Fortnightly — Route Planning
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Duration: 60 minutes Facilitator: Engineering lead + Product lead (jointly) When: Every two weeks, ideally early in the week (replaces sprint planning)
Purpose
Shape the next 2–4 weeks of work. Decide what needs a Preview before we commit to Build. Slice upcoming work into meaningful, landable chunks.
This is a boat-level shaping session. Cross-boat dependencies, shared platform trade-offs, and risks spanning multiple boats should be surfaced here, then handled in Fleet Sync rather than solved by expanding Route Planning.
Route Planning is also the main promotion point from the unshaped backlog into the shaped queue.
Before the Meeting (Facilitator, 15 min prep)
- Review Landing Log from the past 2 weeks — what’s the mix?
- Pull the unshaped backlog of candidate work (roadmap, customer requests, platform needs, engineering observations, leadership asks)
- Note any Previews that were parked and might be worth revisiting
- Check capacity: holidays, known absences, ongoing Run load
Script
| Time | Activity | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 min | Landing mix review | Look at the last 2–4 weeks. Balanced across types? Any type missing that should be present? Platform-heavy by accident? |
| 10–25 min | Incoming work | What’s coming from roadmap, customer needs, platform needs? Product and Engineering share context. |
| 25–40 min | Preview or Build? | For each incoming item: do we know enough to Build, or does it need a Preview first? Assign Preview type (Discovery/Demo) where needed. |
| 40–55 min | Slice into Landings | For Build candidates: what’s the smallest meaningful Landing? Can we slice vertically so value reaches a beneficiary sooner? For big bets, what are the next partial Landings over the next 2–4 weeks? |
| 55–60 min | Capacity & risks | Holidays, dependencies, known spikes in Run. Adjust expectations accordingly. |
Outputs
- A shaped queue of Preview and Build candidates for the next 2–4 weeks
- Non-urgent work promoted from the unshaped backlog into the shaped queue only if it has been reviewed here
- Each item tagged: needs Preview / ready for Build / blocked on [X]
- Upcoming Build work sliced into landable increments
- Landing mix acknowledged — course-correct if needed
- Capacity risks flagged
- Cross-boat issues captured for Fleet Sync when needed
Key Questions to Ask
- “Do we know enough to build this, or are we guessing?”
- “What’s the smallest version that would be meaningful to someone?”
- “If we can only land one thing from this list in the next two weeks, which one?”
- “Is there anything here that Sales needs a Demo Preview for before we commit?”
- “What Run work are we expecting — does it change what we can take on?”
- “If this is a big bet, what are the partial Landings that keep it visible and steerable?”
Anti-Patterns
- Don’t turn Route Planning into detailed task breakdown. Do shape and slice without decomposing into subtasks.
- Don’t plan more than 4 weeks ahead in detail. Do shape near-term work and sketch the rest.
- Don’t skip the question of whether something needs a Preview. Do use that question to avoid building the wrong thing.
- Don’t let Product or Engineering dominate. Do keep it a joint shaping session.
- Don’t ignore Run load when planning capacity. Do adjust expectations if Run is eating a meaningful share of time.
- Don’t commit to everything discussed. Do remember this is shaping; Monday Set Course is where weekly commitment happens.
- Don’t try to solve every cross-boat dependency in the room. Do surface it, name it, and take it to Fleet Sync when it crosses boat boundaries.
- Don’t pull unshaped work straight into Build mid-cycle. Do put it through the unshaped backlog first unless it is urgent enough for Run or the exception protocol.