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We take initiative and ask for forgiveness instead of permission.
The focus is on the most important Stuff first
Sprint Planning is done at the start of every sprint in order to create focus of the team on the most important user stories and bugfixes.
The first part of the sprint planning meeting is about the Product Owner[1] and Development Team being aligned on the “why and what” of the individual user stories. If Backlog Refinement[2] has been done already on the stories on the top of the Product Backlog[3], this part will be done quickly. Otherwise, follow the same format as Backlog Refinement to reach that alignment.
The second part of the sprint planning meeting is about the team selecting the work they expect to be able to get done in the sprint, committing to a sprint goal, and making a first plan on the “how” of execution. A good format to execute this second part of sprint planning, is:
At the start of a Sprint Planning meeting for a parking app, the Product Owner explains that one user story needs to be changed a little bit due to some feedback of a stakeholder during the Sprint Review. This changed story is directly discussed and estimated, and actionable for the sprint. Other than that, all the user stories at the top of the Product Backlog have already been discussed during the latest Backlog Refinement sessions. The user stories that are about to be selected for the sprint, include:
When the Scrum Master uses the technique of “Confidence Vote” to quickly identify the confidence that the development team has in this selection, it turns out that the confidence is low. The main reason for this proves to be the number of integrations with parking providers that need to be done. The Product Owner explains that for him the Sprint Goal would be to make a complete round trip: enter the license plate, check at least one provider, and show the result (not necessarily all information). The team advises the Product Owner to move the stories for two of the parking providers down on the backlog. He follows the advice, and the team selects the following stories:
Based on the Sprint Goal the team knows that for the last story it is most important to show the result of the check, not necessarily all ticket information.