Chapter 11. Planning

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It is a bad plan that admits of no modification

”Publilius Syrus

XP planning is not about knowing the future but about not knowing it. Iterative development and continuous integration minimize the impact of constant change and bank the winnings of each iteration.

Software development has been described as similar to driving in that both involve continuous small heading adjustments. We like to think of it as a game of golf in that you have a goal but you may not see it. Your customer can tell you that the goal is 400 feet and just around the dogleg ahead. Your experienced team members may have been on a hole like this before and can warn you of risks like sand traps and water hazards along the way. How hard will you hit the ball? Will you hit it just right? Will the wind carry it away from where you are aiming? Is the customer wrong about where the hole is? Is there a hazard that your team doesn't know about?

Our golf analogy can stretch a long way. Immediately we see that, like golf, Web projects have a number of associated risks:

• The project manager and his ability to get good estimates from the team

• The customer and what she wants from the project

• The business changes and other unseen obstacles that can affect the project

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