Work with the team to refine the iteration objectives found in the  Project Plan, and document them in the  Iteration Plan in order to provide high-level direction to what should be targeted for the iteration. The objectives should be driven based on  Stakeholder priorities, and will be revised as the iteration plan is finalized. Those objectives are usually defined as high-level capabilities or scenarios that need to be implemented and tested during the iteration in order to deliver increased value to the customer.

The  Project Manager works with the rest of the team, and especially the project stakeholders, to identify the high-priority work items from the  Work Items List to be addressed. The high-level objectives provide guidance on what work items should be considered. The  Iteration Plan  from previous iteration should include an assessment of the results and can also be used as input to the current iteration planning. The team reviews its velocity and determines the amount of work that can be done within the iteration. The team breaks down into tasks those work items that are assigned to the iteration and estimates the effort to complete each task (see  Guideline: Agile Estimation). Typical tasks range from half day to two days in lenght.

When a team has decided to take on a work item, it will assign the work to one or several team members. Ideally, this is done by team members signing up to do the work, since this makes people motivated and committed to doing the job, but based on culture, you may instead have the project manager assign the work.

Throughout the project, new assumptions and concerns may arise. The team identifies and prioritizes new risks as part of iteration planning, updating the  Risk List. Responses to risks are added to the  Work Items List, influencing the work that is being planned for that iteration.

Each iteration should include testing as a part of the evaluation, and the test objectives and test cases that need to be detailed. Other evaluation criteria may include successful demonstrations to key stakeholders, or favorable usage by a small group of target users. Document evaluation criteria in the  Iteration Plan.