How to Use Iteration Zero (Or Not)

Johanna Rothman, known as the "Pragmatic Manager," offers frank advice for your challenging problems. She consults with leaders and teams to help them learn about practical and possible options. They can then decide how to adapt their product development. Her most recent book is "Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility." See www.jrothman.com for all her books.

  Agile   Estimating   Quality   Testing/Test Management  

Do you use Iteration Zero for your agile projects? An Iteration Zero is an iteration where you set up all the servers, make sure you have a release plan, develop a product backlog and in general do all those things that “assure” you that your project is ready to go.

Some agile project managers do, some don’t. I’m not a huge fan of Iteration Zero, because I’ve seen it turn into turn into Iteration Minus One, Iteration Minus Two and so on. And then the architects step in, and then next thing you know you’ve got Big Design Up Front. If it takes two or three months to start your agile project, your Iteration Zero is not working for you.

But there are times when Iteration Zero can help your project or program.

You Don’t Have Even a Hint of a Backlog
One of those times is when you don’t have a backlog at all. Now, you might be raising your eyebrows and wondering how you can have an agile project without a backlog. But maybe you are like my colleague Jackie, who described her new project and her new product owner (Bill) to me:

Bill has never been to any agile training. Luckily, the team was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, since he is so sincere about wanting to the right thing for the product. He has a ton of experience in the product domain. So, I asked the team if it was okay if we did a five-day …

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