In traditional projects risk is defined as the issues that may cause the project to overrun its schedule or budget in order to complete the specified functionality. Some methods, like RUP, are risk driven, meaning the highest risks should be mitigated early in the project.

In agile projects risk management is built into the process, meaning we are adaptive to all events that might influence the schedule, budget or functionality. Agile projects also focus less on being predictive and less on having fixed plans, which means they are less exposed to risks.

In agile projects we don’t have the traditional risk workshop. Instead we address risks continuously throughout the project in the iteration planning, daily stand-up meetings, retrospectives etc. All activities related to risk management end up on the backlogs ready to be prioritized together with all the other product development activities. In Scrum the product backlog is prioritized having the most customer valued features on top (not being risk driven).

Traditionally risks are handled by the project manager. However, in Scrum we sacked the project manager in favour of the Scrum master. Instead the team owns the risk management in agile projects.

Read this excellent article on risks in agile projects.

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Although I often preach an agile approach to developing software, the planning cannot be neglected altogether. Planning is needed by stakeholders to make decisions about various activities connected to the software, like marketing, deployment, education etc.

I don’t remember who first said:

“Planning is everything, plans are nothing”

And the agile manifesto says something similar:

“…Responding to change over following a plan”

What I’m trying to tell you is that planning is a continuous activity, while a plan is a snapshot of a particular moment in time. Planning is an iterative process while the plan might be outdated the moment it is done. The further into the project, the more information you get and the more accurate the plans will be.

This also implies that plans stretching far into the future are more unreliable than those trying to tell a near future. Also see my post about the horizon of predictability.

Far too often project managers stick with their original plan although the reality that was once the basis for the plan changes. Commitment is good but being adaptive to changes is better. Don’t neglect planning, but don’t rely on your plans.

Read more about agile planning in Mike Cohn’s excellent book: Agile Estimating and Planning.

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