Sprint Planning

A dynamic template for running effective sprint planning sessions with your agile team. Streamline your planning process, align on sprint goals, and efficiently distribute work among team members with this comprehensive, interactive whiteboard layout.

What Is Sprint Planning?

Sprint Planning is a critical ceremony in agile frameworks where teams collaborate to decide what work to complete in the upcoming sprint and how they'll approach it. The session typically consists of two main components:

  1. Defining the sprint goal - a clear, concise statement that provides focus and coherence to the work
  2. Task allocation - assigning specific items from the backlog to team members based on priority and capacity

This template structures these components visually, making the process more engaging and transparent for all participants.

Benefits & When to Use

  • Increases team alignment by ensuring everyone understands the sprint goal and their responsibilities
  • Improves work distribution by visualizing team capacity and workload across members
  • Enhances prioritization by forcing explicit decisions about what to include in the sprint
  • Streamlines remote collaboration by providing a shared visual workspace for distributed teams

Use this template at the beginning of each sprint cycle, after your backlog refinement session but before sprint execution begins.

How to Run a Sprint Planning Session

  1. Gather Team Insight (15 minutes)

    • Have each team member contribute what they believe should be the focus for the upcoming sprint
    • This provides diverse perspectives and helps identify priorities the team feels strongly about

  2. Define the Sprint Goal (10 minutes)

    • Using team input and business priorities, craft a clear sprint goal in the designated area
    • Follow the suggested format: "To focus on [Outcome] because it will deliver [Impact] for [Stakeholder]. This will be confirmed by [Measurement/Event]"

  3. Stage Tickets (15 minutes)

    • Import tickets from Jira (or upload via CSV) into the staging area
    • Review each ticket to ensure it aligns with the sprint goal and has appropriate story points

  4. Assign Work (20 minutes)

    • Have team members claim their individual lanes using the "Claim Zone" button
    • Drag tickets from the staging area to team member lanes
    • Monitor point allocation across team members to ensure balanced workload

  5. Review and Finalize (10 minutes)

    • Use the "Select All" buttons in each lane to review assignments
    • Make final adjustments based on capacity and dependencies
    • If using Jira integration, bulk assign the tickets directly back to Jira

Tips for a Successful Session

  • Pre-populate your backlog before the session to save time during the actual planning
  • Keep the sprint goal visible throughout the session to ensure selected work aligns with it
  • Pay attention to story points displayed at the bottom of each team member's lane to avoid overallocation
  • Consider dependencies when assigning work to minimize blocking situations
  • For ticket points to track correctly, ensure stickies or task cards have a tag named "POINTS" with the appropriate value
  • Encourage team ownership by having members claim their own lanes and select their work when possible
  • Use real examples of sprint goals (like those provided in the template) to guide your team when crafting your own

Remember that sprint planning is about striking the right balance between ambition and achievability. The goal is to emerge with a clear direction and manageable workload that the team is confident they can deliver.

Use this template