Plan Your Release by Fixing Time and Flexing Scope

At a fast-growing SaaS startup, the leadership insisted on delivering a major integration by the annual user conference. Teams had 16 weeks, but the product backlog kept growing. Each sprint review revealed two new “must-haves” and dozens of bugs. The burndown chart zig-zagged but never hit zero.

Their CTO stepped in: “We fix the date, not the feature set.” They recalculated a conservative sprint velocity based on the last three sprints, plotted a burndown, and forecasted eight sprints out. The trend missed the conference by two sprints. Instead of begging for an extension, the Product Owner led a priority cut—dropping low-value themes and moving some integrations to the next release. The team rallied around a clear, achievable goal.

Four sprints later, they demoed a polished core integration. Users cheered at the conference, and the startup signed three enterprise deals on stage. The missing features arrived two months later, but the market impact was already in motion.

By fixing time and flexing scope, they turned an impossible schedule into a clear plan. Lean planning, anchored by burndown and velocity forecasting, keeps teams accountable and stakeholders aligned. When you show up on your launch date with a meaningful release, you build credibility and momentum that no missed deadline can match.

You’ll declare your launch window, calculate a realistic sprint velocity, and sketch a simple burndown chart on a whiteboard. When the trend line falls short, you’ll lead a quick scope-trimming workshop to align everyone around what really matters. Try it in your next review meeting.