Timeboxing the Sprint Review, Retro and Planning in a Single Day

Prep work for the Project Manager, Scrum Master or the like:

1. Break the meeting scheduled in calendar to explicitly time box the Sprint close from the Retro (maybe two separate meetings in calendar)
2. Have a set agenda posted along with detailed descriptions as noted below (Customize as you like as a team) for the Sprint Close out and Retro sessions as a reminder of the flow of the meeting.  Posters or even a wiki page with the info is good.
3. Move any retrospective item that you accomplished in the last sprint from the improvements/retro poster to a “completed improvements” poster so you can reference things you did and agreed to do over time.  

Sample agendas for the last day of the sprint:

• Team Prep Night before Sprint Close out
• Remind the team to close out any task(s) that they completed in advance so that all you have to do during the Review meeting is do the QUICK CLOSE on any stories with zero remaining hours at the story level. This will set status to Done and zero out the remaining hours of the task in one click
• Confirm any unfinished tasks/tests that are not done, update the remaining hours, make the task estimate the same number as the new remaining hours number (this helps with capacity planning for the next sprint)

• 930-10am Sprint Review and Close out
• Confirm which story and defect is complete (QUICK CLOSE the story)
• SPLIT any partially completed story to move the unfinished tasks/tests to the next sprint and then
• CLOSE SPRINT
• After everything is done (sprint closed and new sprint activated), this is when you can move into the RETRO section to talk through why the team is completing more or less story points each sprint.  If an idea comes up during this discussion, this is a perfect time to slide into the Retro portion of the day

• 10am-11am Sprint Retrospective
• Review the VELOCITY TREND report on the  Sprint Planning/Sprint Scheduling section and discuss what the team is doing that is causing the trending to be what it is. Are there some improvements they could be making to improve it? Are there some things that the team is doing that is making a positive difference to the trending?
• Look at the Retro poster (or wiki) to see what improvements the team has talked about in the past. Are there new ideas to add? Has the team completed some of the items already? CELEBRATE them!
• Vote on which item(s) the team would like to tackle in the next sprint. Maybe there is more than one that can be accomplished?
• Add a story card to your sprint backlog for each item the team agrees they want to add and assign the owner(s) that will be responsible for doing the work it will take to make the improvement and/or providing updates on it throughout the sprint as requested.

11-Noon Product Owner/Scrum Master Prep Session

• Add new stories to the sprint backlog that should be considered in sprint planning
• Remove stories that should be moved out of the sprint
• Review any blocks, issues or impediments to resolve them or pull stories out of the sprint if they are not resolved yet
• Prioritize the sprint backlog (will review again with team at the sprint planning session)
• If time permits, plan out the stories a few sprints ahead as a “request” to the delivery team and to assist with forecasting/scheduling

•    1-4:30pm Sprint Planning (entire team include Product Owner)

• 1-1:45pm – Story walk through and Estimation
• Product Owner walks team through the stories they would like to consider for the sprint, should include the story description, user acceptance criteria and stop to add more detail or to explain any new stories that need additional information so that the team will be able to size/estimate the story
• Team members “sign up” for stories they would like to work on (add themselves to the OWNER field on each story)
• Team sizes each story after all have been reviewed based on relative sizing technique (“smaller than this, bigger than that”)

• 1:45p-3:45pm – Story Detailed Planning
• This time is informal and time to self-organize!
• People tend to group together as needed by story to detailed out the tasks that each person will be doing on each story, entering the tasks/tests as they discuss and then estimating the hours for their work
• Each team member should look at the Sprint Planning/Member Planning page to see who is over allocated based on their assigned work against their offered capacity.  Talk to other team members to help them out by discussing how to spread the work more evenly across the team.

• 3:45p-4:30p – Sprint Plan Commitment and Kickoff
• Review the Sprint Planning/Member Planning to ensure no one is over allocated
• Review the total story points planned for the sprint – Is it higher than the trending velocity? It’s ok to go a little higher if work was partially finished in the last few sprints but the completed story points were low because of splitting.  Just remember to keep your new sprint somewhere between what you did and what you planned last time so you have a better chance of doing it! 
• Do a fist of five vote on the final sprint plan and you are ready to kick off the sprint!

Fist of Five Voting for Team Consensus

Fist to Five is quality voting. It has the elements of consensus built in and can
prepare groups to transition into consensus if they wish. Most people are accustomed to the
simplicity of "yes" and "no" voting rather than the complex and more community-oriented
consensus method of decision making.  This moves a group away from quantity voting to quality voting, which is considerably more informative. Fist to Five can also be used during consensus decision making as a way to check the “sense of the group,” or to check the quality of the consensus.

First, a member of the group presents the details of the proposal. This individual will then answer "clarifying questions" until all such questions have been asked and answered.  If appropriate and helpful, the group may then open the floor for discussion or break into small
groups for discussion. (If small groups are used, when the large group is reconvened, time should be allowed for any clarifying questions or comments members would like to include before voting.)

The Initial Vote
Once the proposal presentation is completed, the facilitator will direct each team member to vote by holding up 0 - 5 fingers.

• Fist: No support--will work to block proposal. "I need to talk more about the proposal and require changes for me to be comfortable with it."

• 1 Finger: No support, but won't block  "I still have strong reservations and want to discuss certain issues and suggest changes that should be made, but I agree not to block the proposal if approved as is."
• 2 Fingers: Minimal support"I am moderately comfortable with the proposal as is, but would like to discuss some minor issues."
• 3 Fingers: Neutral  "I'm not in total agreement but feel comfortable to let this decision or proposal pass without further discussion."
• 4 Fingers: Solid support "I think it's a good idea/decision and will openly support it.
• 5 Fingers: Strong support "It's a great idea, and I will do all I can to promote it."

If there is not a full consensus, ask the individuals that voted differently than the majority to state their concerns to the entire group including what it would take to get them to vote with the majority. After each individual has shared, the floor will be opened for clarifying questions, comments,  and discussion. The facilitator may choose to set time limits.

Once each minority voters has stated their case, another Fist-to-Five vote is held for the final version of the proposal.