I spent two weeks last winter rewriting a release plan that nobody wanted to read. The result was not a faster launch; it was a calmer one, with every dependency named, every handoff dated, and every risky assumption pinned to the sheet.
The drawing is the decision
Teams often treat planning as a preface to the real work, a document to be escaped as soon as the sprint begins. That is backwards. A clear plan is the first artifact customers experience, because it decides what will be omitted, measured, delayed, and protected when pressure arrives.
Critical dimension: make the work inspectable before it becomes urgent.