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home / skills / a5c-ai / babysitter / sprint-planning-calculator

sprint-planning-calculator skill

/plugins/babysitter/skills/babysit/process/specializations/domains/business/project-management/skills/sprint-planning-calculator

This skill helps teams plan sprints by calculating capacity, applying focus factors, and supporting multiple estimation techniques for accurate commitments.

npx playbooks add skill a5c-ai/babysitter --skill sprint-planning-calculator

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (1)
SKILL.md
2.6 KB
---
name: sprint-planning-calculator
description: Calculate sprint capacity and support story point estimation
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Write
  - Glob
  - Grep
  - Bash
metadata:
  specialization: project-management
  domain: business
  category: Agile Management
  id: SK-010
---

# Sprint Planning Calculator

## Overview

The Sprint Planning Calculator skill supports Agile teams in planning sprints effectively. It calculates team capacity based on availability, applies focus factors for realistic planning, and supports various estimation techniques including Planning Poker with multiple estimation scales.

## Capabilities

### Capacity Calculation
- Calculate team capacity based on availability
- Factor in focus factor for realistic planning
- Account for holidays, PTO, and meetings
- Support part-time team member calculations
- Handle team composition changes

### Estimation Support
- Support Planning Poker estimation sessions
- Provide reference story comparisons
- Support multiple estimation scales (Fibonacci, T-shirt, powers of 2)
- Track estimation accuracy over time
- Calculate estimate confidence levels

### Sprint Commitment
- Calculate velocity-based sprint commitment
- Apply capacity-to-velocity ratios
- Identify capacity risks and constraints
- Generate sprint goal recommendations
- Track commitment vs. completion ratios

### Analysis and Reporting
- Compare planned vs. actual capacity utilization
- Generate sprint planning reports
- Calculate sprint success probability
- Identify planning anti-patterns
- Produce retrospective input data

## Usage

### Input Requirements
- Team member list with availability
- Sprint duration and working days
- Historical velocity data
- Focus factor settings
- Backlog items with estimates

### Output Deliverables
- Team capacity calculation
- Recommended sprint commitment
- Capacity risk assessment
- Sprint planning summary
- Commitment vs. velocity comparison

### Example Use Cases
1. **Sprint Planning**: Calculate capacity and commitment
2. **Team Onboarding**: Adjust capacity for new members
3. **Vacation Planning**: Model capacity with PTO
4. **Process Improvement**: Analyze planning accuracy

## Process Integration

This skill integrates with the following processes:
- Sprint Planning and Backlog Refinement
- agile-metrics-velocity.js
- Resource Planning and Allocation
- Team Formation and Development

## Dependencies

- Estimation algorithms
- Capacity calculations
- Calendar integration
- Statistical analysis utilities

## Related Skills

- SK-005: Agile Metrics Calculator
- SK-015: Retrospective Facilitator
- SK-016: Kanban Board Analyzer

Overview

This skill calculates sprint capacity and supports story point estimation to help Agile teams plan reliably. It combines team availability, focus factors, and historical velocity to produce realistic sprint commitments and risk assessments. The tool also supports multiple estimation scales and tracks estimation accuracy over time.

How this skill works

Provide a team member list with availability, sprint duration, backlog items with estimates, and historical velocity. The skill computes total usable capacity by accounting for holidays, PTO, meetings, part-time roles, and focus factors, then translates capacity into recommended sprint commitment using velocity ratios. It can run Planning Poker sessions, map different estimation scales (Fibonacci, T-shirt, powers of two), and produce reports comparing planned vs actual outcomes.

When to use it

  • Before sprint planning to set a realistic commitment
  • When onboarding or offboarding team members to update capacity
  • To model the impact of vacations, holidays, or reduced availability
  • During estimation sessions to normalize scales and track confidence
  • For retrospectives to analyze planning accuracy and anti-patterns

Best practices

  • Keep member availability and recurring meetings up to date for accurate capacity
  • Use historical velocity at the team level, not individual velocities
  • Apply a conservative focus factor initially and refine based on results
  • Standardize one estimation scale for the team and map others as needed
  • Run short Planning Poker sessions with reference stories to improve consistency

Example use cases

  • Sprint Planning: calculate team capacity, recommend a backlog commitment, and highlight capacity risks
  • Vacation Planning: simulate sprint impact when multiple team members take PTO
  • Team Changes: recalc capacity and velocity projection after adding or removing members
  • Estimation Calibration: run Planning Poker with reference stories and track estimate confidence
  • Process Improvement: generate retrospective input showing planned vs actual utilization

FAQ

What inputs are required to compute capacity?

You need a list of team members with availability, sprint length and working days, known holidays/PTO, and any recurring meetings. Historical velocity and focus factor settings improve accuracy.

Which estimation scales are supported?

Fibonacci, T-shirt sizes, and powers of two are supported. The skill can map between scales and keep reference story comparisons to maintain consistency.