Combined Retros and Sprint Planning — The Essential Duo

This is an early excerpt from a book I am working on that I plan to call “Product Snacks”. It will be a concise collection of chapters, each offering practical and accessible advice for product managers and designed to be a desk-side companion, providing quick, digestible tips to guide and inspire when you’re seeking clarity or a fresh perspective. I’d love ANY and ALL feedback and if you’d like to collab, let’s chat!

I know it feels like you’re constantly chasing and never have enough time for things like retrospectives or sprint planning. You might feel tempted to skip one, especially retrospectives, thinking, “We don’t have time for this, we need to make more progress.” Or maybe you question the effectiveness of these ceremonies… if that’s the case, it’s probably the reason you feel like you don’t have enough time — because you and your team are not improving.

Here’s the thing: these aren’t just meetings; they’re your team’s lifelines.

Retrospectives are like team huddles

They are a chance to catch your breath, look back at the ground covered, and learn from each stride and stumble. They’re not just about what went wrong or right; they’re your team’s regular heartbeat, a rhythm of coming together, sharing insights, and growing. Skipping a retrospective is a really bad habit that will cost you; it might seem inconsequential at first, but it disrupts the flow, leaving your team’s potential for collaboration and improvement untapped or stunted. Another way to look at this is skipping it is like eating candy, it feels good in the monet but has long term negative consequences.

Sprint planning is like mapping the next leg of your journey.

Sprint Planning is where you collectively decide which hills to climb and which paths to avoid. It’s about setting clear goals, understanding potential risks, and aligning everyone’s compasses. Without this, your team will end up wandering aimlessly, unclear about the destination or the route and resulting in poor quality, poor velocity, and shipping things that don’t matter.

The pro move is to merge these two ceremonies.

Start the meeting with your retrospective. Dive into what worked, what didn’t, what the team feels needs to improve, and gather those valuable nuggets of wisdom. Then, seamlessly transition into your sprint planning. Here’s where the magic happens: you can immediately apply the learnings from your retrospective to chart a smarter, more informed course for your next sprint.

This combination is powerful. It transforms these sessions from mere procedural gatherings into a dynamic space that the team can expect and prepare for, and where learning meets action, and gives you the tools to communicate and set expectations with the larger company. It ensures that the insights from your retrospective don’t just float away but are anchored immediately into your next set of plans. It’s about creating a space where the team can reflect, learn, and then apply the learning immediately with purpose.

By conducting both, and doing so in a way that they feed into each other, you’re not just going through the motions. You’re building a more resilient, agile, and informed team, poised to tackle the next challenge with all the wisdom of the previous ones in tow.

So next time you’re at that crossroads, remember: these sessions are more than just meetings. They’re your team’s stepping stones to do incredible work, together.

Key Takeaways

• Combining Retrospectives and Sprint Planning: Starting with a retrospective and then moving into sprint planning allows for immediate application of lessons learned. This approach enhances the effectiveness of both processes.
• Transformative Effect of Merging Ceremonies: This combination changes these sessions from routine meetings into dynamic, actionable, and preparation-oriented gatherings.
• Building a Resilient and Agile Team: By integrating retrospectives with sprint planning, the team becomes more resilient, agile, and informed, ready to face new challenges with the wisdom gained from past experiences.
• Importance Beyond Meetings: These sessions are not just procedural necessities; they are essential for building a highly effective and collaborative team capable of doing incredible work together.