---

name: "phase_04_development_planning" description: "You'll transform architecture into an actionable development plan. Through work breakdown, resource planning, risk management, quality planning, and Sprint 0 setup, you'll create the roadmap that guides your team from design to deployed software. This is where blueprints become build plans." phase: 4 phase_name: "Development Planning" owner: "Project Manager" secondary_owner: "Technical Lead" participants: ["Tech Lead", "CTA", "QA Lead", "Security Lead", "DevOps", "Compliance Officer", "Team Leads", "Developers"] entry_criteria: [ "System architecture approved", "Security architecture approved", "Technical specifications documented", "Design review completed" ] exit_criteria: [ "Work breakdown structure completed", "Resource plan approved", "Risk register created", "Quality and test plan approved", "Security and compliance plan approved", "CI/CD pipeline designed", "Sprint 0 completed successfully", "Development environment ready", "Team onboarded", "Go/no-go decision to proceed to Phase 5" ] estimated_duration: "1 week" dependencies: ["phase_03_architecture_design"] outputs: [ "Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)", "Product Backlog", "Sprint Plans", "Release Plan", "Resource Plan", "Risk Register", "Quality and Test Plan", "Security and Compliance Plan", "CI/CD Pipeline Design", "Development Environment Setup" ] next_phase: "phase_05_development_execution"

Phase 4: Development Planning

Where Blueprint Becomes Roadmap

---

Welcome to the Planning Phase

Amazing work! You've completed architecture and design—the creative heavy lifting. Now comes the practical work of planning how to build it.

This phase is where beautiful architecture becomes actionable tasks. Where "we'll use microservices" becomes "Sprint 1: Build user service (13 points, 2 developers)." Where "security first" becomes "SAST scan in every build, DAST scan before release."

Here's what you'll walk away with:

A detailed work breakdown structure (every feature, every task) Resource plan with the right people in the right roles Risk register with mitigation strategies Quality and test plan with coverage targets CI/CD pipeline that automates build, test, and deploy Sprint 0 completed: environments ready, team onboarded A development team ready to start coding on Day 1

Time investment: 4-6 weeks (short but intense—this is where planning pays off)

---

What This Phase Feels Like (A Real Story)

I worked with a team that skipped detailed planning. They had great architecture, but jumped straight into coding. Three months in:

• Sprint commitments were missed (tasks were bigger than estimated)
• Bottlenecks emerged (everyone needed the backend dev)
• Quality suffered (no time for testing, everything was urgent)
• Team burned out (constant pressure, unclear priorities)

They spent 2 months replanning while partially built code gathered dust.

Contrast that with a team that spent 5 weeks planning:

• Sprint predictability at 90% (estimates were accurate)
• Clear priorities (everyone knew what to work on)
• Quality built in (testing was part of every sprint)
• Team morale stayed high (realistic commitments, clear direction)

Their Project Manager told me: "I was impatient to start coding. But those 5 time planning saved us months of chaos. We've hit every sprint deadline since."

That's the feeling we're aiming for. You'll start development with confidence, not chaos.

---

Your Journey Through This Phase

Think of this phase as planning a military operation:

Emotional checkpoint: You'll start energized by the clear architecture, hit estimation fatigue around week 2 (totally normal), work through detailed logistics, and end with organizational clarity. The fatigue is real—it passes.

---

Who's on This Journey With You?

This phase needs planning specialists and operational leaders. Planning details matter.

Project Manager: This is their time to shine. They'll spend 80-90% of their time on this phase, breaking down work, identifying dependencies, and creating realistic schedules. Good planning here prevents chaos later.

Tech Lead: They'll provide technical estimates and break down features into implementable tasks. One good estimate prevents a missed sprint deadline; one bad estimate causes cascading delays.

QA Lead: They'll define test strategy, coverage targets, and quality metrics. Testing planned here gets done; testing added later gets skipped when time is tight.

Security Lead: They'll plan security control implementation and integrate security into the pipeline. Security in the pipeline = secure code without slowing development.

