As per the Agile values, we should adapt to change over following a plan. Rolling Wave Planning approaches planning with the view that the near future is usually well defined, while the short-term future is less defined and the long-term future becomes more vague:
As we progress through the items on our roadmap, the feedback we gather as we begin to validate our ideas at each step will inform what we need to do in the future. With a Rolling Wave Plan, we should have regular checkpoints to incorporate new information and adjust our plan accordingly.
Scrum and other iterative techniques can be readily managed using Rolling Wave Planning by prioritizing the backlog and keeping the User Stories near the top, well defined and ready to go:
