• HOME
  • Envision
  • Articles
  • Public Speaking
  • TESTIMONIALS
  • About
  • Contact Us

AGILE COACHING CORNER

Facilitating an Effective Sprint.

By: Nathalie Brochstein

February 11, 2015


An effective sprint planning session starts with a well groomed backlog. Scrum Masters should plan on spending time with the team and working with the Product Owner to ensure that the product backlog is sized (for at least the next 3 sprints) and prioritized prior to the sprint planning session. 


Sprint Planning answers the following:

  • What can be delivered by the team in the increment resulting from the upcoming Sprint?
  • How will the work needed to deliver the increment be achieved?

Here is a sample outline to help create an effective sprint planning session;
Agenda:

  • Review Sprint Objective (PO)
  • Review Team Capacity (SM)
  • Decide How the Work Will Be Done (Team)
  • Closure (Team Presents to PO & SM)

Outputs:

  • A sprint goal
  • A sprint backlog including tasks fully committed to by the team 
  1. Review Sprint Objective (Product Owner)

    The Product Owner discusses the objective that the Sprint should achieve and the Product Backlog items that, if completed in the Sprint, would achieve the Sprint Goal. The purpose of having a goal is to be able to select user stories that support the goal, help you work towards something bigger than just delivering a collection of stories or unrelated features.
     
  2. Determine Sprint Target Velocity (Scrum Master Facilitates)

    The Scrum Master reviews the team’s capacity for the upcoming sprint. This capacity is based on the the number of team members and their availability. Here we take into account upcoming holidays, vacations and any other events that may impact the amount of work the team may want to take on. The SM can then review with the team their velocity trending and ask the team to come up with their Target Velocity. The Scrum Master may also remind the team of their DoR (coaching the team not pick up items that are not yet ready) and DoD (making the team aware of all that needs to be accomplished in order to bring a story to done.)

     
  3. Decide How the Work Will be Done/ Tasking (Team)

    The number of items selected from the Product Backlog for the Sprint is solely up to the Development Team. Only the Development Team can assess what it can accomplish over the upcoming Sprint.


    PO
    • helps clarify items
    • can make trade-offs.
    SM 
    • Can invite other SMEs to attend such as an architect or training SME to ensure that the team has what it needs to create their sprint plan
    • Pose questions to the team & PO such as;
      • what should the team work on if they complete early? Technical debt and additional retrospective action items are good candidates here.
      • If they run into difficulties what can be dropped.
    • Create a productive environment for tasking by providing ground rules such as;
      • Estimate each task as a team.
      • An estimate is not a commitment.
      • No one is going to be tracking actuals for each task and comparing them to estimates.
      • No matter what, no one person "owns" a task.
      • Re-tasking mid-sprint is perfectly acceptable
      • Do NOT assign stories or tasks up front - This is key!
    Team
    Starting from the top story in the backlog break down the stories into specific tasks. State tasks as deliverables, if at all possible. Instead of describing what you’re going to do, describe what you’re going to deliver.
    Make sure to ask everyone in the team what they think, in order to identify missed tasks, or to identify simpler solutions.
    Tasks should be small enough to estimate in one day or less. Smaller is better. Breaking tasks down into small chunks means they are easier to estimate, are more easily measurable in the daily Scrum (1 day tasks are either done or not) and they are better distributed among team members - allows more than one person to work on a story!
    At this time the Scrum Master and Product Owner may want to leave the room. If they do make sure they return to review together the final goal and increment.The product owner may also be called back for any story trade-offs the team may suggest.

     

    Work Together as A Team: It's better to have 80% of the features 100% done, than to have 100% of the features 80% done.


     
  4. Create A Sprint Goal (Team)
    After the Development Team forecasts the Product Backlog items it will deliver in the Sprint, the Team crafts a Sprint Goal.

     
  5. Closure (Team)
    The session ends with the team explaining to the Scrum Master and Product Owner how it intends to work as a self organizing team to accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment.

How to calculate the team’s capacity:
Team divides up the top stories into tasks.
Each task should be estimated as one day or less. The amount of time for all tasks should equate to no more than 80% or the amount of time available for the team.

 

Example:
4 team member working full time on a two week sprint.
1 team member will be out on vacation for 2 days and another will be in training for half a day.
10 working days * 4 people = 40 days
Adjust for sprint capacity = 40 - 2.5 = 37.5
Maximum number of hours the team can take on for the sprint = 37.5 * 8 = 300 * 80% = 240h.

Nathalie Brochstein

Creator of theAccelerator

Nathalie Brochstein provides Organizational Growth Facilitation that supports companies to deliver consistent value while keeping pace with the market's rapid changes. Her work harnesses the diverse strengths of a company's people, transforming organizations into high-functioning organisms—where each individual has a vested interest in helping the greater collective thrive.

SHARE IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Share on Facebook
Tweet on Twitter
Pin on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

Provides Organizational Growth Facilitation that helps companies deliver value for today’s rapid pace of change.

 

  • www.leadingclearly.com

  • info@leadingclearly.com

Contact Us

GET ON THE LIST

We'll send you our latest developments to help you clearly master leading your agile organization.

Need to pivot? You can unsubscribe at any time.


I confirm that I am at least 16 years of age or older

I have read and accept any EULA, Terms and Conditions, Acceptable Use Policy, and/or Data Processing Addendum which has been provided to me in connection with the software, products and/or services.

I have been fully informed and consent to the collection and use of my personal data for any purpose in connection with the software, products and/or services.

I understand that certain data, including personal data, must be collected or processed in order for you to provide any products or services I have requested or contracted for. I understand that in some cases it may be required to use cookies or similar tracking to provide those products or services..

I understand that I have the right to request access annually to any personal data you have obtained or collected regarding me. You have agreed to provide me with a record of my personal data in a readable format.

I also understand that I can revoke my consent and that I have the right to be forgotten. If I revoke my consent you will stop collecting or processing my personal data. I understand that if I revoke my consent, you may be unable to provide contracted products or services to me, and I can not hold you responsible for that.

Likewise, if I properly request to be forgotten, you will delete the data you have for me, or make it inaccessible. I also understand that if there is a dispute regarding my personal data, I can contact someone who is responsible for handling data-related concerns. If we are unable to resolve any issue, you will provide an independent service to arbitrate a resolution. If I have any questions regarding my rights or privacy, I can contact the email address provided.

Social Media

Copyright © 2023

LeadingClearly Inc.

All Rights Reserved.

We use cookies to improve our service, track analytics, remember preferences, etc. By using our site, you consent to these cookies.
{:lang_general_banner_cookie_privacy} {:lang_general_banner_cookie_cookie}