🛠️✅ Definition of Ready Sprint
Gear up! This retro sharpens our Definition of Ready, ensuring every backlog item is truly ready to sprint, boosting flow and predictability.
Template Columns
🚀 Start Ready Practices
Identify new actions to make items ready before planning.
Base column: Start✋ Stop Unready Work
Highlight practices that let unready items slip into sprints and halt them.
Base column: Stop🔄 Continue Ready Discipline
Reinforce habits that keep our backlog definition solid and consistent.
Base column: ContinueAbout this template
A focused retro that refines the Definition of Ready, ensuring backlog items are truly sprint‑ready to improve flow and predictability.
When to use this template
Use when the team frequently encounters unready stories during sprint planning or experiences unpredictable sprint outcomes.
How to facilitate
Gather the team in a virtual or physical space and briefly remind everyone of the purpose: to evaluate how well the Definition of Ready is being applied.
Ask participants to write on sticky notes or digital cards examples of actions that helped items become ready, placing them in the Start Ready Practices column.
Collect ideas for behaviors or gaps that allowed unready work into sprints and add them to the Stop Unready Work column.
Discuss current habits that support a solid Definition of Ready and capture them in the Continue Ready Discipline column.
Vote on the top two items in each column, then create concrete, time‑boxed action items for the next sprint to start, stop, and continue the identified practices.
Pro Tips
Use a shared digital board with color‑coded columns so remote participants can see and move cards in real time.
Limit each participant to three items per column to keep the discussion focused and avoid overload.
Assign a single owner for each action item and add it to the sprint backlog as a task with a clear definition of done.
FAQ
What if the team can’t agree on what ‘ready’ means?
Facilitate a short definition workshop during the retro, capture consensus points, and update the Definition of Ready document immediately.
How many items should we aim to add to the action list?
Focus on 2–3 high‑impact actions; too many dilute commitment and make follow‑up harder.
What if remote participants are silent?
Prompt them directly, use the chat for written input, and consider a quick round‑robin where each person shares one observation.
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At a glance
- Duration
45–60 min
- Team Size
5-12 people
- Columns
3 columns
- Base Format
Start, Stop, Continue
Tags
Ready to get started?
Use this template to run your next retrospective