Agile Planning For some, the agile movement represents an anarchistic reactionary approach to software development and management in general. They see no discernible planning process and cite the Agile Manifesto's statement that "responding to change" is preferable to "following a plan". The Manifesto and related materials say nothing about rejecting planning, only that the plan must be flexible and responsive. In Extreme Programming, a method endorsing self-organizing teams without project management, with the focus on such rapid development of software deliverables that planning seems to be a detriment, each iteration begins with what is called the "Planning Game" in which developers and customer meet to plan what is going to happen in the next iteration. In fact, all of the agile methods include as part of the process a planning session. The primary difference between the agile approach and traditional project management is that the agile approaches all include the entire team and the customer in the development of the plan, and most methods make that plan publicly viewable. All project management approaches state that the plan is a document that proves that planning has been done, and it is not written in stone. Upper Level Management wants the control and comfort of seeing a plan followed exactly and without variation. This is an issue of upper management, not the PMBOK or agile methods. Agile approaches simply state clearly and loudly that plans change. The methods make that change part of the process. Change is forced with every iteration or sprint completion whether successful or not. Upper Management buying in to an agile approach accepts the environment of constant change and realizes that an iterative, incremental approach to project management is the only way to accommodate that change.  ¶ 4:51 AM