Use this skill when working with Agile and Scrum methodologies - sprint planning, retrospectives, velocity tracking, Kanban boards, story point estimation, backlog grooming, or team workflow optimization. Triggers on any task involving sprint ceremonies, agile metrics, user story writing, capacity planning, or continuous improvement processes.
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Use this skill when working with Agile and Scrum methodologies - sprint planning, retrospectives, velocity tracking, Kanban boards, story point estimation, backlog grooming, or team workflow optimization. Triggers on any task involving sprint ceremonies, agile metrics, user story writing, capacity planning, or continuous improvement processes.
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Agile & Scrum
Agile is an iterative approach to project delivery that focuses on delivering small,
incremental pieces of value through short cycles called sprints. Scrum is the most
widely adopted Agile framework, structured around defined roles (Product Owner, Scrum
Master, Developers), events (Sprint Planning, Daily Standup, Sprint Review,
Retrospective), and artifacts (Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment). This skill
covers practical application of Scrum ceremonies, estimation techniques, velocity
tracking, Kanban flow management, and continuous improvement practices.
When to use this skill
Trigger this skill when the user:
Needs to plan a sprint or organize a sprint planning session
Wants to run or improve retrospectives
Asks about velocity tracking, burndown charts, or sprint metrics
Needs to estimate stories using story points, T-shirt sizing, or planning poker
Wants to set up or optimize a Kanban board
Asks about backlog grooming or refinement practices
Needs templates for user stories, acceptance criteria, or definition of done
Wants to improve team agile processes or adopt Scrum
Do NOT trigger this skill for:
General project management unrelated to Agile (waterfall, PRINCE2, etc.)
Software architecture or technical design decisions (use engineering skills instead)
Key principles
Deliver working increments - Every sprint must produce a potentially shippable
increment. If a team consistently fails to deliver done work, the sprint length or
scope is wrong. Favor smaller slices of value over large batches.
Inspect and adapt relentlessly - Every Scrum event is an inspection point.
Retrospectives are not optional feel-good sessions; they produce concrete action
items that the team commits to in the next sprint. Measure whether actions were
completed.
Limit work in progress - Whether using Scrum or Kanban, WIP limits are the
single most effective lever for improving flow. A team that starts fewer things
finishes more things. Default WIP limit: number of developer pairs + 1.
Estimation is for planning, not accountability - Story points measure
complexity and uncertainty, not hours or individual performance. Never use velocity
to compare teams or pressure individuals. Velocity is a planning tool, not a
performance metric.
Transparency over perfection - Make all work visible. Hidden work-in-progress,
undisclosed blockers, and invisible technical debt destroy predictability. A board
that shows reality is more valuable than one that looks clean.
Core concepts
Scrum events form a feedback loop. Sprint Planning sets the goal and selects
work. Daily Standups surface blockers early. Sprint Review demonstrates the increment
to stakeholders. Retrospective improves the process itself. Skipping any event breaks
the feedback loop and causes drift.
The Product Backlog is a living, ordered list. It is not a dumping ground for
every idea. The Product Owner continuously refines and re-prioritizes it. Items near
the top are small, well-defined, and estimated. Items at the bottom are large and
vague. Backlog refinement (grooming) should consume roughly 10% of the team's
capacity each sprint.
Velocity is a trailing indicator. It is the sum of story points completed in a
sprint. Use the average of the last 3-5 sprints for planning. Velocity naturally
fluctuates; a single sprint's velocity is meaningless. Only trends over 4+ sprints
reveal real changes in capacity or process.
Kanban focuses on flow, not time-boxes. Instead of sprints, Kanban uses a
continuous flow with explicit WIP limits per column. The key metrics are cycle time
(how long one item takes from start to done) and throughput (how many items complete
per unit of time). Kanban and Scrum can coexist (Scrumban).
Common tasks
Run sprint planning
Sprint planning answers two questions: What can we deliver this sprint? How
will we deliver it?
