There are many facets to initiating a project according to the PMBOK.  Questions like, “Should we do this project?” and “Will we be able to deliver results?” all need to be answered.  To answer these questions we need to run the core process of this step, Scope Initiation.  The Scope Initiation process has, as do most PMBOK processes, Inputs, Tools and Techniques and Outputs.  Inputs include things like the product or service description, statement of work, strategic plan and historical information.  The Tools and Techniques include things like project selection methods and expert judgment. Finally, the Outputs are the Project Charter and the Preliminary Project Scope Statement.  I will examine the relevance of these documents in Agile Management one at a time.  Additionally, given the fractal nature of Agile development, this step can be used at the release level or at the individual iteration level.

The Project Charter is used to authorize the project and document its business need.  In Agile this step is very important as it helps create a unifying vision for the product or service.  It is easy in an Agile environment to lose track of the original intent, this document can help remind the team of what and why of the project.

The Project Scope Statement defines the deliverable requirements, boundaries of the product or service, methods of acceptance, etc.  This statement is present either implicitly or explicitly in most modern Agile methodologies and is usually represented by one or more artifact.

Agile correlation for these two documents are shown below.