Sprint to success: 7 ways to master sprint planning in collections

In fact, 75% of organisations report improved efficiency with agile delivery models [1]. Not just a stat, but a signal. If your sprints aren't delivering, it's time to rethink how you plan.

But what does good (and bad!) sprint planning look like, and how can you organise for success? Let's take a look.

7 ways to get sprint planning right

These strategies are tried and tested across credit, finance, and tech projects:

• 1. Set clear objectives and goals
• Start every sprint with a shared understanding of what success looks like. Clear goals keep the team aligned and focused. Without these, teams drift, priorities shift mid-sprint, and delivery becomes reactive rather than strategic.
• 2. Prioritise the backlog
• Focus on what matters most; a prioritised backlog ensures critical tasks are tackled first, helping manage time and resources effectively. If you don't do this, you'll end up wasting time on low-value work, and key deliverables will be delayed or missed entirely.
• 3. Define realistic timeframes
• Avoid overambitious deadlines, which can lead to burnout, rushed work, and technical debt. Realistic timelines reduce burnout and improve delivery quality.
• 4. Establish roles and responsibilities
• Everyone should know their role and how they contribute to the sprint. This clarity prevents duplication or dropping of tasks, confusion, and lack of accountability.
• 5. Adopt an agile delivery model
• Agile allows for flexibility and quick adjustments, essential in the ever-evolving collections and recoveries space. Without this, teams become rigid, unable to respond to change, and risk delivering outdated solutions.
• 6. Encourage team collaboration
• Regular check-ins and open communication help teams stay aligned and adapt quickly to changes. If you don't do this, silos form, blockers go unnoticed, and delivery slows down.
• 7. Commit to continuous improvement
• Retrospectives and feedback loops help identify what's working and what's not, allowing teams to evolve and improve with each sprint. Without these, mistakes repeat, morale drops, and long-term performance stagnates.
• And 1 way it can go wrong - beware of multiple build tickets!

One particular thing that we see go wrong a lot is that functionality gets broken down into multiple build tickets. On paper, this seems like efficient, bite-sized chunks, easy to assign and test, but in practice, it introduces risk:

• Inconsistent builds - Different developers working on isolated pieces can lead to mismatches when integrated.
• Gaps in integration - Fragmented development often leaves holes when the pieces are stitched together.
• Testing challenges - Individual tickets may pass testing, but the full functionality needs to be re-tested doubling the effort and slowing delivery.
• A more effective approach is to build functionality as a whole. For example, when developing a complaints process, create a single ticket that covers the entire flow from entry, exit, and process activities. This enables end-to-end testing and avoids blocked tickets or untestable scenarios across sprints.