sprint planning
Sprint planning is an event in scrum that kicks off the sprint. The purpose of sprint planning is to define what can be delivered in the sprint and how that work will be achieved. Sprint planning is done in collaboration with the whole scrum team.
In scrum, the sprint is a set period of time where all the work is done. However, before you can leap into action you have to set up the sprint. You need to decide on how long the time box is going to be, the sprint goal, and where you're going to start. The sprint planning session kicks off the sprint by setting the agenda and focus. If done correctly, it also creates an environment where the team is motivated, challenged, and can be successful. Bad sprint plans can derail the team by setting unrealistic expectations.
- The What – The product owner describes the objective(or goal) of the sprint and what backlog items contribute to that goal. The scrum team decides what can be done in the coming sprint and what they will do during the sprint to make that happen.
- The How – The development team plans the work necessary to deliver the sprint goal. Ultimately, the resulting sprint plan is a negotiation between the development team and product owner based on value and effort.
- The Who – You cannot do sprint planning without the product owner or the development team. The product owner defines the goal based on the value that they seek. The development team needs to understand how they can or cannot deliver that goal. If either is missing from this event it makes planning the sprint almost impossible.
- The Inputs – A great starting point for the sprint plan is the product backlog as it provides a list of ‘stuff’ that could potentially be part of the current sprint. The team should also look at the existing work done in the increment and have a view to capacity.
- The Outputs – The most important outcome for the sprint planning meeting is that the team can describe the goal of the sprint and how it will start working toward that goal. This is made visible in the sprint backlog.
Running a great sprint planning event requires a bit of discipline. The product owner must be prepared, combining the lessons from the previous sprint review, stakeholder feedback, and vision for the product, so they set the scene for the sprint. For transparency, the product backlog should be up-to-date and refined to provide clarity. Backlog refinement is an optional event in scrum, because some backlogs don’t need it. However, for most teams, it’s better to get the team together to review and refine the backlog prior to sprint planning.
Sprint planning best practices
It is easy to get so bogged down in the details of sprint planning you forget that the focus of sprint planning is to build a ‘just enough’ plan for the next sprint. That plan shouldn’t become a monkey for the team’s back, instead, it should focus the team on valuable outcomes, and allow guardrails for self-organization. A good sprint plan motivates everyone by defining an outcome and a clear plan for success. But be careful planning too upfront. Instead of building the most complete, “every minute of the sprint is accounted for” sprint plan, focus on the goal and build enough of a sprint backlog to get started. Next, ensure that the product backlog is ordered to allow the team to pick up work if they delivered on the sprint goal early.
Sprint planning
When practicing scrum, the sprint planning meeting is held at the beginning of the sprint and is where teams identify what can be delivered in the sprint and how that work will be achieved. At the end of the planning meeting, every scrum member needs to be clear on what can be delivered in the sprint and how the increment can be delivered.
Attendees: Development team, scrum master, product owner
When: At the beginning of a sprint.
Duration: Usually around one hour per week of iteration. e.g. a two-week sprint kicks off with a two-hour planning meeting.
Agile framework: Scrum. (Kanban teams also plan, of course, but they are not on a fixed iteration schedule with formal sprint planning)
Purpose: Sprint planning sets up the entire team for success throughout the sprint. Coming into the scrum meeting, the product owner will have a prioritized product backlog. They discuss each item with the development team, and the group collectively estimates the effort involved. The development team will then make a sprint forecast outlining how much work the team can complete from the product backlog. That body of work then becomes the sprint backlog.