Plan a Sprint

Plan a time-boxed sprint by selecting refined backlog items up to team capacity, defining a clear sprint goal, and decomposing selected items into actionable tasks. This skill produces a complete sprint plan that guides team work for the duration of the sprint iteration.

When to Use

• Starting a new sprint in a Scrum or agile project
• Re-planning a sprint after significant scope change
• Transitioning from ad-hoc work to structured sprint cadence
• After backlog grooming when items are ready for sprint inclusion
• Planning the first sprint after project charter approval

Inputs

• Required: Product backlog (prioritized, with estimates)
• Required: Sprint duration (typically 1-2 weeks)
• Required: Team members and their availability
• Optional: Previous sprint velocity (story points or items completed)
• Optional: Sprint number and date range
• Optional: Carry-over items from previous sprint

Procedure

Step 1: Review and Refine Backlog Items

Read the current BACKLOG.md. For each candidate item near the top of the backlog, verify it has:

• Clear title and description
• Acceptance criteria (testable conditions)
• Estimate (story points or T-shirt size)
• No unresolved blockers

Refine any items missing these elements. Split items estimated larger than half the sprint capacity into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Expected: Top 10-15 backlog items are "sprint-ready" with acceptance criteria and estimates.

On failure: If items lack acceptance criteria, write them now. If items can't be estimated, schedule a refinement conversation and select only ready items.

Step 2: Define Sprint Goal

Write a single clear sprint goal — one sentence stating what the sprint will achieve. The goal should be:

• Achievable within the sprint duration
• Valuable to stakeholders
• Testable (you can verify it was met at sprint end)

**Sprint Goal**: [One sentence describing the objective]

Example: "Enable users to reset their password through email verification with two-factor authentication."

Expected: Sprint goal articulated as one clear, testable sentence.

On failure: If no coherent goal emerges, the backlog priorities may be scattered — consult the product owner to focus on a single valuable outcome.

Step 3: Calculate Team Capacity

Calculate available person-days for each team member:

## Team Capacity
| Team Member | Available Days | Overhead (%) | Net Capacity |
|-------------|---------------|-------------|--------------|
| [Name] | [Sprint days - PTO] | 20% | [Available × 0.8] |
| [Name] | [Sprint days - PTO] | 20% | [Available × 0.8] |
| **Total** | | | **[Sum] person-days** |

Overhead accounts for meetings, reviews, ad-hoc requests (typically 15-25%).

If using story points: use previous sprint velocity as capacity. If first sprint, use 60-70% of theoretical maximum.

Expected: Capacity calculated in person-days or story points with documented assumptions.

On failure: If no historical velocity exists, be conservative — plan to 60% capacity and adjust after the sprint. Better to under-commit and deliver than over-commit and fail.

Step 4: Select Items and Compose Sprint Backlog

Select items from the top of the product backlog until capacity is reached. Decompose each selected item into tasks (2-8 hours each):

# Sprint Plan: Sprint [N]
## Document ID: SP-[PROJECT]-S[NNN]

### Sprint Details
- **Sprint Goal**: [From Step 2]
- **Duration**: [Start date] to [End date]
- **Capacity**: [From Step 3] person-days / [N] story points
- **Team**: [List team members]

### Sprint Backlog
| ID | Item | Points | Tasks | Assignee | Status |
|----|------|--------|-------|----------|--------|
| B-001 | [Item title] | 5 | 4 | [Name] | To Do |
| B-002 | [Item title] | 3 | 3 | [Name] | To Do |
| B-003 | [Item title] | 8 | 6 | [Name] | To Do |
| **Total** | | **16** | **13** | | |

### Task Breakdown

#### B-001: [Item title]
**Acceptance Criteria**: [From backlog item]

- [ ] Task 1: [Description] (4h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 2: [Description] (2h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 3: [Description] (4h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 4: [Description] (2h, [Assignee])

