Sprint Planning: Who MUST be present?

From my point of view, all the scrum team have to be there at the first part at least.

- The scrum master have to ensure the event is fluent, ensure that the PO and development team talk communicates efficiently. Ensure that the sprint goal is defined and clear...
- The development team have to select the PDI that can be done in the sprint.
- The PO have to communicate the sprint goal and describe PBI.

The development team can have to deal with the PO to select PBIs

During the second part, the PO can pass but the development team will probably have to catch her for getting answers or agreements.

I hope, I helped you...

Concerning this part:

[...] with the scrum master not being present at any time (only ensuring the planning is hold, [...]

I strongly disagree. I would always encourage the scrum master to be present doing all scrum related meetings. Sometimes as facilitator, sometimes as "active observer" - depending on which state the team is in (in general the more experienced the team gets and the more "high performance" the team is the less the scrum master has to interfere).


The scrum master has to be present at the meetings in order to fulfill the role which among other things are the responsibility to constantly adapt and improve the working methods and the progress for the team.


BR,
Ole

The entire Scrum Team (Development Team, Scrum Master, and Product Owner) need to be present during Sprint Planning. The Scrum Guide is quite clear about this: "This plan is created by the collaborative work of the entire Scrum Team".

The Guide also says that "The Product Owner may be present during the second part of the Sprint Planning Meeting to clarify the selected Product Backlog items and to help make trade-offs".

In other words, the Product Owner does not *have* to be present during the second part of planning. This is because the second part considers how the work will be done, which is not the Product Owner's responsibility.

This is usually interpreted as meaning that the Product Owner does not have to be physically present during Sprint Planning Part 2, but should be contactable in the event that scope clarification is needed. "Contactable" is taken to mean telephone, videoconferencing, or some other medium that permits a discussion of appropriate quality within the available time-box.

Yep, I also agree that whole scrum team should be present during the first half. PO can leave the meeting for 2nd half but he should be available for answering any queries and clarification.

I believe team can invite others, outside of their team for 2nd half in case of any external dependency or clarification.

Cheers
Sanjay

Hi Ian,

I have 2020-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf and I could not find the statement you quoted above -

The Guide also says that "The Product Owner may be present during the second part of the Sprint Planning Meeting to clarify the selected Product Backlog items and to help make trade-offs".

Can you help me understand if the above is still a valid statement from Scrum guide and if so where can I find this guide please?

The 2011 version of the Scrum Guide was updated in 2013, such that the two distinct parts of Sprint Planning became topics to address. The 2020 version revises two topics to three.

Scrum has generally become less prescriptive over the years. The Scrum Team is expected to attend Sprint Planning for example, but they would now self-organize how and when topics are addressed.

The latest version of the Scrum Guide should always be considered to be valid and to supersede prior versions.

Thanks for the clarification Ian