Sprint Planning without Refinement is Futile

Planning Without
Refinement
Is Futile!
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Presented by Jacqueline Sanders-Blackman
copyright 2022 @ techexpressoconsulting.com

Planning Without
Refinement
Is Futile!
Do These 2 Things Before Your Next Planning Meeting!
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PLANNING WITHOUT
Reﬁnement is
FUTILE,
reﬁnement without
PLANNING IS FATAL
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Raw
Ready Rough
Refine
Ready
Raw Ideas Need to Be Refined Before Planning
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Backlog Refinement was formerly known as Grooming. The intended
imagery is that of trimming, pruning, and cleaning, as with a plant which
is something that is ongoing often in the background. It was originally
used to reflect an organic approach to maintaining the backlog. Due to
the increasingly negative connotation related to human trafficking the
word ”grooming” is no longer used as of 2010. The word “Grooming”
is considered offensive and is avoided. This activity is now increasingly
known as Refinement. With the pivot to the new name also came the
realization that Refinement should be looked at as a Ceremony.
Grooming was associated with Backlog Management. Refinement has
helped to emphasize that there are two distinct steps needed, Backlog
Refinement and Story Refinement.
Why We Replace the word “Grooming” with “Refinement”
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Story Refinement
Backlog Refinement
R
e
a
d
y
D
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n
e
Characteristics of Refinement
● Refinement has 2 stages
○ Backlog Refinement
○ Sprint Refinement
● Refinement is intentional, at the
forefront and not an afterthought
● Time needs to be allocated for
Refinement
● Each Sprint you need to replenish the
backlog with the amount of story points
completed determined by the team
burndown and velocity
R
o
u
g
h
R
a
w
R
e
f
i
n
e
d
Stand Up

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Winning Equation equals
4 Scrum Ceremonies
+ 2 Refinement Huddles = Just Effective Planning
44 Traditional Ceremonies 2 2 Refinement Huddles
● Daily Stand Up
● Planning
● Review/Demo
● Retrospective
● Backlog Refinement
● Story Refinement
Ceremonies are done on a consistent cadence without exception. Refinement Huddles are
driven based on the Health of the Backlog. It very common to always have one of each
Refinement huddle but sometimes additional or extended times.

Every Sprint the team burns through and completes work.
Refinement is how you replenish the backlog with work
that is Ready to Be Worked.
TLDR Answer = YES
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Do We Have to do Refinement Every Sprint?

So in addition to the planning
meeting, we have to have two new
Refinement meetings every
Sprint?
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More Meetings Please ??? (Said Agile Teams Never)
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Refinement is Not Extra Work…
It’s THE Necessary Step That Steers THE Work
Backlog
Refinement
Impact of NOT Refining
The Backlog
Outcome when you Do
Refine the Backlog
Looong and
inefficient Sprint
planning
Loooong and
inefficient standups
Missing Sprint
commitments
You build the wrong
thing
PANIC!
Shared
understanding
Earlier feedback
Realistic Sprint
commitments
You build the right
thing
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Before Refinement - After Refinement
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Raw Refined

Planning is Doing Things with Forethought and
in a Purposeful Manner
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Planning - Too Much, Too Little, Too Late
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Too Much Planning….
❏ Too much planning is a form of Procrastination
❏ Obsessing over the Perfect Plan
❏ Not acting until you Have All the Answers
❏ Refuse to be flexible or accepting of Hypotheticals or Spontaneity
❏ Team is focused on 100% Success in all aspects (No margin of error)
❏ Focus on the plan and not the End Results or Outcome
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Nice to Know
Work Need
to Get Done
Need to Know

Too Little.
Planning Adverse.
The small additional cost
of meetings must be
weighed against the costs
of partially successful,
failed initiatives, lack of
employee buy-in or
complete cynicism by the
workforce.
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Planning That’s Too Late (Ouch)
❏ Weigh what’s at stake.
❏ Are you willing to take the risk?
❏ Are your stakeholders willing
to take the risk?
❏ Can you afford what’s at stake?
❏ Do your have a recovery
Plan?
❏ More important than time and
money is your reputation.
❏ Will your mistakes erode
trust?
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Planning too late can lead to painful results

Poor Planning
● Conflicting and competing priorities
● Decisions keep being re-visited
Decisions are rehashed - Decision
making is painful
● Missing Accountability
● Ambiguity over Responsibilities
● Scope Creep - Continuously
Adding tasks:
○ Adding resources randomly and
haphazardly
○ Frequent and Long Meetings
○ Missing Dates
○ Rework
○ Dependencies an afterthought
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Good Planning
❏ Reduces uncertainty, confusion, risk
❏ Facilitates Decisions
❏ Achieves coordination and provides controls
❏ Accommodates adaption and agility
❏ Leads to economic and efficiency of products
❏ Reducing overlapping and wasteful activities
❏ Executive and Stakeholders are kept informed and alert
❏ Progress and Strategy is reviewed and strategies are
recast using data-driven decisions
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Psychology Today says
the Root Cause of Poor Planning
● Not Asking the Right Questions
● Not Following the Prescribed
Process
● Failing to Communicate Clearly
● Going Nowhere Fast

Planning is Not Bad and Meetings Are Not the Enemy
- If Done Correctly.
Keep speaking
No clear actions
(waiting too long)
Waffle Awkward silences
“On the fly”
Presenter
- no slides
-dogs
-toilet flushing
-bad connection
Time
Shaming/
condemnation
Yelling
Refusal to accept
change (closed
mind)
Not constructive Passive-
aggressive/public
shaming
No agenda- focus
Hijacking
Slides
(readability)
Not
prepared
Technical
difficulties
Wreckage
Writing by
committee
“I concur”
Attendance-> reschedule
Meeting for the sake
of meeting
Worst
Meeting
Ever
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Step 1: A Good Meeting Has an Agenda

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Step 2: A Good Meeting Has Clear Outcomes

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Are Too Many Meetings A Problem
or
Is The Way You Use Your Time After the Meetings
Not Fully Utilized
(i.e. Quiet Time or Focus Time)?
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Schedule Time for Team Quiet Hours/No Meetings
The right framing and facilitation of
these meetings can lead to
❏ Less Unplanned Meetings
❏ Concise Meetings
❏ Productive Meetings
❏ Specific Days for Quiet Hours
❏ One Day a Sprint for No
Meetings

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Balancing Meetings versus No Meetings
Sample 2 Week Sprint Schedule
❏ Yellow Days are Ceremonies
❏ Blue X are days with
designated Quiet Hours
❏ First Friday of the Sprint No
Meetings (As long as,
everyone stays connected via
a shared channel such as
Slack)

Considerations & Action Items
❏ See if your squad(s) need to add Backlog Refinement to their
cadence
❏ See if your squad(s) need to add Story Refinement to their
cadence
❏ Does your squad(s) have a Definition of Ready (DOR) for stories
they reference in Planning?
❏ Does your squad(s) have a Definition of Done (DOD)?
❏ Does everyone understand the intent and purpose of the
Ceremonies?
❏ Do you all have an agenda outlined to remind everyone of the
purpose of the Ceremony?
❏ Does your squad(s) timebox what they do in their Ceremonies to
make sure you meet the objective and get the outcome intended?
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Sprint Planning without Refinement is Futile

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