Answering: “Towards the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, the Product Owner and the Developers have not been able to reach a clear, mutual understanding about the highest order Product Backlog items. Because of this, the Developers could not figure out how many Product Backlog items they could forecast for the upcoming Sprint. The Product Owner did make clear what business objective he is hoping to achieve with this Sprint. Which of the following two actions would you support?”

The Developers should forecast the items most likely to meet the business objective, start the Sprint when the timebox ends, and keep refining as they go. The team should also inspect why this happened at the next Sprint Retrospective.

Exam Question

Towards the end of the Sprint Planning meeting, the Product Owner and the Developers have not been able to reach a clear, mutual understanding about the highest order Product Backlog items. Because of this, the Developers could not figure out how many Product Backlog items they could forecast for the upcoming Sprint. The Product Owner did make clear what business objective he is hoping to achieve with this Sprint. Which of the following two actions would you support? (choose the best two answers)

• A. The Developers forecast the most likely Product Backlog items to meet the business objective and create a Sprint Backlog based on a likely initial design and plan. Once the timebox for the Sprint Planning event is over, they start the Sprint and continue to analyze, decompose, and create additional functionality during the Sprint.
• B. If all agree they can continue the Sprint Planning meeting as a team past its timebox, until an adequate number of Product Backlog items are well enough understood for the Developers to make a complete forecast. Then start the Sprint.
• C. The team splits up and everybody takes as much time as they need to study the Product Backlog items first. The Product Owner should be available to answer individual questions. The group reconvenes when all team members are better prepared and restart the Sprint Planning meeting before the Sprint can start.
• D. They discuss in the upcoming Sprint Retrospective why this happened and what changes will make it less likely to recur.

Correct Answer

A and D.

Why This Is the Correct Answer

Sprint Planning is timeboxed to a maximum of eight hours for a one-month Sprint. The Scrum Guide does not expect a perfect plan. It says the Developers usually decompose only enough work for the first days of the Sprint, and the Sprint Backlog then emerges as they learn. The Product Owner gave a clear business objective, which can serve as the Sprint Goal. Option A respects the timebox and lets the Developers learn by working toward that goal. Option D uses the Sprint Retrospective to improve refinement and collaboration so that the next Sprint Planning goes better.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

B. Extend Sprint Planning past its timebox until items are clear. Timeboxes are maximum durations. Extending them treats planning as a phase that must be perfect before work starts.

C. Split up to study items, then restart Sprint Planning later. This delays the Sprint indefinitely and replaces collaboration with individual study. The Sprint should start once planning reaches its timebox.

Exam Tip

If a Sprint Planning question offers to extend the timebox or delay the Sprint, reject it. Scrum accepts an imperfect plan and adapts during the Sprint.

Key Takeaways

• Sprint Planning has a timebox that is not extended.
• A clear objective can guide the Sprint even with unclear details.
• The Sprint Retrospective addresses why planning went poorly.