CAPM Practice: Determine how to plan project iterations

An adaptive release plan is a probabilistic forecast — not a commitment — showing when groups of features (epics or stories) are likely to be ready based on current velocity and backlog size. It acknowledges uncertainty and is updated regularly as velocity data improves and the backlog evolves. It provides enough predictability for organizational planning without false precision.

**Why not A:** A release plan in adaptive projects is explicitly not a contractual commitment — it is a probabilistic forecast that acknowledges uncertainty. Treating it as a binding contract would undermine the agile principle of responding to change and could lock teams into outdated feature sets. Adaptive projects manage scope as a variable, not a fixed deliverable.

**Why not C:** While sprints do have specific planned items, the release plan operates at a higher level of abstraction and longer time horizon than a single sprint. Describing it as "exactly what will be delivered in each sprint" confuses sprint planning (which is more granular and short-term) with release planning (which covers multiple sprints and uses probabilistic language). Adaptive release plans intentionally avoid false precision.

**Why not D:** A release plan is a forward-looking planning artifact created and updated throughout the project, not a retrospective summary document produced at close. Waiting until project close to create such a document would eliminate its planning utility entirely. Release plans are living tools that evolve as velocity data accumulates and the backlog changes.