How we cut sprint planning from 4 hours to 90 minutes
Our sprint planning used to be a marathon. Here's what changed:
**Before:** PO presents every story cold, team asks questions for the first time, estimates take forever.
**After:**
1. **Continuous refinement** — 2x 30-min sessions per week
2. **Pre-read** — PO shares stories 48 hours before planning
3. **Definition of Ready** — stories must meet DoR or they don't enter planning
4. **Confidence voting** — instead of debating each story, we do a quick confidence vote. Only discuss if there's disagreement.
5. **Sprint goal first** — we align on the goal before picking stories
Result: 90-minute planning sessions, higher team satisfaction, better sprint goals.
2 Comments
Continuous refinement is THE unlock. We do exactly this — it transforms planning from a discovery session into a confirmation session.
Sprint goal first is so important. When you start with individual stories, you get a sprint backlog. When you start with a goal, you get a plan.