Sprint Planning

Sprint Planning

Purpose

Decide what to build in the next sprint. For solo: clarify goals, select items from backlog, break into tasks, set definition of done.

When to run

• Start of every sprint (weekly in ultra-lean)
• When backlog is messy and needs structure
• When starting a new feature/project

Duration

• Solo: 30-45 minutes
• With context: up to 60 minutes

Knowledge to load (on demand)

| Situation | Reference | |---|---| | Need estimation help | Cohn, Estimating With Story Points (Modules 1-2) — Mountain Goat Software | | Need story splitting help | Cohn, Better User Stories (Modules 1-2) — Mountain Goat Software | | Need sprint length guidance | Cohn, Scrum Repair Guide (Module 3: Sprinting) — Mountain Goat Software | | Need planning context | Gothelf & Seiden, Lean UX — collaborative design, MVPs |

Reguła: load only the specific module/section needed, not the full course.

Step-by-step

Step 1: Context Review (5 min)

Read current state:

• What's in the backlog?
• What's the project's current focus? (Check strategy/ or memory/decisions.md)
• Any blockers from last retro?

Output: "Current state: [1-2 sentences]"

Step 2: Sprint Goal (5 min)

Answer: "What's the one thing that makes this sprint successful?"

For solo, this is critical — without a team to distribute work, focus is everything.

Format: "This sprint I will [concrete outcome] so that [reason]."

Examples:

• "This sprint I will ship the Button component spec so that I can start selling it."
• "This sprint I will complete the token mapping for 3 components so that code generation works."

Step 3: Backlog Selection (10 min)

From the backlog, select items that serve the sprint goal.

Selection criteria:

1. Directly serves sprint goal? → Must have
2. Enables future work? → Nice to have
3. "Would be cool"? → Parking lot (defer)

For solo: max 3-5 items per sprint. Less is more.

Estimation (if needed):

• Use t-shirt sizing (XS/S/M/L/XL) for quick relative sizing
• Story points only if you have velocity history
• If no history: just sequence by priority, don't estimate yet

Step 4: Task Breakdown (10 min)

For each selected item, break into tasks:

Task format:

[ ] Task description (owner: me, estimated: X hours/days)

Rules:

• Max 2 days per task. If bigger → split further.
• Each task should produce something visible (code, spec, design)
• Include "done" criteria per task

Step 5: Definition of Done (5 min)

For this sprint, what does "done" mean?

Component-level DoD (for design-handoff-lab):

• [ ] Spec.md written
• [ ] Tokens JSON generated
• [ ] React/HTML code working in Storybook
• [ ] Figma source reference documented
• [ ] Changelog updated

Sprint-level DoD:

• [ ] All selected items completed
• [ ] Retro completed
• [ ] Backlog updated with learnings

Step 6: Commit (5 min)

Write sprint commitment to memory/decisions.md or project tracking:

## Sprint [N] — [date]
Goal: [one sentence]
Items: [list]
DoD: [confirmed]

Anti-patterns to watch

• Too many items. If you select >5 items for a solo sprint, you're dreaming. Cut to 3.
• No sprint goal. Without a goal, you're just doing random tasks. Always have one.
• Skipping estimation. Even rough sizing prevents overcommitment.
• No task breakdown. "Build feature X" is not a task. Break it down.
• Planning too long. 45 min max for solo. If it takes longer, your backlog needs refinement first.

After planning

• Start working on item #1 immediately
• Daily check-in (5 min self-scrum): "What did I do? What's next? Any blockers?"
• Track actual vs planned for velocity building

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Framework Credits

Ten skill korzysta z frameworków i koncepcji opisanych w [ATTRIBUTION.md](../../ATTRIBUTION.md):

• Scrum Guide (Schwaber & Sutherland) — sprint, sprint goal, DoD
• Agile Estimating and Planning (Cohn) — velocity, relative sizing
• Planning Poker (Grenning) — Fibonacci-scale estimation
• Better User Stories (Cohn) — story splitting, INVEST

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: monikazapisek
• Source: monikazapisek/design-engineering-playbook
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.