Sprint / Iteration Planning

We use this to set the team up for success with clear goals and expectations so that we can all be on the same page about what the iteration is trying to achieve.

Overview

Sprint Planning is the first action in the sprint and sets it up for success.

The whole Scrum team, plus relevant stakeholders and SMEs, should collaborate in this ceremony.

Input

• Availability

  • Number of days in the sprint

  • Team members leave or not sprint-related commitments

• Capability

  • Team velocity

  • The skills required to deliver a Story

• Constraints, issues and risks

  • Anything that could block or delay the sprint

  • Any dependencies from other teams

• Product Backlog

  • Unfinished work from the previous sprint that is still a priority

    • Can be pushed to the Sprint Backlog and reviewed during the planning

  • Action points from Sprint Retrospective

    • It is recommended only to add action points that will affect the velocity of the board.

  • Product Backlog Items, preferably in order of priority

• Quarterly roadmap

  • PO reinforces the bigger picture of how the items in Backlog relate to roadmap items.

Outputs

• Sprint goal

  • Why are we running this sprint

  • PO proposes a Sprint Goal that provides focus, and the team collaborate to finalise it

  • The sprint goal drives the decisions during the sprint

• Sprint backlog

  • A list of Stories done within the Sprint accomplishing the Sprint goal

  • The Scrum team refines the list to a comfortable level of confidence in delivering it

• Plan for the sprint - At least a plan of attack for the first half of the sprint

  • Break the stories further into daily tasks

  • Take into consideration extra time for cross-skilling

  • A good ballpark is to commit to what can be done in 8 days, assuming a day is used on Sprint Ceremonies and other meetings and another day for routine tasks and contingency.

Timebox

The Scrum Guide recommends 8 hours for a four weeks sprint, meaning up to four hours for a two weeks sprint. Instead of doing a long session and risk losing engagement as time passes, a better approach is to set up specific story elaboration sessions, removing story clarification, refinement and estimation from the sprint planning ceremony.

If all stories are "ready", meaning they are elaborated, refined, discussed, understood and estimated at the beginning of the Sprint Planning, the team can plan in an hour.

Roles and Responsibilities

Role	Responsibilities	Deliverables
Scrum Team	Commit to an increment to be delivered within the Sprint	Sprint Goal, Sprint Backlog, Sprint Plan
Development Team	Are intimate with the stories that are likely to be included in the sprint Collaborate to define the most efficient way to deliver the increment Understand the value the Sprint will achieve	Commitment to deliver the increment
Product Owner	Assure the Scrum Team understand the goal for the sprint Assure the Development Team understand the Stories Provides a refined set of stories ready for planning Identifies the business objective they ideally would like to see accomplished during the sprint.	Prioritised and elaborated Product Backlog Items
Scrum master	Assure the Scrum team is ready for Sprint Planning. Keep the ceremony on topic.	Scrum team ready to plan Safe environment
Subject Matter Expert	Provide support to clarify Stories. Confirm if the planned solution returns the expected value.

Agenda

Timebox (minutes)	Owner	Description
15	Scrum master	Confirm availability for the sprint Review the unfinished stories on the last sprint and close that sprint Review the retro action points and estimate them
30	Product Owner	Reminds the Scrum team about the Quarterly Goals Proposes the Sprint Goal and collaborate with the Scrum team to define the stories that will achieve the goal
60	Development Team	Collaborate to define a plan of attack, breaking down stories, highlighting possible blockers. Define commitment for the sprint
15	Development Team	Present the plan to the PO and SM
30	Scrum team	Review and fine-tune the plan Confidence vote Start the Sprint

References

Scrum Guide: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#sprint-planning