Sprint planning

Sprint Planning

Plan a sprint for "$ARGUMENTS". Calculate team capacity, determine velocity target, select stories from the prioritized backlog, define the sprint goal, break stories into tasks, and identify sprint risks.

Prerequisites

Check that .project/$ARGUMENTS/00-initiate.md exists. If it does not, tell the user to run an Initiate skill first (e.g., project-charter) and stop.

If the user passes --skip-checks, skip the prerequisite check and log the skip to .project/$ARGUMENTS/skip-log.md with a timestamp and reason.

Process

1. Read existing context:

   • Read .project/$ARGUMENTS/00-initiate.md for charter and team context
   • Read .project/$ARGUMENTS/01-plan.md if it exists (for backlog, estimates, and roadmap)
   • Read plugins/project-management/shared/scrum-guide.md for Scrum alignment

2. Calculate team capacity:

   • Identify team members available for this sprint
   • For each member: available days = sprint length minus PTO, meetings, and other commitments
   • Apply focus factor: 0.6 for new teams, 0.7 for established teams, 0.8 for mature teams
   • Team capacity = sum of (available days x focus factor) for all members
   • Express capacity in person-days and convert to available hours (person-days x 6 productive hours)
   • Document any capacity risks (key person on vacation, new team member ramping up)

3. Determine sprint velocity target:

   • New teams: start with 20-30 story points per sprint (be conservative, use 20 for first sprint)
   • Existing teams: use the average velocity of the last 3 sprints
   • Adjust velocity for known capacity changes (team member absent, holiday week)
   • Set a velocity range: committed (80% of target) and stretch (100% of target)
   • Do not overcommit — it is better to finish early and pull more work than to carry over

4. Select stories from the top of the prioritized backlog:

   • Pull stories from the top of the backlog (highest priority first)
   • Add stories until the committed velocity is reached
   • Optionally add 1-2 stretch stories up to the full velocity target
   • Verify that selected stories have clear acceptance criteria (if not, they are not sprint-ready)
   • Check for dependencies between selected stories and stories not in the sprint
   • Ensure the selected stories form a coherent set — not just random high-priority items

5. Define the sprint goal:

   • Write one clear sentence describing the sprint's purpose and what the team aims to achieve
   • The goal should be outcome-oriented: what value will be delivered, not what tasks will be done
   • All selected stories should contribute to the sprint goal (or be explicitly labeled as side work)
   • Examples: "Enable users to complete the onboarding flow end-to-end" or "Deliver the core search functionality with basic filtering"
   • The sprint goal guides trade-off decisions during the sprint

6. Break selected stories into tasks:

   • For each story, identify the implementation tasks (development, testing, review, deployment)
   • Estimate each task in hours (not points — tasks use hours, stories use points)
   • Typical task types: design, frontend, backend, API, database, testing, documentation, review
   • Verify that total task hours do not exceed team capacity in hours
   • Assign tasks to team members based on skills and availability (if team assignments are known)

7. Identify sprint risks and dependencies:

   • Internal risks: complex stories, new technology, knowledge gaps, tight capacity
   • External risks: dependencies on other teams, API availability, pending approvals, data access
   • Mitigation: for each risk, define a mitigation action or contingency plan
   • Dependencies: map which stories depend on which tasks completing first
   • Define a sprint execution order: which stories should be started first based on dependencies and risk

8. Write the artifact — append to .project/$ARGUMENTS/01-plan.md under a ## Sprint Planning section:

   • Sprint Goal — one clear sentence
   • Team Capacity — members, available days, focus factor, total capacity
   • Velocity Target — committed and stretch velocity with rationale
   • Sprint Backlog — selected stories with estimates, acceptance criteria status, and priority
   • Task Breakdown — tasks per story with hour estimates and assignments
   • Risks & Dependencies — identified risks with mitigation and dependency map
   • Sprint Execution Order — recommended order for starting stories

Output

Sprint planning appended to .project/$ARGUMENTS/01-plan.md. Present a summary highlighting:

• Sprint goal
• Team capacity and velocity target
• Number of stories selected (committed vs. stretch)
• Total story points committed vs. team velocity
• Top sprint risks and mitigation plans