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Have you ever been in a sprint planning meeting that drags on and doesn’t produce anything? I know. I want to change that.
Sprint planning is an important ceremony that teams should conduct to create great work.
This article will discuss this meeting and provide some tips for making your next agile sprint planning meeting more efficient and effective.
We’ll cover:
Download a sprint planning template
What is a sprint planning meeting?
Why you should hold a sprint planning meeting
How to host a sprint planning meeting
You will have more information to make a greater impact at your next sprint planning meeting. Let’s get started.
Sprint Planning Meeting Agenda Template
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What is a Sprint Planning Meeting?
Sprint planning meetings are one of the Scrum ceremonies that teams use to mark when work “begins and ends.” How will we accomplish this work?
Simply put, the sprint planning meeting should establish structure, set expectations, define the backlog, and provide clarity for the upcoming sprint.
These meetings involve many people, and it is a collaborative effort. Let’s look at what each role does.
The three roles of a scrum master, product owner, and development team are:
The ScrumMaster
The ScrumMaster facilitates sprint planning meetings and ensures that meeting rooms and supplies are available, people are prepared, video conferencing details are in place, and that everyone is ready to go. The ScrumMaster should timebox this meeting according the length of the sprint. If the sprint planning meeting is for a team that works in two-week sprints, it should last between 2-4 hours. To ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the sprint goal, the ScrumMaster must be able to manage their time well.
The Product Owner
The Product Owner is responsible to ensure that all items in the backlog have been prepared for the meeting. They should clarify the details of each product backlog item, and provide support to the team when they have questions about acceptance criteria or use case. This meeting is undoubtedly the most important for Product Owners and one they should make sure to prepare well.
The Development Team
The people who are actually doing the work should be present at the sprint planning meeting. Designers, developers, tester engineers–anyone who will be contributing to the work product -must be present and actively participate in the meeting. This will allow them to leave with a solid understanding about what they are expected to do and the priority areas to focus on in the next sprint.
Remember that sprint planning is something that teams improve with time. A team that is new to agile may not have the same understanding of how much can be done in each sprint. We’ll discuss how to calculate velocity later. This is a skill that mature teams are better at. Agile is a process that allows for continuous improvement. So, don’t be discouraged if your first sprint planning meeting didn’t go as planned.
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