Imagine a 4-hour scrum planning meeting where you talk, discuss stories, estimate points, drag things into the sprint, and quietly question your life choices.

I've done my fair share of those. It's not fun.

But there are three things you can do to never have a boring planning meeting again.

1 — Groom the backlog ahead of time

Having 400 items in the backlog is not a goldmine where profit will be made once you eventually reach the ones on the bottom.

The truth is that old stories are less than worthless; they have negative value, and most are probably no longer relevant to the current business situation.

A clean backlog with as many relevant items as possible is a productive backlog.

Ideally, if you're working in small chunks, your backlog is just what you're about to tackle next.

2 — Prepare and collaborate ahead of time

Get your team members to contribute to well-defined tickets ahead of time. Nothing is more wasteful than having one person type in missing information while the rest of the team watches.

The meeting is there for a good discussion and for making decisions, not writing tickets.

3 — Facilitate a structured meeting

Timebox in advance, make sure the decisions that need to be made are on the menu and ensure the discussions stay relevant to the goals—no tangents.

Here's the thing...

As a strategic lead, you are responsible for ensuring that your planning meetings are valuable and engaging.

But doing that requires zero tolerance for boring, wasteful gatherings and investing time in setting up the processes and guidelines that ensure your meetings are palatable.

They won't be "fun," but they'll be valuable and efficient, and that's the goal.

Yours,

Taj