Sprint planning template
A sprint board with 5 columns: Backlog, To Do, In Progress, In Review and Done. Plan the sprint on it, then work the sprint on it. No spreadsheet to copy across when the meeting ends.
Free for 3 projects, forever. No credit card.
Export invoices as PDF
Dark mode for the settings page
Rate-limit the public API
Fix the sign-up email typo
Retry failed webhooks
New pricing page copy
Upgrade the database driver
The 5 columns
What each one is for. Rename, reorder or add columns whenever the work needs it.
- Backlog
- Everything you might do, roughly in order. It can be long. Nobody works from here.
- To Do
- What the team agreed to finish this sprint. Cards move here in the planning meeting and nowhere else.
- In Progress
- Someone is working on it now. Give the column a WIP limit so it shows when the team has taken on too much.
- In Review
- Done by the person who did it, waiting for a second pair of eyes: code review, a design check or a test.
- Donecounts as done
- Reviewed and finished. It counts as done, so it drops out of Focus and the open card counts.
How to run sprint planning with it
Guides: Sprint planning, Definition of done, Scrumban, Workload management, User story template, Acceptance criteria examples, Backlog refinement (backlog grooming), Definition of ready
-
Step 1
Before the meeting, sort the backlog
Put the most important cards at the top of Backlog. Give each one a size, so the team can see roughly how big it is, and a priority if it has a deadline behind it.
-
Step 2
In the meeting, pull cards into To Do
Start from the top of Backlog and drag cards into To Do until the team says that's enough for one sprint. Assign each card as it moves, so nobody leaves without knowing what's theirs.
-
Step 3
Mark the end of the sprint
Add a milestone for the sprint's last day. It sits beside the board with today marked, so everyone can see how much time is left without asking.
-
Step 4
During the sprint, keep it moving
Cards move from In Progress to In Review to Done. Press U for standup to walk the board one person at a time, with only their cards showing.
-
Step 5
At the end, look at what's left
Whatever isn't in Done goes back to Backlog or into the next sprint's To Do. Archive the Done column's cards when you're ready, and they stay searchable.
With your AI agents
An agent connected over MCP works the same board you do, with your permissions. It can draft the backlog from a spec, move what it finishes, and tell you what's at risk before the review.
Agents connect over MCP or the REST API, on every plan, and act as you.
agentcreate_project("Sprint 14", template: "sprint")
agentbulk_create_cards("Sprint 14", 12 cards from spec.md)
agentmove_card("Rate-limit the public API", "In Review")
agentget_focus()
Keep it working
- Keep To Do honest. If a card is added mid-sprint, something else goes back to Backlog.
- Set a WIP limit on In Progress, around 1 or 2 cards per person. The column shows when it's full.
- Use a checklist on a card instead of splitting it into 5 tiny cards nobody can follow.
- Write the sprint goal in the board brief, so people and agents both read the same thing.
Questions
About this template
Is the sprint planning template free?
Yes. Every template is on the Free plan, which covers 3 projects with unlimited cards, forever. No credit card.
Can I change the columns?
Yes. Rename, reorder, recolour or remove any column, or add your own, like Blocked or QA. The template is only the starting layout.
Should I make a new board for every sprint?
You don't have to. Most teams keep one board and archive the Done cards at the end of each sprint. Archived cards still come up in search.
Does it have story points or a burndown chart?
It has a size on every card, but no points total and no burndown chart. The board shows what's open, what's in review and what's done, which is what most sprint reviews come down to.
Other templates
Start from this template
Free for 3 projects, with no credit card to enter. Every board exports as JSON or CSV whenever you want to leave.