If planning for a large co-located 30+ development team is not enough to make you want to pull your hair out then try a 30+ development team located across several time zones, in places with different cultures and languages. Now, you’ve reached a level in the Agile planning game that would send most product owners running home to their mommies.
Planning is important for all projects, even agile ones. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen so many worthless plans that we’d like to throw planning out altogether. But let’s not give up yet. It is possible to create a project plan that looks forward six to nine months yet is accurate and useful.