{"id":8076,"date":"2026-05-26T14:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/?p=8076"},"modified":"2026-05-26T14:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T14:46:05","slug":"how-to-plan-a-sprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/how-to-plan-a-sprint\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Plan a Sprint Using Throughput, Velocity, and Capacity"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Highlights of How to Plan a Sprint<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sprint planning using only velocity is incomplete. Throughput and capacity together give a more accurate and reliable commitment baseline.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Velocity measures story points completed per sprint. Throughput measures the number of items completed per sprint regardless of size. Capacity measures available team hours after planned leave and ceremonies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Easy Agile State of Team Alignment 2026 report found that 80% of teams experience significant sprint rollover, and 44% of teams report tasks ending up significantly larger or smaller than estimated on roughly half their work. Both are solvable with better sprint planning inputs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The correct formula: Committed stories = the lower of (velocity-based adjusted estimate) and (throughput-based adjusted estimate), after applying the capacity adjustment factor.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NextAgile&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/agile-consulting-services\/\"><strong>agile consulting services<\/strong><\/a> teach teams to combine all three planning inputs as part of our Next Ways of Working transformation framework.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Introduction<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sprint planning is one of the most consequential ceremonies in the Agile delivery cycle. Done well, it gives the team a clear, achievable goal and sets the tone for a focused, productive sprint. Done poorly, it results in overcommitment, sprint rollover, and eroded stakeholder trust. Most teams know they should plan better. Few know exactly what to change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.easyagile.com\/blog\/agile-predictions-insights-2026-team-collaboration-research\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agile State of Team Alignment 2026 report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which surveyed 419 engineers and product managers, found that 80% of teams experience significant sprint rollover and that 44% of teams report tasks ending up significantly larger or smaller than estimated on roughly half their work. Both problems are solvable with better sprint planning inputs. Most teams use velocity alone. The teams that achieve consistent sprint goals use velocity alongside throughput and capacity as a three-input system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This guide covers what throughput, velocity, and capacity each measure, how to calculate them, how to combine them in sprint planning, and when each metric should take precedence over the others. Read this alongside our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/sprint-planning\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to run effective sprint planning guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/sprint-planning-steps\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9 sprint planning steps guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for a complete sprint ceremony toolkit.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Three Inputs to Sprint Planning<\/h2>\n<h3>What Is Velocity in Agile Sprint Planning?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Velocity is the total story points completed by a team in a sprint, averaged over 3 to 5 historical sprints. It is the most widely used sprint planning input because it is easy to calculate in any backlog management tool. Velocity works well when stories are consistently sized, team composition is stable, and story point calibration has not drifted. Velocity breaks down when story size varies wildly, the team composition changes, or the team has inflated point estimates over time. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/agile-estimation-techniques\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">agile estimation techniques guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers how to detect and correct velocity drift before it distorts sprint planning.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What Is Throughput in Agile Sprint Planning?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughput is the number of backlog items completed by a team per sprint, regardless of their size estimate. It is a count-based metric that avoids the estimation biases embedded in story points. Throughput works well when story sizes are relatively consistent, or when the team has moved toward fixed-size work items. The<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scrum.org community<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has published research showing that throughput-based sprint planning produces more accurate commitments for mature teams with stable story sizing discipline. See our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/product-backlog-refinement\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">product backlog refinement guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for practices that keep story sizes consistent enough to make throughput a reliable planning signal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What Is Capacity in Agile Sprint Planning?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capacity is the actual available work hours the team has in a specific sprint, accounting for holidays, planned leave, ceremonies, and non-project obligations. It is a team-specific, sprint-specific input that adjusts the velocity and throughput estimates for real-world availability. Capacity is essential when the team&#8217;s availability in the upcoming sprint differs from historical sprints. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/sprint-planning\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sprint planning guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers how to build a capacity tracking habit that takes less than 5 minutes to maintain per sprint.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Why Using Velocity Alone Is Insufficient<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Velocity is a lagging indicator. It tells you what the team accomplished in past sprints under past conditions. It does not tell you what the team can accomplish in the next sprint given current conditions. The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agilealliance.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agile Alliance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> identifies three specific scenarios where velocity-only planning consistently fails:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New team member joining: Velocity drops by 15 to 25% during the first 2 to 3 sprints as the team adjusts. Velocity-only planning overcommits the team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Holiday sprint: A sprint with 2 national holidays has 20% less capacity than a standard sprint. Velocity-only planning assigns standard story point load to a reduced team.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Estimation drift: Teams that repeatedly partially complete large stories inflate their velocity over time. The velocity number grows but real throughput does not increase proportionally. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/agile-estimation-techniques\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">agile estimation techniques guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> explains how to use reference stories and calibration sessions to prevent estimation drift.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>How to Plan a Sprint Using All Three Metrics<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8078 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics.png\" alt=\"How to Plan a Sprint Using All Three Metrics\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics.png 1200w, https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics-600x400.png 600w, https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/How-to-Plan-a-Sprint-Using-All-Three-Metrics-150x100.