Short answer
Delivery planning assesses how technical outcomes become sequenced work with visible dependencies, risks, and checkpoints.
About Delivery planning
The ability to break technical outcomes into sequenced work with clear dependencies, risks, milestones, and evidence of progress.
Use this competency for
- Roles that plan or coordinate technical work beyond a single immediate task.
- Functions where dependencies and uncertainty can change delivery order or timing.
Do not use this competency for
- Roles that only execute fully sequenced tasks and have no responsibility for planning them.
Important distinctions
Project management
Project management may cover budget, staffing, and stakeholder process. Delivery planning focuses on sequencing technical work and uncertainty.
System design
System design chooses technical structures. Delivery planning turns the chosen outcome into executable, ordered work.
Expectations by level
IC1
Individual contributor 1
Plans a scoped assignment with guidance, identifies immediate dependencies, and updates progress when evidence changes the expected path.
Observable behaviors
- Breaks assigned work into reviewable steps.
- Names a blocker before it stops the next step.
- Updates the estimate when a discovered condition changes scope.
Examples
- Split a feature into data, service, and interface changes that could be reviewed separately.
- Flagged a missing test environment before it blocked final verification.
IC2
Individual contributor 2
Independently plans a multi-step team delivery with unclear details, sequencing dependencies and adding checkpoints for the largest risks.
Observable behaviors
- Identifies the critical dependency and its owner.
- Orders work to test uncertain assumptions early.
- Replans from delivery evidence rather than preserving an outdated date.
Examples
- Built a migration plan that validated reads before switching writes.
- Moved a prototype earlier to test an external limitation before committing the full build.
IC3
Individual contributor 3
Frames and coordinates delivery across teams, resolves sequencing conflicts, and creates a plan others can update without hidden context.
Observable behaviors
- Defines cross-team milestones by verifiable outcomes.
- Makes ownership and dependency handoffs explicit.
- Uses checkpoints to change scope or sequence before a missed outcome.
Examples
- Sequenced a shared platform change so each team could release independently.
- Reworked a cross-team plan after an early load test invalidated the original rollout order.