Planning the Sprint

Sprint planning is the process of determining which product backlog items can be completed during the sprint. The team discusses each of the potential work items for the upcoming sprint. Unless a new priority item has come up just before spring planning that as not been groomed, the team should be familiar with the work item, and discussion can begin with a brief refresher of the details of the story. New priority items may require a more detailed discussion.

Make sure to consider any of the lessons learned from the previous sprint retrospective as you begin planning the new sprint. Whether those lessons learned are related to mistakes made in sizing tasks or to how the team can work more efficiently, they should be top of mind as your plan your upcoming sprint.

Who Attends Sprint Planning?

The entire scrum team attends sprint planning, including the product owner, scrum master, and development team. The product owner provides information on the highest priority backlog items that should be considered as potential work items for the sprint and proposes the sprint goal.

With the product owner, the team discusses the amount of work that can be completed during the sprint. The scrum master facilitates the discussion of the work items. The amount of work that can be completed depends on the complexity of the items, the team’s velocity, and the team members’ availability.

If a team member is not available for sprint planning (due to illness, vacation, etc.), you should continue with sprint planning at the regularly scheduled time. The rest of the team should have enough information about the user stories and the team’s velocity to determine how many of the priority items can be completed in the sprint. Even if the product owner is not available, the team should have enough information from backlog grooming sessions to be able to plan the sprint. Absent team members can provide feedback upon their return, if they feel that mistakes were made in scoping projects.

When Do You Plan the Sprint?

Generally, spring planning occurs on the first day of the sprint. You will want to have a regularly scheduled time and place for the meeting to ensure that the team can attend. Some teams choose to start their sprints first thing on Monday morning on the first day of the sprint. That seems reasonable, as that gives your team the maximum amount of time to work on your tasks. However, if you allow you team some amount of flexibility in their arrival time or simply have issues with individuals being about to focus first thing on a Monday morning, you certainly can schedule your sprint planning meeting for a little later in the morning and allow you team to get ready to talk about tasks after they have had a chance to catch up on emails and have a cup of coffee (or two).

How Long Does Planning Take?

Sprint planning takes approximately 1 to 2 hours to complete for every week of the sprint. So, for a two-week sprint, planning should take 2 to 4 hours. The duration may vary depending on the experience of your team and how well you have groomed your backlog. Highly functioning Scrum teams may be able to complete planning in almost half of the time. Planning may take longer if your team needs to spend time developing a better understanding of backlog items before they can assign story points and/or you have stories that you must split so that they are small enough to be completed within the sprint.