Sprint Planning

Sprint Planning

Sprint planning answers two questions: what can we deliver this sprint, and how will we do it? This skill keeps planning focused, realistic, and fast.

Before planning: refine the backlog

Hold backlog refinement ahead of planning (mid-previous-sprint), so stories arrive ready:

• Each candidate story meets the Definition of Ready: clear, has acceptance criteria, estimated, dependencies known, small enough to finish in a sprint.
• Order the backlog by priority so the top is "next up".
• Split any story too big to fit a sprint.

Going into planning with an unrefined backlog is the #1 cause of bad sprints.

Step 1: Set the sprint goal

Start with a single sprint goal - a one-sentence objective the sprint serves (e.g. "Users can reset their password end to end"). The goal:

• Gives coherence and a reason to say no to scope creep.
• Lets the team make trade-offs mid-sprint without re-planning.

Step 2: Determine capacity

Don't plan to 100% - plan to realistic capacity:

For each member:
  available days in sprint
  - planned PTO / holidays
  - meetings / on-call / support overhead (~20-30%)
  = effective capacity

Use the team's recent velocity (avg points completed over last 3-4 sprints) as the anchor for how much to pull in. Adjust for capacity changes this sprint.

Step 3: Select and commit

• Pull stories from the top of the refined backlog until you reach capacity/velocity.
• For each, the team confirms it understands the work and acceptance criteria.
• The team commits to a forecast it believes is achievable - commitment is the team's, not imposed. Leave a small buffer for the unexpected.

Step 4: Break down into tasks

For committed stories, decompose into tasks (the "how"):

• Tasks are concrete steps ("write migration", "add endpoint", "QA flow").
• Surfacing tasks reveals hidden work and dependencies before the sprint starts.

Step 5: Flag risks and dependencies

Explicitly call out:

• Dependencies on other teams / external inputs - and their status.
• Unknowns that could blow up estimates.
• Single points of failure (only one person can do X).

Note a mitigation or owner for each risk. Risks named on day 1 are manageable; risks discovered on day 8 are fire drills.

Planning meeting checklist

• Sprint goal stated in one sentence.
• Capacity calculated, not assumed.
• Every committed story meets Definition of Ready.
• Stories broken into tasks.
• Risks and dependencies flagged with owners.
• Team genuinely believes the forecast is achievable.

Anti-patterns

• Planning to maximum capacity with no buffer - one surprise sinks the sprint.
• Committing to unrefined stories - they expand and derail the plan.
• A manager dictating scope - kills ownership and accuracy.
• No sprint goal - the sprint becomes a disconnected task list with no way to prioritize.