Use this when you're facilitating an iteration planning meeting (IPM) and want a structured plan with candidate stories, talking points, estimation approach, velocity check, commitment framework, and pair assignment suggestions.

Process

Step 1: Gather inputs

Ask the PM or facilitator:

What are the candidate stories for this iteration? (Paste the story titles and acceptance criteria, or point to the backlog.)
What was last iteration's velocity? (Points completed, stories completed, or both.)
What carried over from last iteration? (Stories started but not finished.)
Are there any hard deadlines, dependencies, or external commitments this week?
Who is available this iteration? (Team members and any planned absences.)
Were stories refined before this IPM? (If not, flag that estimation may take longer.)

Step 2: Prepare the facilitation plan

Generate the plan in this format:

# IPM Facilitation Plan — (Iteration dates)

## Iteration goal
(Draft a 1-sentence goal based on the highest-priority stories. Confirm with the PM.)

## Velocity check
- Last iteration: (X points / Y stories completed)
- Carry-over: (list stories carrying over and their remaining effort)
- Available capacity: (team members, any absences noted)
- Suggested commitment range: (X-Y points based on velocity)

## Candidate stories

### Story 1: (Title)
**Points (estimate):** (To be estimated in session)
**Talking points for the presenter:**
- Why this matters: (user value in one sentence)
- Key acceptance criteria to highlight: (the ones most likely to generate questions)
- Known risks or dependencies: (technical, design, or external)
- Questions the team is likely to ask: (based on refinement or story review)

### Story 2: (Title)
...

## Estimation approach
(Recommend the team's standard: points, t-shirt sizes, or story count. If not established, suggest a simple method.)

## Session agenda (60-90 min)

| Time | Activity | Who |
|------|----------|-----|
| 0:00 | State iteration goal and velocity check | PM |
| 0:05 | Walk through candidate stories + estimate | PM + Team |
| 0:50 | Commitment — select stories for the iteration | Team |
| 1:00 | Stretch goals — stories to pull if ahead | PM |
| 1:05 | Pair assignments | Team |
| 1:15 | Confirm: does everyone know what they're building? | Facilitator |

## Pair assignment suggestions
(Based on available team members. Rotate from last iteration where possible. Flag stories that benefit from cross-functional pairing — Eng+Design, PM+Eng.)

| Story | Pair | Notes |
|-------|------|-------|
| | | |

## Stories NOT ready for IPM
(List any stories that are missing acceptance criteria, designs, or have unresolved questions. These go back to refinement.)

Step 3: Review and adjust

Present the plan and ask:

Is the iteration goal right?
Are the talking points accurate for each story?
Does the velocity-based commitment range feel realistic?
Any stories to add, remove, or reorder?
Any pair assignment preferences?

Adjust based on feedback.

Remember: this draft multiplies your output, not your judgment. You own the final narrative.

Output location

Present the facilitation plan as formatted text in the conversation for the PM to copy into their session notes.

Input

Candidate stories: "Add CSV export to reporting dashboard," "Fix session timeout bug affecting enterprise SSO users," "Build email notification preferences screen," "Spike: evaluate Segment vs. Amplitude for analytics pipeline"
Last iteration velocity: 18 points completed, 5 stories completed; "Email notification preferences screen" carried over (estimated 5 pts, ~2 pts of work remaining)
Hard deadlines / dependencies: Enterprise SSO fix is blocking Meridian Health onboarding, which is scheduled for Thursday; CSV export depends on a read-only DB replica that DevOps confirmed is live as of Monday
Team available: Priya (eng), Tomás (eng), Wren (eng/design), Danielle (PM); Tomás is out Friday

Output (abbreviated)

IPM Facilitation Plan — June 9–13

Iteration goal

Unblock Meridian Health's onboarding and deliver self-serve data access, so enterprise users can go live on schedule and reporting users can extract data without eng support.

