---
name: Sprint Planning
description: Commit to a realistic scope.
---
# Sprint Planning

A sprint commits to a scope the team can actually finish. Overcommitting is the default failure mode; it produces half-done work, demoralizes the team, and ships nothing usable.

## Method
- **Velocity is historical, not aspirational.** Plan to the average of the last 3 sprints, not the best one. Optimism becomes debt.
- **Account for non-build time.** Meetings, support, review, interviews. Plan for the real day, not the imaginary one with no interruptions.
- **Carry less, finish it.** A sprint that ships 80% of what it planned beats one that starts 120% and finishes 60%. Done work has value; half-done has none.
- **Leave a buffer.** Something always surfaces. A sprint at 100% capacity breaks the moment it does.

## Re-plan honestly
Mid-sprint scope changes are fine if the swap is genuinely higher priority. Silently cramming both in is not.