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Step 1: Calculate Your Baseline Velocity<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pull the last 3 to 5 completed sprints from your backlog tool. Sum the story points completed in each sprint. Calculate the average. Do not include sprints with significant abnormalities such as a team at half capacity or a sprint consumed by a production incident. If you are a new team without velocity history, our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/agile-planning-and-estimation\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">agile planning and estimation guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers how to use capacity planning as your primary planning input for the first 2 to 3 sprints.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Step 2: Calculate Your Throughput Range<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Count the number of stories completed per sprint for the same 3 to 5 sprints. Calculate the average throughput. Also note the minimum and maximum. The range gives you a confidence interval. If your average throughput is 10 stories but your minimum was 7, your sprint commitment should be 7 to 10 stories to maintain a healthy confidence level. Consistent story sizing is the prerequisite for throughput to be a meaningful signal, enforced through your<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/product-backlog-refinement\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">product backlog refinement process<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Step 3: Adjust for Capacity<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Calculate the specific capacity for the upcoming sprint accounting for holidays, planned leave, and ceremony time. Express the result as a percentage of a standard sprint capacity and apply that factor to both your velocity and throughput baselines. For India-based enterprise teams, accounting for Diwali, Holi, and regional state holidays is a consistent sprint planning challenge. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/sprint-planning-steps\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sprint planning steps guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> includes a capacity adjustment template you can use immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Example: Standard sprint = 360 hours. Upcoming sprint = 300 hours due to Diwali break. Capacity adjustment factor = 300 divided by 360 = 0.83. Adjusted velocity = 34 x 0.83 = 28 story points. Adjusted throughput = 10.5 x 0.83 = 8.7 stories (round down to 8).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Step 4: Set the Committed Story Count<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use the lower of the two adjusted estimates as your committed story count. This is conservative and intentional. Consistent sprint goal achievement builds stakeholder trust faster than ambitious commitments followed by partial delivery. The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scrumalliance.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scrum Alliance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> research on team performance shows that sprint goal achievement rates above 80% correlate directly with stakeholder confidence scores above 7 out of 10.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Step 5: Buffer for Unplanned Work<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reserve 10 to 15% of capacity for unplanned work: production bugs, urgent stakeholder requests, and team support requests that do not appear in sprint planning. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/sprint-planning\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to run effective sprint planning guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers how to create a separate unplanned work track in your backlog tool so emergency items do not silently consume sprint capacity against planned stories.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Throughput vs. Velocity: When to Use Each<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Scenario<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Use Velocity<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Use Throughput<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Story sizing consistency<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mixed size stories (1 to 13 pts)<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right-sized stories (1 to 5 pts)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Team stability<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stable team, same composition<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Team in flux or growing<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Estimation confidence<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strong sizing discipline<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Estimation debates are frequent<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forecasting horizon<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Near-term (next sprint)<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long-range (3 to 6 months)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanban or flow teams<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not recommended<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Primary planning input<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New <a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/agile-team-structure\/\">Agile team<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First choice during calibration<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once 3 or more sprints of data exist<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>Advanced Capacity Planning for Sprint Planning<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Advanced capacity planning goes beyond counting available hours. It accounts for individual team member skill alignment with specific stories. A sprint with 300 team hours may have 200 of those hours held by backend engineers and 100 hours held by a frontend engineer. If 60% of the committed stories require frontend work, the sprint will fail regardless of total hour count. This skill-based capacity planning gap is one of the most common findings in our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/agile-transformation-consulting\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> agile transformation consulting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> engagements.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Focus Factor Adjustment<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus factor accounts for the reality that not all available hours are productive hours. Meetings, code reviews, support requests, and context switching consume 30 to 40% of a typical developer&#8217;s day. Apply focus factor to individual capacity: if an engineer has 60 hours available in a sprint and your team&#8217;s focus factor is 0.65, their productive planning hours = 60 x 0.65 = 39 hours. If your team uses<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/ai-tools-for-scrum-masters\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI tools for Scrum Masters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> such as ClickUp AI or Jira AI for automated capacity tracking, focus factor is one of the first inputs these tools help you calibrate from historical sprint data.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>AI-Assisted Sprint Planning in 2026<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.ai\/resource-center\/analyst-reports\/18th-state-of-agile-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18th State of Agile Report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that AI adoption in software teams has risen to 84%, and AI-assisted sprint planning is among the highest-value early applications. Tools that analyse historical sprint data (how long similar stories actually took, which types of tasks your team consistently underestimates) now present that context before the team commits, reducing anchoring bias in planning sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NextAgile&#8217;s<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/workshop\/ai-for-agility-workshop\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI for Agility Workshop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gives teams hands-on practice integrating AI sprint planning tools with Jira, Confluence, and SAFe tooling. For a broader view of how agentic AI systems are beginning to coordinate planning across multiple teams in an ART, our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/workshop\/agentic-ai-workshop\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agentic AI Workshop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers the next frontier of autonomous planning assistance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Sprint Planning in SAFe and Scaled Agile<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In SAFe, sprint planning occurs within the context of a Program Increment (PI). Teams plan sprints within the boundaries of PI objectives already committed during<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/scaling-agile\/what-is-pi-planning-in-agile\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PI Planning<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This means throughput and capacity data from previous PI cycles inform both <a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/scaling-agile\/what-is-pi-planning-in-agile\/\">PI Planning<\/a> estimates and individual sprint plans. The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/scaledagileframework.