Agile/Scrum resource planning cross projects

Question

We have different steps in our planning for online webprojects:

1) Information Architecture

• Provides user stories
• Provides wireframes

2) Design

• Use Wireframes to develop a nice design

3) Development

4) Testing

I know that working agile asks for dedicated teams. But it is impossible to have a dedicted IA until the end of the project. Because the projects are small developers are working in different teams. How do you plan resources when you know 50 small projects and 20 new projects are using different resources?

And is there a useful tool that can assist in this?

Answer 1

The situation where an IA (or a UI designer or anyone else for that matter) could not be committed for the whole length of the project is quite common.

However with Agile the problem is easily resolved: commit a resource for the length of the iteration where he is needed. I.e. if you need an architect for a spike or for a particular user story make sure that she could work with your team for the length of that iteration when the user story will be implemented. Later on if you will need her again do the same thing.

If your iteration is too long for that approach try committing the resource for the length of a particular user story or a spike only.