Facilitates sprint planning end to end - backlog refinement checks against a Definition of Ready, a one-sentence sprint goal, capacity math from velocity and PTO, story selection and team commitment, task breakdown, and flagged risks with owners. Use when a team asks "plan our next sprint", "how much should we commit to", "write a sprint goal", or keeps blowing sprint forecasts. Do NOT use for running the retrospective after the sprint ends - use sprint-retro-facilitator instead.
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name: Sprint Planning
description: Facilitates sprint planning end to end - backlog refinement checks against a Definition of Ready, a one-sentence sprint goal, capacity math from velocity and PTO, story selection and team commitment, task breakdown, and flagged risks with owners. Use when a team asks "plan our next sprint", "how much should we commit to", "write a sprint goal", or keeps blowing sprint forecasts. Do NOT use for running the retrospective after the sprint ends - use sprint-retro-facilitator instead.
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# Sprint Planning
Sprint planning answers two questions: **what** can we deliver this sprint, and **how**
will we do it? This skill keeps planning focused, realistic, and fast.
## Before planning: refine the backlog
Hold backlog refinement *ahead* of planning (mid-previous-sprint), so stories arrive ready:
- Each candidate story meets the **Definition of Ready**: clear, has acceptance criteria,
estimated, dependencies known, small enough to finish in a sprint.
- Order the backlog by priority so the top is "next up".
- Split any story too big to fit a sprint.
Going into planning with an unrefined backlog is the #1 cause of bad sprints.
## Step 1: Set the sprint goal
Start with a single **sprint goal** - a one-sentence objective the sprint serves
(e.g. "Users can reset their password end to end"). The goal:… load the full skill through Skill Me