Starting the Scrum: the First Planning Meeting
The meeting should be friendly and informal – there is enough time for each person to introduce themselves to the others and maybe field a couple of questions. There is an important team dynamic between the Product Owner and the rest of the team, and the discussion of the Product Backlog and selection of user stories for the Sprint Backlog is the foundation for this mutual relationship. The Product Owner is the proxy stakeholder and should be treated with the same respect and courtesy due to the other stakeholders.
Team Dynamics Tool: Story and Task Estimation
The estimation of the complexity of the user stories is a powerful tool and the first real opportunity for teamwork. Each user story must be assessed and given a score for complexity. The aim is to reach a common agreement on how complex the work is, not the hours of effort required, as an experienced member will take less time to complete a task than an intern. A common consensus of the score (in points) for each story must be reached before it can move into the Sprint Backlog.
This gives everyone an opportunity to have their say, and the Scrum Master must ensure that everyone does participate. Gamification techniques, such as “Planning Poker” can be introduced to create some fun and engage anyone who is observing rather than participating.
The first Sprint Planning meeting is the first opportunity to work as a team, to engage in debate and to get to know each other. The Scrum Master sees the team in action and has good insights into the various personalities of his new team.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios