Sprint Planning

Facilitate effective sprint planning sessions to select work, estimate capacity, and achieve team commitment for sprint success.

When to Use This Skill

• Beginning each sprint
• Planning iteration work
• Estimating capacity
• Selecting user stories
• Setting sprint goals
• Committing to deliverables
• Identifying dependencies
• Aligning team

Core Concepts

1. Sprint Planning Agenda

Part 1: What (1-2 hours)

• Review sprint goal
• Review product backlog
• Select stories for sprint
• Estimate and commit

Part 2: How (1-2 hours)

• Break down stories into tasks
• Identify dependencies
• Assign work
• Confirm sprint capacity

2. Capacity Calculation

## Team Capacity

| Member | Days Available | Hours/Day | Capacity | Focus Factor | Effective |
|--------|----------------|-----------|----------|--------------|-----------|
| Alice  | 10             | 6         | 60       | 0.7          | 42        |
| Bob    | 8 (2 days off) | 6         | 48       | 0.7          | 34        |
| Carol  | 10             | 6         | 60       | 0.7          | 42        |

**Team Capacity**: 118 hours
**Sprint Points Capacity**: ~47 points (based on velocity)

3. Sprint Goal

**Sprint Goal**: Enable users to manage their profile and preferences

**Stories in Sprint**:
- As a user, I want to update my profile information
- As a user, I want to change my password
- As a user, I want to set email preferences
- As a user, I want to upload profile picture

**Success Criteria**:
- All 4 stories completed
- No critical bugs
- Demo ready

Best Practices

1. Time-box the meeting – 2-4 hours for 2-week sprint
2. Define sprint goal – Clear, focused objective
3. Calculate capacity – Account for vacation, meetings
4. Select priority stories – From top of backlog
5. Ensure understanding – Team knows acceptance criteria
6. Break down work – Stories to tasks
7. Team commits – Not imposed commitment
8. Document plan – Sprint backlog visible

Resources

• Scrum Guide: Sprint planning ceremony
• Planning Poker: Estimation technique