If the Agile Manifesto prefers responding to change over following a plan, it is not against planning. In this article, Raju Kidambi explains why it is important to use Scrum during the pre-project planning phase.
The core of the article is the presentation of the concept of sprints PQRS to do the pre-project planning. This concept divides the pre-project planning activities in four sprints. The sprint “P” focuses on planning resources, high level scope, cost and schedule. The sprint “Q” focuses quality assurance related activities. The sprint “R” focuses on risk management. The sprint “S” focuses on software and system specifications.
The main goal and the objectives of these sprints are presented in the article. The length of the PQRS sprints can be shorter than regular development sprints. The conclusion of the article is that “by adopting Scrum even at the pre-project stage, the team would understand Agile better and would start working better as a team.”
Read the complete article on http://www.scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2014/march/the-importance-of-pre-project-sprints