Int. J. Agile Systems and Management, Vol. 9, No. 4, 2016 269 Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Continuous planning through the three horizons of growth Tanja Suomalainen* VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., P.O. Box 1100, Kaitoväylä 1, Oulu, Finland Email: tanja.suomalainen@vtt.fi *Corresponding author Yueqiang Xu Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4600, Pentti Kaiteran Katu 1, FI-90014, Oulu, Finland Email: yueqiang.xu@oulu.fi Abstract: This study addresses the topic of continuous planning in the agile and lean software development context. The paper investigates how software companies can achieve various benefits by dividing their product development practices along the three horizons of growth. This approach allows software companies to have different product development and planning practices inside the company, thereby strengthening their positions in well-established businesses as well as creating growth in completely new businesses. Theoretically, the paper draws on the business literature of the three horizon model and on the literature of agile and lean software development. The empirical part is based on a case study with a leading Finnish software company. Altogether, 12 narrative interviews were conducted, involving people with various roles from product manager to chief strategy officer. The research presents a new approach towards continuous planning within multiple business horizons, to address common challenges in managing software product portfolios in different maturity phases. Keywords: continuous planning; continuous deployment; horizon model; lean; software development; agile; business; product; portfolio; strategy; product development. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Suomalainen, T. and Xu, Y. (2016) ‘Continuous planning through the three horizons of growth’, Int. J. Agile Systems and Management, Vol. 9, No. 4, pp.269–291. Biographical notes: Tanja Suomalainen received her MSc in Software Business from the University of Oulu in 2006. She has worked at VTT (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd.) since 2005. She started her career first as a research trainee and then after graduation as a Research Scientist. Currently, she is also a PhD student in the Faculty of Information Processing Science at University of Oulu, Finland. Her research interests include various topics related to software processes and planning, global software development, and requirements management and prioritisation. In her PhD thesis, she examines the change in planning practices in the context of agile and lean software development.