Sprint Planning
Purpose: Weekly prioritization and planning.
When to use: Once per week during active development. Especially relevant for v2+ when you have real users.
Duration: 30-60 minutes
Inputs Required
- Feedback from past week
- Usage data
- Current backlog
- Team availability
Agenda
1. Review Feedback (10 min)
What came in this week? Categorize:
- Bugs: Things that are broken
- Friction: Things that are annoying
- Requests: Things users want
2. Review Usage Data (5 min)
Are people using it? What features? Any drop-off points?
3. Prioritize (15 min)
Stack rank what to work on. Consider:
- Impact (how many users, how much pain)
- Effort (quick win vs. big project)
- Dependencies (what unblocks other work)
4. Assign Work (10 min)
Who's doing what this week? Be specific.
5. Identify Blockers (5 min)
What could stop us? Surface it now, not Friday.
Outputs
- Prioritized list for the week
- Clear assignments
- Known blockers (with owners)
Tips
- Keep it short. If planning takes longer than doing, something's wrong.
- Don't plan more than one week ahead. Things change too fast.
- It's okay to say "not this week" to good ideas. Prioritization means saying no.
- If the same feedback keeps coming up, it's not a feature request—it's a bug.
- Usage data > opinions. If no one uses a feature, don't improve it.
The Pattern
Modern scrum, accelerated. Ship fast, get feedback, adjust. No two-week sprints with big planning ceremonies. Weekly rhythm, daily adjustments.
Build developer tools as you go. If something slows you down repeatedly, automate it.
See also: Daily Feedback Session