DevOps: They'll design CI/CD pipelines that automate build, test, and deployment. A good pipeline makes every developer more productive; a bad pipeline frustrates everyone.

Team Leads: They'll validate that their teams can actually complete the planned work. They know team velocity, skills, and capacity better than anyone.

---

Step 1: Work Breakdown Structure

What You'll Achieve

You'll break down all features into implementable tasks: epics → stories → tasks, with estimates and dependencies.

The outcome: A complete work breakdown structure (WBS) that guides all development work.

The Breakdown Hierarchy

CopyEpic (Large feature, 4-8 weeks)
  └─ Feature (User-facing capability, 1-2 weeks)
      └─ Story (Implementable unit, 2-5 days)
          └─ Task (Specific work, 2-8 hours)

Example:

CopyEpic: User Authentication (4 weeks)
  └─ Feature: Email/Password Login (1 week)
      ├─ Story: User Registration (2 days)
      │   ├─ Task: Create registration API endpoint (4 hours)
      │   ├─ Task: Implement password hashing (2 hours)
      │   └─ Task: Add email validation (3 hours)
      └─ Story: User Login (2 days)
          ├─ Task: Create login API endpoint (4 hours)
          ├─ Task: Implement JWT token generation (2 hours)
          └─ Task: Add session management (3 hours)

Estimation: Story Points vs. Hours

Story Points (Relative Estimating):

• Measures complexity and effort, not time
• Fibonacci sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21
• 1 point = simple task (well-understood, low risk)
• 13 points = complex task (unknowns, dependencies, risk)
• Team velocity = points completed per sprint
• Use after team has established velocity

Hours (Absolute Estimating):

• Measures actual time required
• Use for new teams (no velocity history)
• Use for critical tasks (must be precise)
• More accurate but more time-consuming

Planning Poker:

• Team-based estimation technique
• Each team member estimates independently
• Discuss outliers, re-estimate
• Builds consensus and shared understanding

Real Example: A team estimated a "user search" feature at 8 points. During planning poker, one developer estimated 13 points because they knew the search algorithm was complex. The discussion revealed the complexity, and the team agreed on 13 points. Without planning poker, they would have underestimated and missed their sprint commitment.

---

Step 2: Resource Planning

What You'll Achieve

You'll identify required skills, assess current capabilities, and plan resource allocation.

The outcome: A resource plan that ensures you have the right people to build the product.

Skills Gap Analysis

The Situation: A team planned their project without a DevOps engineer.

What Happened:

• Developers spent 30% of their time on deployment tasks
• No automated testing (tests were manual, slow)
• Deployments were risky (manual process, frequent failures)
• Productivity suffered (constant context switching)

The Fix: They hired a DevOps contractor for 3 months to:

• Set up CI/CD pipeline
• Automate testing and deployment
• Train developers on DevOps practices

The Result:

• Developer productivity increased by 40%
• Deployment time decreased from 2 days to 30 minutes
• Deployment failures decreased by 80%

The Cost: $30K for DevOps contractor The Savings: $120K in developer time + 2 months of schedule

---

Step 3: Risk Management Planning (Week 3)

What You'll Achieve

You'll identify risks, assess probability and impact, and define mitigation strategies.

The outcome: A risk register that anticipates and prevents problems.

Common Technical Risks and Mitigations

The Situation: A team was building a product that depended on a third-party payment API.

Risk Identified: "Payment API could change or be deprecated"

Mitigation Implemented:

• Built abstraction layer around payment API
• Implemented fallback to alternate payment provider
• Contractually required API provider to notify of changes
• Budgeted time for API migration

What Happened: 6 months into development, the payment API announced deprecation.

Because of Risk Planning:

• Switched to fallback provider in 1 week
• No user-facing downtime
• No emergency scramble (mitigation was already implemented)

The Cost: adequate development for abstraction layer The Savings: extended emergency rework + user churn

---

Step 4: Quality & Test Planning

What You'll Achieve

You'll define quality metrics, test strategy, coverage targets, and defect management process.

The outcome: A comprehensive test plan that ensures quality from Day 1.

