Rolling Wave Planning
Updated 2026-08-13
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Rolling wave planning is a project management approach in which near-term work is planned in detail while far-term work is planned only roughly, and the plan is continuously refined as time passes. The scaffold is progressive elaboration: it admits that knowledge of the future is limited and refuses to over-plan a distant horizon whose details cannot yet be known.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Detail only what is near: spend precision where information actually exists. - Keep the far field loose: fix goals and rough ranges rather than dates. - Refine on a cadence: elaborate the next wave each time one completes.
Anchor fast decisions
Information about a project grows as the project advances, so planning effort spent on the far future is spent in ignorance and mostly must be redone. Deferring that detail to the moment it becomes knowable saves rework, while still holding a target so the near waves head in a coherent direction.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_breakdown_structureverified
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