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scaled Agile Framework<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recommends using team historical data, both velocity and throughput, as the primary input for PI Planning story point load per team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/workshop\/safe-pi-planning-workshop\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SAFe PI Planning Simulation Workshop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> includes a hands-on capacity planning module where teams practice building throughput-based PI load estimates using realistic historical data. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/scaling-agile\/pi-planning-preparation-checklist\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PI Planning preparation checklist<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers the capacity planning steps you need to complete 2 to 4 weeks before the PI Planning event.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effective sprint planning uses three inputs together: velocity for historical story point throughput, throughput for item-count consistency, and capacity for sprint-specific team availability. Using only velocity gives you an average. Using all three gives you a reliable commitment. Apply the five-step process from this guide in your next sprint planning session. NextAgile&#8217;s<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/agile-consulting-services\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> agile consulting and training services<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> run sprint planning workshops and advanced capacity planning sessions for enterprises across India, Dubai, and the USA. Contact us to schedule an<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/workshop\/ai-for-agility-workshop\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI for Agility Workshop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or a sprint planning redesign engagement for your team.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Should you use story points or hours for sprint capacity planning?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both have a role. Story points via velocity capture the team&#8217;s historical delivery pattern including natural variability. Hours via capacity adjustment account for sprint-specific availability differences. The best approach uses story points for the velocity baseline and hours for the capacity adjustment factor. For a deeper exploration of when to use points versus hours, see our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/agile-estimation-techniques\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">agile estimation techniques guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>2. How many sprints of velocity history should you use for planning?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Use the last 3 to 5 completed sprints for a rolling velocity average. Using fewer than 3 sprints makes the average volatile. Using more than 7 sprints means older data with potentially different team composition dilutes the relevance of recent performance. The<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scrum.org community<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recommends updating the rolling window every sprint to capture the team&#8217;s current capability.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>3. What is a good sprint goal completion rate?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Industry benchmarks from the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scrumalliance.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scrum Alliance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> show that high-performing teams achieve sprint goal completion rates of 80% or higher. The industry average is 65 to 70%. The Agile State of Team Alignment 2026 report found that 80% of teams experience significant sprint rollover, confirming that most teams are below the high-performer benchmark and have clear room to improve through better sprint planning inputs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>4. Can you plan a sprint without historical data?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New teams planning their first 2 to 3 sprints have no historical velocity or throughput. Use capacity planning (team hours x focus factor) as your primary input. Commit fewer stories than you think you can complete. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/agile-planning-and-estimation\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">agile planning and estimation guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers how to build your velocity and throughput baseline from scratch using Sprint 0 and calibration sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>5. What is the relationship between sprint planning and PI Planning in SAFe?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PI Planning sets the ART-level roadmap for 8 to 12 weeks. Sprint planning operationalises that roadmap sprint by sprint. Teams use their historical throughput and velocity from the previous PI to estimate their story point capacity commitment for the upcoming PI. Our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/scaling-agile\/what-is-pi-planning-in-agile\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PI Planning guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/scaling-agile\/pi-planning-preparation-checklist\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PI Planning preparation checklist<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> give you the full picture of how sprint-level data feeds upward into PI-level commitments.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>6. How do AI tools change sprint planning in 2026?<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.ai\/resource-center\/analyst-reports\/18th-state-of-agile-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18th State of Agile Report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that AI adoption in development teams has risen to 84%, with AI-assisted estimation and sprint analytics among the earliest high-value applications. NextAgile&#8217;s<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/workshop\/ai-for-agility-workshop\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI for Agility Workshop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gives teams hands-on practice with these tools, and our<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/agile\/ai-tools-for-scrum-masters\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI tools for Scrum Masters guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> covers the full landscape of AI-powered sprint tooling available in 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Highlights of How to Plan a Sprint Sprint planning using only velocity is incomplete. Throughput and capacity together give a more accurate and reliable commitment baseline. Velocity measures story points completed per sprint. Throughput measures the number of items completed per sprint regardless of size. Capacity measures available team hours after planned leave and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8076"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8086,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8076\/revisions\/8086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextagile.ai\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}