Stop 07 · Agile, Execution & DeliveryTopics · 3/12

Sprint Planning

In short

Sprint planning decides what the team will actually finish in the next sprint. A PM who walks in prepared makes it a 45-minute meeting instead of a three-hour argument.

The ceremony where a team commits to a specific, scoped set of work for the upcoming sprint — the PM's job is to walk in with a prioritized, well-groomed backlog, not decide priority in the room.

The purple blob packs a small trolley suitcase, choosing a few items from a pile on the bed.

Think of it like this

Packing a cabin bag

Your cabin bag has a weight limit. You can't take everything on the bed, so you pick what matters most for the trip and leave the rest. Sprint planning is packing: capacity is the limit, priorities pick the items.

Watch it happen

Filling a 20-point sprint

Order history 5

Push alerts 5

Dark mode 3

Referral 8

1/5The backlog is already in priority order. The team's capacity this sprint is about 20 points.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Start with a sprint goal

One sentence on what this sprint achieves. It helps the team make trade-offs mid-sprint.

Plan to real capacity

Subtract holidays, on-call duty and exam leave before filling the sprint.

Ready items only

Stories should be refined and estimated before planning, not during it.

Team commits, not the PM

The PM brings priorities; the developers decide how much they can take on.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Filling the sprint to 120% "to be ambitious".

Do this instead

Plan near past velocity. Overcommitting trains everyone to ignore the plan.

Oops

Bringing unrefined stories and discussing details for hours.

Do this instead

Refine in backlog grooming earlier so planning is just choosing and committing.

Your mission

Plan a mock sprint

~25 min

Quick check

The team averaged 20 points in recent sprints, but two of five developers are on leave next sprint. What's a sensible plan?

Go deeper

1Practice writing a prioritized backlog of 10 items before a hypothetical planning session.
2Learn the difference between a team's capacity and its velocity.
3Understand why re-prioritizing mid-sprint should be rare, not routine.