Velocity check

Last iteration: 18 points / 5 stories completed
Carry-over: Email notification preferences (est. ~2 pts remaining — treat as first commitment)
Available capacity: Priya, Tomás (out Friday), Wren, Danielle — roughly 3 eng-days lost
Suggested commitment range: 14–17 points (discount ~10% for carry-over drag and Tomás's absence)

Candidate stories

Story 1: Fix session timeout bug affecting enterprise SSO users

Points (estimate): To be estimated in session — suggest anchoring at 3 pts
Talking points for the presenter:

Why this matters: Meridian Health cannot complete onboarding until SSO sessions persist correctly; deal is at risk by Thursday
Key AC to highlight: Session persists for 8 hours on SSO login; no silent logouts during active use; regression test on standard login unaffected
Known risks: Root cause is in the SAML token refresh path — Tomás owns that code; confirm he can pair before Friday
Questions the team will likely ask: Does this require a config change on Meridian's IdP side, or is it entirely our fix?

Story 2: Add CSV export to reporting dashboard

Points (estimate): To be estimated — suggest 5 pts
Talking points for the presenter:

Why this matters: Top requested feature in Q2 NPS; removes a recurring manual export request from the CS queue (~12/month)
Key AC to highlight: Export scoped to current filter state; max 50k rows with graceful error above limit; file named with date range
Known risks: Read-only replica is live, but query timeout limits haven't been tested at scale — flag as a testing requirement
Questions the team will likely ask: Do we need a loading state / async download for large exports, or is synchronous acceptable for MVP?

Story 3: Email notification preferences screen

Points (estimate): 2 pts remaining (carry-over)
Talking points for the presenter:

Why this matters: Carry-over — designs are approved, backend is wired; this is a finish-and-ship story
Key AC to highlight: Toggle state persists on refresh; confirmation toast on save
Known risks: None new — verify Wren's design handoff is fully implemented before marking done

Story 4: Spike — Evaluate Segment vs. Amplitude for analytics pipeline

Points (estimate): To be estimated — suggest 3 pts (timebox to 1 day)
Talking points for the presenter:

Why this matters: Decision is blocking Q3 instrumentation work; need a recommendation doc, not a full implementation
Key AC to highlight: Spike output = written recommendation with cost, integration effort, and data ownership tradeoffs
Known risks: Low risk to iteration — but only pull in if SSO fix and CSV export are committed first

Estimation approach

Use Fibonacci story points (1, 2, 3, 5, 8). For the spike, cap at 3 and timebox explicitly — if it takes longer, it was under-scoped, not under-estimated.

Session agenda (75 min)

Time	Activity	Who
0:00	State iteration goal + velocity check + Meridian deadline	Danielle
0:08	Carry-over: Email prefs — confirm 2 pts, assign pair	Team
0:12	Story 1: SSO fix — present, estimate, flag Thursday dependency	Danielle + Priya
0:25	Story 2: CSV export — present, estimate, discuss async question	Danielle + Team
0:40	Story 4: Spike — present, confirm timebox, decide if it fits	Danielle
0:50	Commitment — total points, confirm range fits 14–17	Team
0:55	Stretch goals — any stories to pull if ahead	Danielle
1:00	Pair assignments	Team
1:10	Final check: does everyone know what they're building this week?	Danielle

Pair assignment suggestions

Story	Pair	Notes
SSO timeout fix	Tomás + Priya	Tomás owns SAML path; Priya can carry finish if Tomás is blocked Friday
CSV export	Wren + Priya	Wren can cover UI state/loading design decisions in real time
Email prefs (carry-over)	Wren solo or Wren + Tomás (Mon–Thu)	Nearly done — low pairing overhead needed
Segment vs. Amplitude spike	Priya (lead) + Danielle (PM review at end of day)	Cross-functional: Priya scopes technical tradeoffs, Danielle validates business criteria

Stories NOT ready for IPM

None this iteration — all four stories have accepted AC and no pending design dependencies. However:

⚠️ Async download UX for CSV export is an open question. If the team decides synchronous is not acceptable for large exports, a design decision from Wren is needed before dev starts. Resolve in the first 10 minutes of the CSV discussion or park it as a follow-up spike.

IPM Facilitate