sprint-planning

Sprint Planning Skill

Transform raw backlog items into a structured, achievable sprint with clear goals, velocity-calibrated scope, and team-ready output.

What This Skill Produces

• Sprint Goal — single, outcome-focused sentence the whole team can rally around
• Sprint Backlog — prioritised list of user stories with story point estimates and acceptance criteria
• Capacity Plan — team availability breakdown accounting for holidays, meetings, and focus time
• Sprint Planning Agenda — structured 2-hour meeting agenda with timings
• Risk Flags — blockers or dependencies that could derail the sprint

Required Inputs

Ask for (if not already provided):

• Sprint duration (1 or 2 weeks)
• Team size and velocity (average story points per sprint)
• Top 3–5 backlog items or epics to pull from
• Any known absences, holidays, or team events
• Previous sprint's incomplete items (carry-overs)

Sprint Goal Formula

Use this structure:

"This sprint we will [deliver X outcome] so that [user/business benefit], measured by [success indicator]."

Never write sprint goals as task lists. Always outcome-first.

Story Point Calibration

Complexity	Points	Description
Trivial	1	Clearly understood, no unknowns
Small	2	Straightforward, minor effort
Medium	3	Some complexity, clear path
Large	5	Complex, needs design or research
Very Large	8	High uncertainty, may need splitting
Epic	13+	Too large — must be split before sprint

Flag any item estimated at 8+ and recommend splitting.

Capacity Formula

Available capacity = (Team size × Sprint days × Focus hours/day) × Availability factor
Focus hours/day: 6 (accounting for meetings, Slack, admin)
Availability factor: 0.7–0.85 depending on holidays/events
Story points to commit = Historical velocity × Availability factor

Output Format

Sprint [N] — [Start Date] to [End Date]

Sprint Goal:

[Goal statement]

Team Capacity: [X] story points available (based on [Y] team members, [Z]% availability)

Sprint Backlog:

Priority	Story	Points	Owner	Acceptance Criteria
1	[Story title]	[N]	[Team member]	[When X then Y]

Carry-Overs from Previous Sprint:

• [Item] — Reason for carry-over: [brief explanation]

Risks & Dependencies:

• [Risk description] → Mitigation: [action]

Sprint Planning Agenda:

• 00:00–00:10 — Review sprint goal and team capacity
• 00:10–00:40 — Walk through backlog items, confirm estimates
• 00:40–01:20 — Assign stories, identify dependencies
• 01:20–01:50 — Review acceptance criteria per story
• 01:50–02:00 — Confirm sprint commitment and close

Guidelines

• Always challenge stories missing acceptance criteria — flag them explicitly
• Recommend the team commits to 80% of available capacity, not 100%
• If no velocity data is provided, assume 20–30 points for a 5-person team as a starting point
• Highlight any story with unclear ownership as a blocker

Quality Checks

• Sprint goal is outcome-focused (not "implement X" — something like "users can do Y")
• Team capacity is calculated using actual availability, not theoretical 100%
• Every story has an acceptance criterion (flag any that don't)
• Stories estimated at 8+ points are flagged for splitting
• Carry-overs from last sprint are accounted for in capacity

Anti-Patterns

• Do not write sprint goals as task lists — goals must be outcome-focused and scoreable pass/fail at sprint end
• Do not commit to 100% of available capacity — always recommend 80% to preserve slack for unplanned work
• Do not carry stories with no acceptance criteria into the sprint — flag them as blockers before committing
• Do not allow stories estimated at 8+ points into the sprint without splitting them first
• Do not ignore carry-over items when calculating capacity — they consume capacity and must be accounted for before new work is pulled in