AGILE IN ACTION

The iteration is a fixed timebox. And the showcase provides an opportunity to seek acceptance from the customer. It provides closure for the iteration, which can then be reflected upon in a retrospective. To maintain rhythm, it's important that the iteration review is held at the same time, on the last day of the iteration. Don't delay or postpone it. Respect the timebox.

A working week runs Monday to Friday, so it feels natural to start an iteration on the Monday and finish it on the Friday.

Amidst the storm of unpredictability that is software development, you can find calm and control by using Scrum. An empirical process such as Scrum uses honest feedback, and frequent inspection and adaptation to control progress in an unpredictable environment.

Currently most agile development teams seem to settle naturally and comfortably with an iteration length between 1 and 4 weeks. Iterations longer than 4 weeks seem like a lifetime and it's easy to lose any development rhythm because the end of the iteration is too far away from the start.

A fixed iteration length enables a team to establish a development and delivery rhythm. It facilitates improved estimation accuracy allowing the team to obtain a tangible feel for what they can deliver within an iteration. Rhythm is an important factor, which helps a team achieve a sustained pace. In a 2-week iteration, the team get used to planning for 0.5 days at the start of an iteration, developing for 9 days with increasing intensity, and then reviewing the functionality with the customer for 0.5 days at the end of an iteration. This cycle provides a consistent environment for the team.