Test Strategy Components

Team A (No Test Planning):

• "We'll add tests later when we have time"
• Tests were added after features were complete
• Testing became a bottleneck before releases
• Quality suffered (bugs found in production)
• Releases were delayed (testing took longer than planned)

Team B (Test Planning):

• Tests planned with every feature
• Test cases written before code (TDD)
• Automated tests in CI/CD pipeline
• Quality high (bugs found early)
• Releases on schedule (testing was automated)

The Difference: Team B shipped 2x faster with 50% fewer production bugs. Planning tests = having tests.

---

Step 5: Sprint 0 - Setup and Onboarding

What You'll Achieve

You'll set up development environments, CI/CD pipeline, and onboard the team.

The outcome: A fully operational development environment and a team ready to code on Day 1.

Sprint 0 Checklist

Development Environment:

• ☐ Local development environment documented
• ☐ Docker containers for local development
• ☐ Database seeds and sample data
• ☐ API documentation available locally
• ☐ Coding standards documented

CI/CD Pipeline:

• ☐ Source code repository created (Git/GitHub/GitLab)
• ☐ CI/CD pipeline configured (build, test, deploy)
• ☐ Automated testing integrated
• ☐ Code coverage reporting configured
• ☐ Security scanning integrated (SAST, SCA)
• ☐ Deployment automation (dev, staging, prod)

Project Management:

• ☐ Backlog created and prioritized
• ☐ Sprint planning completed for Sprint 1
• ☐ burndown charts and velocity tracking configured
• ☐ Communication channels set up (Slack/Teams)

Team Onboarding:

• ☐ Architecture walkthrough completed
• ☐ Development environment setup for each team member
• ☐ Pair programming sessions for knowledge transfer
• ☐ Coding standards reviewed
• ☐ Definition of Done agreed upon

The Situation: A team invested 3 weeks in Sprint 0.

What They Did:

• Set up complete development environments (Docker, local DB, sample data)
• Configured CI/CD pipeline with automated testing and deployment
• Created comprehensive onboarding documentation
• Conducted pair programming sessions for complex architecture
• Ran a "fake sprint" to test the entire workflow

The Result:

• Day 1 of Sprint 1: Every developer was productive
• No environment setup issues (all resolved in Sprint 0)
• Team velocity stabilized quickly (no learning curve during active development)
• Zero deployment surprises (pipeline was tested and proven)

The Investment: 3 weeks of Sprint 0 The Payback: extended productivity gained (no setup delays, no deployment issues)

---

Quality Gates: Before You Move to Phase 5

Completing this phase means you're fully prepared to start development.

Exit Criteria Checklist

• ☐ Work breakdown structure completed (every feature broken down to tasks)
• ☐ Resource plan approved (right people, right roles, right time)
• ☐ Risk register created (risks identified, mitigations defined)
• ☐ Quality and test plan approved (test strategy, coverage targets defined)
• ☐ Security and compliance plan approved (controls, testing, audit readiness)
• ☐ CI/CD pipeline designed (build, test, deploy automation planned)
• ☐ Sprint 0 completed successfully (environments ready, team onboarded)
• ☐ Development environment ready (every developer can be productive Day 1)
• ☐ Team onboarded (everyone understands architecture, standards, expectations)
• ☐ Go/no-go decision documented (explicit decision to proceed to Phase 5)

---

Phase Completion: Celebrate Your Progress

You've accomplished something significant:

Transformed architecture into actionable tasks Planned resources and identified gaps Anticipated and mitigated risks Built quality and security into the plan Set up efficient development infrastructure Onboarded a team ready to build

Next up: Phase 5, where development begins. Thanks to your planning, your team will start development with clarity and confidence.

---

Previous Phase: Phase 3: Architecture & Design Next Phase: Phase 5: Development Execution

---

Version: 2.0.0 (Expert Mentor Edition) Reviewed By: OCTALUME EXPERT MENTOR TEAM

---

Proper planning prevents poor performance. You've planned properly. Time to build.

---

Version 1.0.0 | OCTALUME Enterprise Lifecycle Framework