It can help to look at a task as a collection of smaller tasks and do a bottom-up estimate to validate overall or top-down estimates.

More Information
Guidelines