This post was inspired by an impromptu speech I gave to my friends at the DFW Scrum meetup a few months ago. Back then, I called it - 'How to UnSuck Your Sprint Planning Sessions'.
Because, let’s be honest, do you know when your Sprint Planning sucks?
It’s when you’re not planning but debating over requirements, scope, dependencies, and timelines – wasting all your time on NONSENSE like that.
But don’t worry, there’s one method that, if you apply it exactly as I explain, will make your Sprint Planning sessions much more effective. And as a Business Analyst, you’ll be seen as a true leader by your team.
Let’s unpack this!
The Sprint Planning Disaster
A few years ago, during the very first Sprint Planning session of a new project, the BA team came prepared with tons of user stories. Each story had been fully defined, complete with acceptance criteria, annotated wireframes, and approval from the business. We had the WHOLE package! 📖
But there was one big problem...
The Scrum team had NEVER seen these user stories before the Sprint Planning, and, as you can guess, we couldn’t estimate ANYTHING.
Starting with the first user story, the team immediately began asking questions that the BAs couldn’t answer. Despite the fact that the user stories contained a lot of details, those details didn’t help.
After 20 minutes of going nowhere, we dropped that story. Then we picked another... and another. We tried splitting, renaming, reordering the stories, but NOTHING worked. We simply couldn’t estimate anything.
Finally, we stopped and said, “Let’s call it. These stories aren’t ready, and we’re not ready for planning.” 🚫
The Game-Changer: Estimating During Backlog Refinements
The team learned a valuable lesson that day. And with the next sprint, we changed our approach, doing something that greatly improved the quality of our Sprint Planning sessions.
What was it?
We started estimating user stories much earlier – during Backlog Refinements.
And that’s what I want YOU to start doing. Start estimating your user stories during Backlog Refinements!
Why Estimate During Backlog Refinements?
Here’s the reality: Even if your Scrum team is already involved in Backlog Refinements, unless you ask them for story point estimates, you’re not getting their FULL focus.
So, the method is simple: once you present a user story – even if it’s not fully finished – ASK the team for their estimates.
In response, the team will start asking you questions about the story, the requirements, pointing out missing dependencies, and identifying unclear acceptance criteria.
What to Do With the Feedback?
As a BA, your job is to listen, collect those questions, and then ensure that you explicitly answer every question in the user story. Embed the answers in the acceptance criteria, wireframes, and descriptions – don’t just answer verbally, make sure it’s all documented.
This way, your user stories will evolve. They will contain only the details that are truly important for both the business and the development team. Everything else will fade away.
The Impact of Early Estimation
Here’s the biggest impact you’ll see: Your development team will start co-owning the user stories with you. And by the time you bring these stories to Sprint Planning, they will be READY.
Notice how few questions you get in the next planning session – zero or close to zero!
With your team comfortable and confident about the user stories, your Sprint Planning sessions will focus on actual planning, NOT on refining or questioning requirements.
As for the estimates, of course, you can finalize the story points during the Sprint Planning. But by estimating earlier, you’ll avoid the debates and stay focused on the planning itself.
Plus, having preliminary estimates will make it MUCH easier for the Product Owner to pre-plan and schedule future sprints in advance based on estimates and the projected team capacity.
Free Webinar Invitation! 🎁
To make things even more practical, I have a special gift for you – an invitation to my User Story Development Webinar. In the webinar, we’ll discuss why the old methods of writing user stories no longer work and what YOU need to do to stay ahead of the competition and bring the most value to your Agile team.
It’s completely free, so register today!
Let’s Discuss!
What do you think? Have you tried estimating stories during Backlog Refinements? How has it worked for you? Share your experiences in the comments below!
And if you disagree with me, let’s discuss!
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