Sprint Planning

2 phases to prepare for the next sprint

The Sprint Planning meeting is a timeboxed event, (usually 1 hour for each week of the sprint,) aimed at defining, designing and planning for the "Sprint Backlog".

Sprint Planning is often broken into 2 separate phases, phase 1 selects the stories the team will commit to delivering during the next sprint, while phase 2 focuses on the design of those stories, how they will be delviered and the tasks required to deliver them.

Sprint Planning (Phase 1)

Phase 1 of the planning meeting is when the Sprint Backlog is selected which also becomes the Sprint Commitment, which involves the team making a firm commitment to completing the stories selected.

Attendees

Process

At Sprint Planning, (Phase 1,) the team work with the Product Owner and invited SMEs to go through each story in the backlog in priority order to ensure the team has a good understanding of the requirements.

The Scrum Master will bring the latest understanding of the team's velocity, (averaged over the previous 5 iterations,) and any resource imacts planned in the next iteration, (annual leave, public holidays etc.)

As the team review each story, the number of "Story Points" is estimated based on relative complexity.

The team continue to work through the stories in the backlog until the total of their estimates, reaches their current velocity, those estimated, committed stories form the Sprint Backlog which becomes the team's commitment for the next sprint.

Outcome

The "Sprint Backlog" (the list of stories that will be delivered in the upcoming sprint.)

Sprint Planning (Phase 2)

Attendees

At Sprint Planning, (Phase 2,) the team work through the stories selected for the next sprint in the Sprint Planning, (Phase 1,) meeting defining the tasks necessary to deliver those stories and any design approaches they will take.

The Product Owner is included so that they can provide any further detail on what is required for each story and to agree or not to any compromises to business outcomes that may result in any design decisions that the team make.  Should a design choice lead to a compromise in the outcome, only the product owner can approve that design decision.

Process

Each story is again reviewed and design considerations discussed.

Task cards are created for each of the tasks that will be required in order to deliver on the story to the agreed design.

Estimates are assigned to each task card based on the amount of time required to complete that task.  While stories are estimated based on relative complexity, tasks are estimated based on time.

Outcome

The Sprint Backlog from Sprint Planning Phase 1 with design documented and all the tasks necessary for a successful delivery defined.