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Sprint Planning

Tips for running a successful planning session to kick off a sprint.

Why?​

It's the responsibility of all members of the sprint team to challenge why something is coming into the sprint, they should be asking questions like the following:

  • "Why are we working on this?"
  • "Is it worth it?"
  • "Will it add value?"
  • "is this ready to be worked on?"
  • "Is the problem we're trying to solve that much of a problem? How often does it happen?"

Product Owners/Managers are not infallible, there will always be work proposed in the sprint that doesn't quite meet the standard for the definition of ready, or maybe it's ready but the team don't think it's worth doing or won't provide a good enough ROI (return on investment).

% Confidence in Completing the Sprint​

At the end of sprint planning, when everything is tasked out and work items are ready to be picked up, try asking the following:

  • If you were to assign a % level of confidence we can complete everything in this sprint, what would that be?
    • 0% = no confidence, not a chance
    • 100% = Hell yeah, this will be easily doable

The idea of this question isn't to determine an exact measurement of confidence, it's more about the follow up conversation this triggers. Often you won't get 100%, and the key is to ask things like the following:

  • Why x%?
  • Why isn't it x%?
  • What do we need to change to get it from x% -> higher%?