Picking Sprint Items

The items for the sprint are selected from the list of product backlog items that have been prioritized by the product owner and that apply to the sprint goal. During sprint planning the team works with the product owner to determine how much work can be done. Although items for the sprint are generally taken from the top of the product backlog, lower priority items can be pulled into the sprint as a result of negotiations between the product owner and development team.

The team should select only those items that they believe can be completed within the sprint cycle based on the team’s capacity. Things to consider when consider the team’s capacity include:

• Who is available to work this sprint?
• Do team members have vacations during some or all of the sprint?
• Are there company holidays that fall during the sprint that effectively reduce the number of workdays in the sprint?

If you are just getting started with Agile development, you might be still be trying to understand how to understand how to break up tasks into small enough chunks that they can be completed in 2-3 weeks.

Transitioning to Agile requires a fundamental shift in how you do work, and that includes the work that you do to maintain your team. This may seem like a herculean task. If so, remember, the goal is not to “start doing Agile” perfectly in your first sprint or even in the next 20 sprints. The goal is to adapt an Agile mindset in the way you approach the work and your team. Embrace the change.