#### B-002: [Item title]
**Acceptance Criteria**: [From backlog item]

- [ ] Task 1: [Description] (3h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 2: [Description] (4h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 3: [Description] (2h, [Assignee])

#### B-003: [Item title]
**Acceptance Criteria**: [From backlog item]

- [ ] Task 1: [Description] (3h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 2: [Description] (4h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 3: [Description] (2h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 4: [Description] (3h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 5: [Description] (4h, [Assignee])
- [ ] Task 6: [Description] (2h, [Assignee])

### Risks and Dependencies
| Risk | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|--------|-----------|
| [Risk 1] | [Impact] | [Mitigation] |
| [Risk 2] | [Impact] | [Mitigation] |

### Carry-Over from Previous Sprint
| ID | Item | Reason | Remaining Effort |
|----|------|--------|-----------------|
| B-XXX | [Item] | [Reason] | [Hours/points] |

Expected: Sprint backlog with items selected up to capacity, each decomposed into tasks with time estimates.

On failure: If total points exceed capacity, remove the lowest-priority item. Never exceed capacity by more than 10%. If dependencies block sequencing, re-order or defer items.

Step 5: Document Commitments and Save

Write the sprint plan to SPRINT-PLAN.md (or SPRINT-PLAN-S[NNN].md for archival). Confirm:

• Sprint goal is achievable with selected items
• No team member is overallocated (>100% capacity)
• Dependencies between items are sequenced correctly
• Carry-over items are accounted for in capacity
• All acceptance criteria copied from backlog items

Run a final validation:

# Check that total task hours align with capacity
grep -A 100 "Task Breakdown" SPRINT-PLAN.md | grep -o '([0-9]*h' | sed 's/[^0-9]//g' | awk '{sum+=$1} END {print "Total hours:", sum}'

Expected: SPRINT-PLAN.md created with complete sprint backlog and task breakdown. Total hours should be ≤80% of available person-days × 8 hours.

On failure: If commitments don't align with goal, revisit item selection in Step 4. If task hours exceed capacity, remove the last item or decompose tasks more granularly.

Validation

• Sprint goal is one clear, testable sentence
• Team capacity calculated with documented assumptions (overhead %, PTO accounted)
• Selected items do not exceed capacity (points or person-days)
• Every selected item has acceptance criteria copied into task breakdown
• Every selected item is decomposed into tasks (2-8 hours each)
• No team member overallocated beyond 100% capacity
• Carry-over items from previous sprint documented with remaining effort
• Dependencies between items sequenced correctly
• Risks and mitigations documented
• SPRINT-PLAN.md file created and saved

Common Pitfalls

• No sprint goal: Without a goal, the sprint is just a bag of tasks. The goal provides focus and a basis for scope decisions mid-sprint.
• Over-commitment: Planning to 100% capacity ignores interruptions, bugs, and overhead. Plan to 70-80% to leave buffer for the unexpected.
• Tasks too large: Tasks over 8 hours hide complexity and make progress tracking difficult. Decompose until tasks are 2-8 hours.
• Ignoring carry-over: Unfinished items from the last sprint consume capacity this sprint. Account for them explicitly in capacity calculations.
• Sprint goal as item list: "Complete B-001, B-002, B-003" is not a goal. A goal describes the outcome: "Users can reset their password through email verification."
• No task ownership: Every task should have an assignee at planning time to surface capacity conflicts early.
• Skipping acceptance criteria: Tasks without acceptance criteria can't be tested. Copy acceptance criteria from backlog items into the task breakdown section.

Related Skills

• manage-backlog — maintain and prioritize the product backlog that feeds sprint planning
• draft-project-charter — provides project context and initial scope for the first sprint
• generate-status-report — report sprint progress and velocity to stakeholders
• conduct-retrospective — review sprint execution and improve the planning process
• create-work-breakdown-structure — WBS work packages can feed the backlog in hybrid agile-waterfall approaches