CAE Sprint Planning & Estimation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does 'capacity' refer to in the context of sprint planning?
- The total number of user stories in the product backlog
- The maximum number of sprint goals allowed per sprint
- The actual availability of team members in hours or days for the upcoming sprint (Correct answer)
- The budget allocated to the development team
Correct answer: The actual availability of team members in hours or days for the upcoming sprint
Capacity accounts for each team member's available time after subtracting vacations, meetings, and other obligations.
Question 2: In Planning Poker, what happens when team members reveal wildly different estimates for the same story?
- The highest estimate is automatically accepted to be safe
- The facilitator overrides all estimates with their own judgment
- The team discusses the reasoning behind divergent estimates before re-estimating (Correct answer)
- The story is immediately removed from the sprint
Correct answer: The team discusses the reasoning behind divergent estimates before re-estimating
Divergent estimates signal different understandings of the work; discussion surfaces assumptions and leads to better shared understanding.
Question 3: Which of the following is NOT a valid input to sprint planning?
- The prioritized product backlog
- The team's past velocity
- The sprint retrospective actions from the previous sprint
- The project manager's personal task assignments (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The project manager's personal task assignments
Sprint planning is driven by backlog, velocity, and team capacity — not by individual task assignments from outside the team.
Question 4: What is a 'spike' in agile planning, and when is it used during sprint planning discussions?
- A spike is a high-priority story that must be completed first
- A spike is a time-boxed research task used to reduce uncertainty before estimating an item (Correct answer)
- A spike refers to a sudden increase in story points committed
- A spike is a sprint that contains only bug fixes
Correct answer: A spike is a time-boxed research task used to reduce uncertainty before estimating an item
Spikes are used when a story is too uncertain to estimate reliably; the spike produces knowledge, not a shippable feature.
Question 5: A team consistently completes only 60% of its sprint commitment. Which practice would BEST help address this during planning?
- Increase the sprint length to give more time
- Stop tracking velocity altogether
- Reduce the sprint commitment to align with demonstrated capacity (Correct answer)
- Add more developers immediately
Correct answer: Reduce the sprint commitment to align with demonstrated capacity
Consistently incomplete sprints indicate overcommitment; right-sizing commitments to actual capacity improves predictability.
Question 6: How does the Definition of Done influence sprint planning?
- It is irrelevant to sprint planning
- It determines who attends the sprint planning meeting
- It sets quality standards that affect how long stories actually take, influencing capacity planning (Correct answer)
- It lists the stories the Product Owner wants done
Correct answer: It sets quality standards that affect how long stories actually take, influencing capacity planning
The Definition of Done establishes the required quality gates, so the team must factor in testing, reviews, and documentation when estimating capacity.
Question 7: What is the recommended maximum duration of a sprint planning meeting for a two-week sprint?
- 30 minutes
- One full day (8 hours)
- Up to 4 hours (Correct answer)
- No limit; it lasts until all stories are fully broken down
Correct answer: Up to 4 hours
The Scrum Guide suggests sprint planning is time-boxed to a maximum of 8 hours for a one-month sprint, scaling proportionally to about 4 hours for two weeks.
CAE Sprint Planning & Estimation 3
What does 'capacity' refer to in the context of sprint planning?