What exactly is sprint planning?
One of the most powerful principles of Scrum is short-cycle work in sprints. Every new sprint starts with a sprint planning. This is the meeting of the scrum team at the start of each sprint, in which the sprint is planned in detail (indeed in scrum there is planning, even though many people think not). This short-term planning should be as concrete as possible. This way all team members know exactly what needs to be done. A sprint planning consists of formulating the sprint goal, compiling the sprint backlog, determining the acceptance criteria and estimating the required effort with, for example, poker planning.
The Scrum Master must ensure that all team members are involved and that the sprint planning runs smoothly. The most important thing is establishing the Sprint Goal. This is the overarching goal that aligns with the product vision and motivates the entire Scrum team. Some common pitfalls are:
Pitfall: insufficient understanding and alignment with the sprint goal
A common pitfall is that the team does not fully understand the sprint goal or cannot identify with the product vision. As a result, connection with the overarching goals is lost. While the sprint goal can add so much to motivating the scrum team and grow as a team to "high performance".
Pitfall: being a Scrum Master can't “stay on your hands”.
A common pitfall is that the Scrum Master does too much themselves. When an obstacle arises and the Scrum Master starts devising solutions on their own, this is usually ineffective. What effect does that have? It is well-intentioned, but it does not help the team become more proactive and self-solving. It is better to ask the team a question, get them thinking, and guide them in developing a joint solution.
Pitfall: insufficient autonomy and self-reliance to carry out sprint planning
The Scrum Master must enable the team to take ownership of the sprint and make decisions accordingly. Taking ownership is crucial to effectively execute a sprint planning. A pitfall is to let the people outside the team focus on the HOW of a solution.
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