Agile Business Analysis Initiative Horizon Planning 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A product team is debating whether to adopt a new AI-powered feature with uncertain ROI and a 3-year timeline. Which horizon framework category best applies?
- Horizon 1 — core feature
- Horizon 2 — emerging opportunity
- Horizon 3 — speculative bet (Correct answer)
- No horizon — defer indefinitely
Correct answer: Horizon 3 — speculative bet
A 3-year timeline with uncertain ROI and emerging technology places this squarely in Horizon 3 as a speculative innovation bet.
Question 2: Which metric is most useful for evaluating the health of Horizon 1 initiatives in a quarterly portfolio review?
- Number of experiments run
- Revenue, margin, and customer retention (Correct answer)
- Number of new markets entered
- Prototype conversion rate
Correct answer: Revenue, margin, and customer retention
Horizon 1 health is measured by business performance metrics like revenue, margin, and customer retention since it represents the core business.
Question 3: A BA is asked to define success criteria for a Horizon 2 initiative. Which type of measure is most appropriate?
- Net Promoter Score from existing customers
- Growth metrics such as new market share or adoption rate in emerging segments (Correct answer)
- Code coverage percentage
- Burn rate versus sprint budget
Correct answer: Growth metrics such as new market share or adoption rate in emerging segments
Horizon 2 success is measured by growth indicators like market share gains or adoption in new segments, reflecting its scaling purpose.
Question 4: When applying Agile principles to horizon planning, which practice best supports continuous reassessment of initiative horizons?
- Annual strategy reviews only
- Regular portfolio retrospectives with stakeholder input (Correct answer)
- Locking horizon assignments at project kickoff
- Delegating horizon decisions entirely to finance
Correct answer: Regular portfolio retrospectives with stakeholder input
Regular portfolio retrospectives allow teams to adapt horizon assignments as market conditions, assumptions, and results change.
Question 5: A startup BA uses horizon planning but has no Horizon 1 revenue yet. How should the model be adapted?
- Abandon horizon planning — it only works for large enterprises
- Treat the current MVP as Horizon 1 even if not yet profitable, to anchor near-term focus (Correct answer)
- Assign all initiatives to Horizon 3
- Use only Horizon 2 and ignore the others
Correct answer: Treat the current MVP as Horizon 1 even if not yet profitable, to anchor near-term focus
Startups can treat their MVP or primary product as their Horizon 1 anchor even before profitability, keeping the model relevant.
Question 6: Which statement about Agile and horizon planning is most accurate?
- Agile sprints eliminate the need for long-horizon thinking
- Agile enables fast learning within horizons while horizon planning sets strategic direction (Correct answer)
- Horizon planning conflicts with the Agile Manifesto
- Only Scrum teams benefit from horizon planning
Correct answer: Agile enables fast learning within horizons while horizon planning sets strategic direction
Agile's rapid iteration accelerates learning within each horizon, while horizon planning provides the strategic context for that work.
Question 7: A BA facilitating horizon planning notices that a Horizon 2 initiative has stalled for 18 months without progress. What should be recommended?
- Automatically promote it to Horizon 1
- Reassess its viability and either reinvest, pivot, or retire it (Correct answer)
- Move it to Horizon 3 to extend the timeline
- Continue as-is — Horizon 2 naturally takes longer
Correct answer: Reassess its viability and either reinvest, pivot, or retire it
Stalled initiatives should be explicitly reassessed; prolonged inaction often signals the need to pivot, find new approaches, or retire the investment.
Agile Business Analysis Initiative Horizon Planning 4
A product team is debating whether to adopt a new AI-powered feature with uncertain ROI and a 3-year timeline.
Which horizon framework category best applies?