Sprint Pre Planning – Useful?

sprint pre planning
sprint pre planning

In certain international companies, a unique practice called “sprint pre-planning” is observed. In this article, we’ll delve into this practice, its objectives, and its potential usefulness. Interestingly, this practice is not found in French-speaking countries or regions. A comparison between contexts could be particularly insightful.

Agility doesn’t have a uniform presence everywhere. Depending on the culture, specific practices emerge in some countries but remain absent in others. Discussing these distinct practices is enlightening, especially when they differ due to the agile culture’s variations. This is also why the topics covered by the French and English blogs differ.

The Concept of Sprint Pre-Planning

The sprint pre-planning concept involves conducting three distinct sessions during a sprint to prepare for the upcoming sprint. Generally, this practice is applied to sprints lasting between 2 and 4 weeks.

sprint pre planning during a sprint
Sprint Pre-Planning During a Sprint

Let’s examine the participants and the tasks for each session.

Session 1

In this first session, the product owner, technical architects, and stakeholders collaborate. Stakeholders present their needs, and architects contribute the technical requirements.

Based on the stakeholders’ objectives, the participants collectively plan for the next sprint. They prioritize and arrange all the requests.

Session 2

The second session involves the product owner and the development team. The development team assesses each request and uses color-coded flags to indicate its status:

  • red: The request appears complex at the moment, requiring more information for proper development.
  • orange: The request seems feasible, but additional details are needed for next sprint’s planning.
  • green: The development team is confident in the request’s feasibility based on available information.

The product owner addresses the development team’s concerns. Requests flagged as red will be postponed by at least one sprint.

Session 3

In the third session, the product owner, technical architects, and stakeholders reconvene. The primary goal is to respond to the development team’s demands, focusing on the priority of orange-flagged requests. Addressing red-flagged requests is optional, as they will be reconsidered during the subsequent sprint.

Why Is Sprint Pre-Planning Absent in French-Speaking Regions?

The sentiment towards such practices is often “excessive process for minimal gain.” Questions arise: Why perform this work? Stakeholders already participate in the sprint review, where they share insights with the entire scrum team and contribute to preparing for the next sprint.

For instance, in France, around 90% of teams incorporate a dedicated ceremony for product backlog refinement. This practice is similar to the second session, where the team estimates and aids the product owner in prioritizing the product backlog. The combination of “product backlog refinement” and a proper “sprint review” yields comparable results and may even be more agile.

The notion of having dedicated architects is also fading. The scrum principle that the development team should possess all required competencies gains increasing traction. Thus, in some cultures, such as French and even in certain English-speaking countries, the concept of sprint pre-planning appears outdated and counter to agile principles.

Useful link about sprint pre-planning: Product Backlog Refinement (in French)

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About Judicaël Paquet 368 Articles
Judicaël Paquet (agile coach and senior devops) My Engagements in France and Switzerland: - Crafting Agile Transformation Strategies - Tailored Agile Training Programs - Raising Awareness and Coaching for Managers - Assessing Agile Maturity and Situational Analysis - Agile Coaching for Teams, Organizations, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Agile Coaches Areas of Expertise: Scrum, Kanban, Management 3.0, Scalability, Lean Startup, Agile Methodology.

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