What is the sprint planning meeting and how is it implemented in Scrum Projects? When practising Scrum as an Agile Framework, there are 4 Meetings that are prescribed, which are understood as “Ceremonies”. The Sprint Planning Meeting is held at the start of a Sprint. Sprints are an Iteration of Work to be accomplished throughout the Project.

The Sprint Planning Meeting requires the Scrum Team to review the Work to be Done during the Sprint. During this meeting the team carry out Effort and Time Estimations of the planned work. The meeting involves all the Team members in these Estimations. The Planning Meeting both assists in Building Team Collaboration. It also enhances the capability of each Team member to accurately figure out the Complexity of User Stories, and the time needed for Tasks. Like all Scrum Ceremonies, the very first Planning Meeting carries the Highest Risk. Confidence levels improve with each Iteration (or Sprint).

The Participants in the Planning Meeting

The Sprint Planning Meeting normally has the following participants:-.

• The Scrum Product Owner. They are the business Representative and the steward of the Product Backlog. All the User Stories for the Scrum Project are held in the Product Backlog. The Product Owner will describe what the Project is and what it is not. The content of the Product Backlog is Prioritised by the Product Owner. It is expected that the Team will pick some, if not all, of the Highest Priority Stories. These stories are taken from the Product Backlog and placed in the Sprint Backlog.
• The Agile Scrum Master. They are the Coach for the Scrum and the authority on how Scrum Works. The Scrum Master plays an active Role in how the Meeting is conducted and for how long. They do not have a say in which Tasks ought to be chosen for the Sprint Backlog.
• The Scrum Development Team. The Team will choose which Work they wish to move from the Product Backlog to the Sprint Backlog. They are required to pick the ideal quantity of Work for an effective Sprint. This is their choice alone, and is based upon what they understand about the Project. They determine how Complex they believe each User Story or Feature will be to complete.
• Other attendees. In some cases other Stakeholders might be welcomed to attend as observers, however this is not the standard.

The Objectives of the Planning Meeting.

There are two primary outputs from a Sprint Planning Meeting.

The Sprint Goal is a short-term Goal that is limited to the anticipated outcomes of the Planned Sprint. It must be aligned with the Project Goal and the overall Product. However it is based on what the Deliverable will be from the Sprint. This is known as the Sprint Increment.

The Sprint Backlog. This is a Manageable portion of Work to be selected from the Product Backlog. Items should be selected based on their Priority. The Highest Priority Items are the most Complex and Risky Items that contribute to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The reason for tackling the highest priority Work first is that the Lowest Priority Items could possibly be removed from scope if the Project is due running out of time. While all Work in the Product Backlog is regarded as a Valuable to the MVP, these Items could be sacrificed without jeopardizing the overall Product. Conversely, the High Priority Items are mission-critical. These are often the least understood components of the Product. Their Development will reduce Project Risk and increase Team understanding once they are “Done” (or successfully completed, in Scrum Terminology).

Estimating Complexity – Planning Poker.

In a typical Development Team, there are differing levels of experience. An experienced member might consider a User Story to be of medium Complexity, while an unskilled member might believe it is of high Complexity. To democratise the Planning Process, “Planning Poker” is often used.

A card deck is offered to each Development Team member, with a number series. This series might be from 1-10 or a Fibonacci Sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc). Each member chooses the card Value which they think most fits the User Story’s difficulty. They place this card face down. They all reveal their card at the same time. The average of all the card Values will determine the number of Points for the User Story. This outcome does not Measure time or the Effort of a particular member. It is a basic, neutral Estimation. The total number of Points for the Sprint Backlog is called the Velocity. This is an indication of what Work can be Done in a Sprint by Complexity, not time.

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There is also a possibility of the Story being considered too Complex. In this case it must be Broken Down into smaller Stories.

The final selection for the Sprint Backlog should be more or less than what the Team will complete during the Sprint. They will be able to apply their Learnings from this Sprint and previous sprints to the next Planning Meeting.

Analysing Tasks.

Tasks are activities within a User Story and should have a duration of no more than 6-8 hours. This is due to the fact that the Daily Stand-up Meeting discusses what Tasks were accomplished the previous day. They also discuss which user stories will be Done today. This ensures that each Developer completes at least one Task per day.

Other Benefits of the Planning Meeting.

The Planning Meeting is convened to satisfy the 2 objectives explained above, but it brings extra Value to the Project. Firstly it helps in Building the Team, especially when the Project is new. Secondly, it Facilitates Collaboration, where everyone participates in Valuing the Stories. Where a Team is new, this will be a few steps forward on the Road to Team Maturity. The capability to Estimate what Work can be Done in a single Sprint may be off the mark in the first Sprints, however the ability to Estimate will improve with each Estimation. The outputs from the Sprint Planning meeting are reviewed at the Sprint Review meeting.