Process · Topic 11 of 12
Agile Scheduling and Kanban
Plan time in agile and hybrid projects using timeboxes, sprint planning, velocity, release planning, Kanban boards and work in progress limits.
- 4 min
- A timebox has a fixed length, and unfinished work goes back to the backlog.
- Sprints are commonly one to four weeks long, and the length stays consistent.
- Sprint planning selects work based on capacity and velocity and sets a sprint goal.
What it is
Agile scheduling fixes time and lets scope vary. Instead of a detailed network of activities for the whole project, the team works in short timeboxed cycles and plans the near future in detail. Kanban takes a different route and manages the schedule through a continuous flow of work.
Both approaches give frequent, honest information about how much work will really get done.
How it works
Timeboxes and iterations
A timebox is a fixed length of time. A sprint is a timebox, commonly one to four weeks, in which the team turns selected backlog items into a usable increment. The end date does not move.
If work is not finished, it returns to the backlog and is re-ordered.
Meetings are also timeboxed, which keeps them focused.
Sprint planning and the sprint cycle
The team selects the backlog items it believes it can complete, based on its capacity and recent velocity. It agrees a sprint goal, a short statement of what the sprint will achieve. Work is then tracked on a task board, and a daily stand up keeps the team in sync.
At the end of the sprint, a review shows the increment to stakeholders, and a retrospective looks at how the team worked.
| Event | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Sprint planning | Choose the work and set the goal |
| Daily stand up | Coordinate and surface impediments |
| Sprint review | Show the increment and collect feedback |
| Retrospective | Improve the way of working |
| Backlog refinement | Prepare upcoming items |
Estimating and forecasting
Teams often estimate relative size using story points, which are not hours. Velocity is the number of points completed per sprint. If the remaining backlog is 120 points and velocity is about 20 points per sprint, the forecast is about 6 sprints.
Use velocity from several recent sprints and treat it as a range, not a promise. Release planning groups sprints into releases and sets rough dates based on this forecast. A release burnup shows how progress compares with the plan.
Kanban
Kanban visualizes work on a board with columns for each workflow state, such as to do, in progress and done. Work flows continuously rather than in fixed timeboxes. The key control is a limit on work in progress (WIP), which caps how many items can be in a column at once.
WIP limits expose bottlenecks and encourage the team to finish work before starting more. Flow metrics, such as cycle time, lead time and throughput, replace velocity. A cumulative flow diagram shows the number of items per state over time.
| Aspect | Scrum | Kanban |
|---|---|---|
| Cadence | Fixed length sprints | Continuous flow |
| Commitment | Sprint backlog and goal | Limited work in progress |
| Main measures | Velocity, burndown | Cycle time, throughput, cumulative flow |
| Changes in the cycle | Normally wait for the next sprint | Allowed when capacity is free |
Hybrid scheduling
Hybrid projects may use a high level milestone schedule for governance, with teams working in sprints or flow towards those milestones. The project manager reconciles the two, and uses release forecasts to update milestone dates. When a milestone is a fixed external date, scope is traded to keep it.
Handling change and risk
Because scope is ordered by value, late changes replace lower value items rather than extend the schedule. Short cycles reveal problems quickly, while spikes (short timeboxed investigations) reduce uncertainty before committing to a large item.
In agile questions, protect the timebox and flex the scope. Extending a sprint to fit everything in is rarely the right answer.
What to remember for the exam
- A timebox has a fixed length, and unfinished work goes back to the backlog.
- Sprints are commonly one to four weeks long, and the length stays consistent.
- Sprint planning selects work based on capacity and velocity and sets a sprint goal.
- Story points are relative sizes, and velocity is points completed per sprint.
- Forecast = remaining backlog divided by velocity.
- Kanban uses WIP limits and continuous flow, with no required sprint length.
- Bottlenecks show as growing queues or widening bands on a cumulative flow diagram.
- Hybrid projects reconcile team level plans with milestone schedules.
Common mistakes
Extending the sprint. The end date is fixed, so move unfinished items to the backlog.
Treating velocity as a target. Pressure to raise velocity distorts estimates, and it is a planning tool only.
Ignoring WIP limits. Without them, Kanban becomes a to do list with no flow control.
Comparing velocity across teams. Point scales are team specific.
Planning detail too far ahead. Agile plans in detail only for the near term.
Do not allow stakeholders to add new items to a running sprint without agreement from the team and product owner, because it breaks the commitment.
Check yourself
What happens to unfinished work at the end of a sprint?
It returns to the backlog and is re-ordered, and the sprint end date does not move.
A backlog has 90 points and velocity is 15 points per sprint. How many sprints are needed?
About 6 sprints, from 90 divided by 15.
What is the purpose of a WIP limit in Kanban?
It restricts items in progress, which exposes bottlenecks and pushes the team to finish work before starting more.
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