Template: Sprint Planning Agenda (2 hours for a 2-week sprint)
Review sprint goal (10 min) - PO proposes a sprint goal tied to a product
objective. Team discusses feasibility.
Select backlog items (40 min) - Team pulls items from the top of the refined
backlog until capacity is reached. Use last 3-sprint velocity average as the guide.
Task breakdown (50 min) - For each selected item, break it into tasks. If any
task is larger than 1 day, break it further.
Confirm sprint goal and commitment (10 min) - Team agrees on the sprint
backlog and goal. PO confirms priority order.
Identify risks and dependencies (10 min) - Flag external dependencies, PTO,
or known blockers.
Capacity adjustment: multiply velocity by (available dev-days / total dev-days)
to account for PTO, holidays, and on-call rotations.
Estimate with story points
Use the modified Fibonacci sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21. Anything above 13
should be split before entering a sprint.
Planning Poker process:
PO reads the user story and acceptance criteria
Team asks clarifying questions (time-box: 3 min per story)
Everyone simultaneously reveals their estimate
If estimates diverge by more than 2 levels (e.g., 3 vs 13), the highest and
lowest estimators explain their reasoning
Re-vote. If still divergent after 2 rounds, take the higher estimate
Estimation reference table:
Points
Complexity
Uncertainty
Example
1
Trivial
None
Fix a typo, update a config value
2
Low
Minimal
Add a field to an existing form
3
Moderate
Low
Build a new API endpoint with tests
5
Significant
Some
Integrate a third-party service
8
High
Moderate
Redesign a data pipeline component
13
Very high
High
New feature spanning multiple services
21
Epic-level
Very high
Should be broken down further
Run a retrospective
Format: Start-Stop-Continue (45 min for a 2-week sprint)
Set the stage (5 min) - State the retro goal. Use a safety check (1-5 scale)
to gauge openness.
Gather data (15 min) - Each person writes items on sticky notes (or digital
equivalent) in three columns: Start doing, Stop doing, Continue doing.
Group and vote (10 min) - Cluster similar items. Dot-vote (3 dots per person)
to prioritize.
Generate actions (10 min) - For the top 2-3 voted items, define a specific
action with an owner and a due date. Actions must be achievable within one sprint.
Close (5 min) - Review action items. Check: did we complete last retro's
actions?
Alternative formats (rotate to prevent staleness):
4Ls: Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed for
Sailboat: Wind (helps), Anchor (slows), Rocks (risks), Island (goal)
Mad-Sad-Glad: Emotional categorization for team health checks
Timeline: Plot the sprint on a timeline marking highs and lows
Rule: never leave a retro without exactly 2-3 action items with named owners.
More than 3 dilutes focus. Zero means the retro was pointless.
Track velocity and sprint metrics
Key metrics to track each sprint:
Metric
Formula
Healthy range
Velocity
Sum of completed story points
Stable +/- 20% over 4 sprints
Sprint completion rate
Completed items / committed items
80-100%
Carry-over rate
Incomplete items / committed items
0-20%
Scope change rate
Added items / original committed items
0-10%
Bug ratio
Bugs found / stories delivered
Below 15%
Burndown chart interpretation:
Flat line early, cliff late - Team batching work; encourage smaller slices
Scope creep visible - Line goes up mid-sprint; enforce sprint scope protection
Smooth decline - Healthy flow; team is breaking work well
Never reaches zero - Chronic over-commitment; reduce sprint scope by 20%
Set up a Kanban board
Standard columns:
Backlog | Ready | In Progress | In Review | Done
WIP limits by column (for a team of 5):
Backlog: unlimited (but keep refined items at top)
Ready: 8 (roughly 1.5 sprints of work)
In Progress: 5 (one per developer, adjust for pairing)
In Review: 3 (force fast feedback loops)
Done: unlimited
Kanban policies (make explicit):
An item enters "Ready" only when it has acceptance criteria and an estimate
An item enters "In Progress" only when WIP limit allows
An item enters "In Review" only when it meets Definition of Done for dev
Pull from the right: always prioritize finishing items in Review before starting
new items from Ready
Write effective user stories
Template:
As a [type of user],
I want to [action],
so that [benefit/value].
