Overview |  | Roles |  | Work Items |  | Views |  | Index |  | Glossary |

Project Portal
| ### Next Steps Estimate Scenario Estimate Quality of Service Requirement |
| Activity: Determine Iteration Length
Project Manager
|  |  |  | Plan an Iteration |  |
|  | Participating Roles Responsible: Project Manager Consult: Developer
### Overview An iteration is a set of tasks scheduled to occur in a fixed period of time. The length of time needed to complete the tasks is known as the iteration length. The project schedule is divided into a series of iterations and tasks are scheduled accordingly. Determining the iteration length includes the consideration of key factors including the delivery date if the project is date-driven, size of the scenarios, and integration time. Iteration length is usually specified in weeks although smaller periods are possible. The iteration length is established at the beginning of the project and this length is used for the duration of the project. # Entry Criteria Dependencies: The vision statement has been published to the project portal. # Sub-Activities
1 | Work From End Date | If the project is date-driven, the end date often impacts iteration length. Create a project plan or use a calendar to determine how much time is available for development. Divide the time period into a suitable number of iterations to allow a small number of scenarios, quality of service requirements, or bug fixes to be implemented. Map out the iterations between the start and the end date.
2 | Check Scenario Size | When the first iteration is being planned, recheck the iteration length to be sure that scenarios are not constantly getting unnecessarily split into smaller scenarios due to iteration length. Increase the iteration length, if necessary, to accommodate the actual scenario size.
3 | Examine Integration Costs | Integration is done throughout the iteration as the development tasks are completed. Consider any special needs or costs for integration in the iteration length.
4 | Review Iteration Length | Review the iteration length with the project team. The optimal iteration length provides just enough time to get a small number of scenarios or quality of service requirements done. Each iteration should result in an internal or external release with the additional functionality of the scenarios, quality of service requirements, or bug fixes scheduled for the iteration.
# Exit Criteria
| The iteration length is understood and agreed upon by the project team.
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