Introduction

You have a very experienced and talented team on board, yet you are still facing inefficiencies, and your goals are not achieved.

Did you ask yourself what is the reason behind this?

Creating a product and building a strong foundation for it requires Agile and Scrum methods, to which sprint planning acts as a backbone. In this detailed and thoroughly researched guide, all your ambiguities are going to get a satisfactory answer.

Learn how to have a proper structure of your progress, define objectives, distribute tasks, and refine your approach so that your team doesn't have to suffer. If you are new to agile and want to know about sprint planning, its purpose, key components, and best practices with efficient execution strategies, then you need to read till the end.

What Is Sprint Planning?

At the beginning of the sprint, the structured scrum event, which plays a vital role, is called sprint planning. This includes the scrum team, the owner of the product, the master of the scrum, and the developers; all of them collaboratively decide the trajectory of workflow for the upcoming sprint.

According to Scrum Adoption Statistics 2023 , the "most popular agile framework is Scrum, which is being used by companies as single agile methodology and hybrid methodology."

The agenda for their meeting is to set clear goals, redefine the scope of work, and importantly, break down the bigger tasks into smaller portions for a smooth workflow.

The following are the major components of sprint planning:

• Setting a Sprint Goal: A shared objective that guides the team's focus throughout the sprint.
• Selecting Work Items: Choosing product backlog items (PBIs) that align with the sprint goal.
• Developing an Execution Plan: Determining how the selected work will be completed efficiently.

This will help teams implement a foolproof sprint planning agenda to make sure the proper alignment, clarity, and dedication are there for delivering a functional product by the end of the sprint.

Who Attends Sprint Planning Meeting?

Sprint planning is a collaborative effort which involves:

1. Product Owner (PO):
Proposes the sprint goal and prioritizes backlog items.

2. Developers:
Select PBIs, plan execution, and estimate effort.

3. Scrum Master (SM):
Proposes the sprint goal and prioritizes backlog items.

Facilitates discussions, ensures adherence to Scrum principles, and helps remove impediments.

The Scrum team is the primary decision-making body, but other stakeholders may join if their opinions are needed to explain requirements or define priorities.

Timeboxing Sprint Planning

The sprint duration determines how long a sprint planning meeting should last.

The Scrum Guide states that the timebox shouldn't go over:

• 8 hours for a 4-week sprint
• 6 hours for a 3-week sprint
• 4 hours for a 2-week sprint
• 2 hours for a 1-week sprint

Timeboxing ensures efficiency by keeping discussions focused and actionable.

Step-by-Step Guide for Sprint Planning Best Practices

1. Define the Sprint Goal ("Why")

The team's objectives are clearly outlined in the sprint goal. It guarantees that the chosen work makes a prominent contribution at the end of the result. The team and the product owner work together to decide on this objective based on the following:

• Product backlog priorities
• Business needs and stakeholder feedback
• The latest product increment

Examples of sprint goals:

• "Develop user authentication with email and social login."
• "Improve homepage load time by 15%."

2. Select Product Backlog Items ("What")

After setting the sprint goal, the next step is identifying the backlog items (PBIs) that are aligned with it by the team. This process is effectively done by:

• Priority: Items ranked highest in the backlog.
• Team Capacity: Workload distribution based on availability.
• Past Performance: Velocity and past sprint metrics.
• Definition of Ready: Ensuring items are clear, actionable, and estimable.

3. Plan Task Execution ("How")

The team efficiently breaks down the backlog items into smaller chunks that are manageable by discussing the following:

• Dependencies between tasks
• Required effort (estimated in hours or story points)
• Assignment of tasks (self-assigned or collaboratively distributed)

Methods for effort estimation:

• Story Points: Relative complexity-based estimation. 
• T-Shirt Sizing: Classifying tasks as Small, Medium, or Large.
• Planning Poker: Team members vote on complex estimates. 

4. Capacity Planning 

In this phase, Scrum Master helps in planning that ensures that the team gets the workload that is more realistic to achieve by analyzing:

• Available working hours
• Team size and skill distribution
• Time allocation for non-development activities (e.g., stakeholder meetings, bug fixes)

5. Finalizing the Sprint Backlog

The team completes the sprint backlog, which is a detailed list of earlier selected PBIs and the tasks related to them, after sprint planning. The sprint backlog guarantees work allocation transparency and offers a sprint roadmap.

The interim CEO of Scrum Alliance says , "Scrum and agile methodology helps businesses in cutting down huge underlying expenses, boost productivity, and streamline workflow."

The question is, which of the following do you follow?

Best Practices for Effective Sprint Planning

1. Set Clear Goals in Advance

The sprint goals must be effectively defined before the sprint planning meeting so that the discussion is more relevant and streamlined. This will set a reasonable direction and focus.

2. Conduct Backlog Refinement Sessions

Well-defined backlog items help prevent last-minute changes and prioritization issues, which ultimately helps cut expenses and increase productivity.

3. Employ Estimates Driven by Data

Workload selection should be based on actual data and historical sprint velocity. Don't take on more than you can handle to avoid burnout and missing deadlines.

4. Promote Cooperation

Instead of being controlled by one person, sprint planning ought to be a collaborative effort. Better decisions and shared ownership of deliverables result from candid conversations.

5. Keep Your Scope Manageable

Steer clear of piling on too many chores during the sprint. High-quality work and long-term productivity are guaranteed by a targeted sprint backlog.

6. Divide Up Big Jobs

To enhance monitoring and execution, break up large backlog items into smaller, more manageable tasks.

7. Examine the input from earlier sprints.

Teams can improve their planning techniques and steer clear of reoccurring problems by using retrospective insights.

How To Measure Team Performance in Sprint

To measure the team's performance to see if the alignment of tasks is accurately done and the team is moving in the right direction. For this purpose, the Commit Done Ratio is recommended to use.

This helps the companies determine if the sprint plans are working as expected or if the team can bear more load or not.

There is a simple way to determine this: if the average commit-to ratio comes over 70% then it means that the sprint plans are being efficiently handled by the team. If this ratio exceeds 120% this shows that the team could take on more load without compromising the quality of the sprint planning agenda.

This can be better understood by looking at this graph.

FAQs

1. How do we decide what goes into a sprint?

What goes into the sprint is based on the following:

• Goals
• Backlog Items
• Capacity of Team
• Previous Performances

2. Can backlog items change during the sprint?

It's not done ideally, but if there are some last-minute shifts in priorities, then the team could do a re-evaluation of the sprint backlog provided with product owner's input.

3. How do we estimate effort accurately?

In making informed decisions, the team has certain things to do so by using estimation techniques like:

• Planning Poker
• Historically Velocity Analysis

Conclusion:

A successful and effective sprint begins with well-structured sprint planning. When executed properly, it enhances business efficiency, streamlines team efforts, and ensures continuous progress by fostering:

• Seamless collaboration
• Better alignment of team objectives
• Meaningful, measurable outcomes

With StaffViz, teams can optimize sprint planning, track progress in real time, and enhance productivity. By leveraging its powerful workforce management tools, businesses can ensure every sprint drives maximum efficiency, delivering high-quality results with precision.

Transform the way your team plans and executes sprints, start using StaffViz today.