Acceptance criteria (Given-When-Then):
Given [precondition],
When [action is taken],
Then [expected result].
INVEST checklist for good stories:
Independent - No dependencies on other stories in the sprint
Negotiable - Details can be discussed, not locked down
Valuable - Delivers value to the user or business
Estimable - Team can estimate its size
Small - Fits within one sprint (ideally 1-3 days of work)
Testable - Clear criteria to verify it's done
Define Definition of Done
A shared checklist that every increment must satisfy before it can be called done.
Example Definition of Done:
Code reviewed and approved by at least one peer
All acceptance criteria verified
Unit tests written and passing (minimum 80% coverage for new code)
The DoD is not negotiable per-story. If the team cannot meet the DoD, the story
is not done - it carries over. Lowering DoD to "finish" stories creates hidden debt.
Anti-patterns / common mistakes
Mistake
Why it's wrong
What to do instead
Using velocity to compare teams
Different teams estimate differently; points are relative to each team
Use velocity only within a team for sprint planning
Skipping retrospectives when "busy"
Removes the only mechanism for process improvement; problems compound
Shorten the retro to 30 min but never skip it
Treating story points as hours
Creates pressure to track time, not complexity; gaming behavior follows
Only the PO can add items, and only by removing equal-sized items
No Definition of Done
"Done" means different things to different people; quality erodes
Write and post DoD visibly; review it quarterly
Carrying over 30%+ of sprint work
Indicates chronic over-commitment or poor refinement
Reduce committed scope by 20%; invest more in refinement
Retrospective without action items
Venting session with no improvement; team loses faith in the process
Always leave with 2-3 specific, owned, time-bound actions
Gotchas
Velocity is team-specific and not comparable across teams - Teams calibrate story points differently. A team doing 40 points per sprint is not twice as productive as one doing 20. Using velocity to compare teams, pressure individuals, or set targets from outside the team destroys the signal. It is a planning tool only.
Adding items mid-sprint breaks the sprint goal - The sprint goal is a commitment, not a suggestion. Adding new work mid-sprint without removing equivalent work invalidates velocity data and trains the team that commitments are flexible. Only the PO can add items, and only by removing something of equal size.
Retrospectives without named action owners are decoration - "We should communicate better" is not an action item. Actions without a single owner and a due date will not happen. Every retro must end with 2-3 specific, owned, sprint-scoped actions. Anything else is venting.
Carrying over stories inflates apparent velocity - If a team regularly carries over 20-30% of committed work and counts it as completed in the next sprint, their velocity is artificially high and sprint planning is unreliable. Track carry-over rate separately and reduce committed scope until completion rate reaches 85%+.
Definition of Done that bends per story creates hidden debt - Lowering the DoD to "finish" a story (skipping tests, skipping review) creates undisclosed technical debt that surfaces as bugs and rework. The DoD is a floor, not a negotiation. A story that cannot meet the DoD is not done; it carries over.
References
For detailed content on specific sub-domains, read the relevant file
from the references/ folder:
references/sprint-ceremonies.md - Detailed facilitation guides for all Scrum events
references/estimation-techniques.md - Deep dive on estimation methods beyond story points
references/kanban-flow.md - Advanced Kanban practices, metrics, and board configurations
Only load a references file if the current task requires it - they are
long and will consume context.
Companion check
On first activation of this skill in a conversation: check which companion skills are installed by running ls ~/.claude/skills/ ~/.agent/skills/ ~/.agents/skills/ .claude/skills/ .agent/skills/ .agents/skills/ 2>/dev/null. Compare the results against the recommended_skills field in this file's frontmatter. For any that are missing, mention them once and offer to install:
