How complete should the Sprint Backlog be after the Sprint Planning?

After Sprint Planning, the Sprint Backlog should be complete enough for the team to understand what work they will focus on in the immediate future, typically the next few days. This approach allows the team to begin the Sprint with clarity on their goals and the tasks required to achieve those goals.

Having a Sprint Backlog that is sufficiently detailed in the early days of the Sprint is crucial for maintaining progress and ensuring that team members can clearly align their efforts. As work progresses, the team can further refine and detail the backlog. This incremental approach ensures that the team remains agile and adaptable, able to respond to new insights and changes, while not becoming overwhelmed with excessive detail at the outset.

A fully outlined set of tasks may not be practical or necessary at the onset since circumstances can change rapidly. Similarly, only having high-level tasks or aiming for a backlog that is complete without specifics may hinder the team’s ability to effectively plan day-to-day work. Thus, having a balance of sufficient detail but not an exhaustive list allows for the flexibility that Scrum emphasizes.