Part of The GreenBox Story — a standalone reference for the full series.
Planning is discovery at a longer time horizon. The same techniques the GreenBox team uses to understand what to build also tell them when to build it, in what order, and how to connect daily work to yearly strategy. This is the one-page reference.
The onion
Each layer of planning answers a different question, operates on a different cadence, and uses different techniques. The outer layers change slowly. The inner layers change fast. Each inner layer should be able to explain how it connects to the layer outside it.
Layer by layer
| Layer | Cadence | Question | Techniques | GreenBox post |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vision | Rarely (trigger-based) | Why do customers hire us? What business are we in? | JTBD, Business Model Canvas | From Weekly Habits to Yearly Vision |
| Year | Annual | What does success look like in 12 months? | Impact Mapping, Assumption Mapping, BMC refresh | From Weekly Habits to Yearly Vision |
| Quarter | Quarterly | What bets are we making? What themes for each squad? | Impact Mapping, Wardley Mapping, Now/Next/Later | What Changes First, Two Squads, One Direction |
| Sprint | Fortnightly | What are we delivering, and have we understood it well enough? | Example Mapping, ensemble programming, threat modelling | The First Sprints |
| Day | Daily | What am I working on and is it the right approach? | Standups, assumptions check, Cynefin | The First Sprints |
How the layers evolve with scale
The planning onion grows as the organisation grows. You don’t need all layers on day one.
| Team size | Layers you need | GreenBox moment |
|---|---|---|
| 1-5 people | Day + Sprint | The First Sprints — 5 people, first sprint cadence, tracking progress to 200 subscribers |
| 5-10 people | + Quarter | What Changes First — 5 people, too many insights, need to prioritise what to act on first |
| 10-25 people, multiple teams | + Cross-team quarterly | Two Squads, One Direction — 15 people, 2 squads, dependencies surprise everyone |
| 25+ people, multiple teams | + Year + Vision | From Weekly Habits to Yearly Vision — 25 people, 3 squads, great habits but no shared strategy |
Key principles
Planning isn’t predicting. Quarterly themes aren’t commitments to ship specific features. They’re commitments to pursue specific outcomes. When discovery and plan conflict, discovery wins.
Each layer wraps the ones inside it. A sprint goal should connect to the quarterly theme. A quarterly theme should connect to the yearly Impact Map. If a piece of work can’t trace a line back to a higher layer, ask why it’s being done.
Start with the layer you’re missing. If your team has great daily habits but no sprint rhythm, add sprints. If you have sprints but no quarterly themes, add quarterly planning. Don’t build all five layers at once.
Planning is discovery at a longer time horizon. Event Storming makes domain assumptions visible. Sprint planning makes delivery assumptions visible. Quarterly planning makes strategic assumptions visible. It’s the same muscle, used at different scales.
Estimate at the layer that needs it. Sprint stories don’t need formal estimates — gut feel at five people is fine. Roadmap items need t-shirt sizes (S/M/L) so stakeholders know the rough scale. Board-level forecasts need throughput data — how many stories per sprint, how many sprints of work remain. Each layer gets the precision it needs and no more.
| Layer | Estimation approach | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint | Gut feel (“does this feel like a sprint?”) | Small team, shared context, conversation beats ceremony |
| Quarter | T-shirt sizing (S/M/L) | Stakeholders need rough scope; squads need to coordinate dependencies |
| Year | Throughput forecasting (stories/sprint x sprints remaining) | Board needs credible ranges, not false precision |
The GreenBox planning rhythm
| Cadence | What happens | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Standup + assumptions check | 15 min |
| Fortnightly | Sprint planning (with quarterly theme connection) | 1 hour |
| Fortnightly | Sprint review / demo | 30 min |
| Fortnightly | Sprint retrospective (process, team dynamics, technical debt) | 90 min |
| Monthly | Impact Map check, customer interview synthesis | 30 min |
| Quarterly | Quarterly planning day (review, update Impact Map, set themes, map dependencies) | Half day |
| Quarterly | Quarterly retrospective (strategic drift, cross-team coordination, theme outcomes) | 1 hour |
| Annual | Strategy refresh, Impact Map rebuild, Assumption Mapping | Half day |
| Annual | Yearly retrospective (business assumptions, market shifts, what we’d do differently) | 1 hour |
Every planning layer needs its own feedback loop. Sprint retros catch process issues within a squad. Quarterly retros catch coordination failures between squads. Yearly retros catch assumptions about the business itself. Same discipline at every scale: reflect, learn, adjust.
Related references
- The GreenBox Cheat Sheet — every discovery and delivery technique in one place
- The GreenBox Story — the full series from first idea to scaled operation